The part about 'tools' that has changed is that it took a hundred years for the effect of the priniting press to cause societal shifts, however, now technology advances at an exponential rate within our lifetimes (see the advances in micro-chips from 1950 to today.)
The transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age will be as radical as the transition from an Agrarian Society to an Industrial Society (see the Civil War).
There remains a question as to how violent this transitional period will be. The observation that 19 illiterate Arabs could wreak several hundreds of billion dollars worth of damage on this mighty nation-state, is not a positive development. But as the elected elite debate the price of corn in 2006 whilst the neo-Cons argue the minutiae of troop movements in the Sahara Desert, it should be clear that the rules of the Industrial Age are simply obsolete.
Actually, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450 and Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517 -- a time span of 67 years. (Although reformist thought can be traced to others who predate the printing press).
Nevertheless, with this early example of improved information technology, you've cited evidence of societal change, not economic change. OTOH, the Industrial Revolution clearly precipitated economic change.
Similarly, while the improved communications of the "Information Age" may precipitate social change, the economics of high-tech manufacturing are merely refinements of the Industrial Revolution.
Granted, the two are closely intertwined, but they must not be mistaken for each other.