

The Information Age’s mid-life crisis - mkr-hn
http://bitoftech.mkronline.com/2011/08/05/the-information-ages-mid-life-crisis/

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michaelpinto
I'm not sure if I agree with the thesis, but I really loved this line and
agree with it "Our education system put math and science over research,
reading, and writing skills when we needed the latter three for an information
economy."

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mkr-hn
I want to be an industrialist (informationalist?) in this revolution, and I
need as much input as I can get. I want to hear your thoughts, even (and
especially) if you have some disagreements.

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michaelpinto
My thinking is the we've been talking about the information age since Toffler
circa 1980 (thirty years ago) -- the next revolution will be in micro-
manufacturing. Right now we're mass producing things in China because right
now that's the cheapest place to do it. But what happens when you can produce
custom goods which are assembled by robots? A primitive example is the ability
to order a mousepad over the net with your photo on it -- what happens when
you can do that with clothing or cars? To me that's a post-industrial
revolution -- and that's where the action will be. The old days of everyone
having the same stuff will be over.

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mkr-hn
There will be a lot of smaller revolutions bound together by the speed and
access to information we have today. It's easier to find, customize, and order
your micromanufactured products now, and even easier to resell.

There's a huge leap between the chirping modems of the '80s and '90s and
having the world at your fingertips anywhere in that world. We're living in
the information revolution people have been talking about, and all the cool
stuff we couldn't do 30 years ago is about to happen.

Next up will be the transport revolution where you can walk down the street,
identify a need, create the solution, and take a suborbital shuttle to the
factory where the new product is being built a few hours after identifying the
need.

Like Star Trek with capitalism.

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michaelpinto
I think the factory may be down the street or even in your house -- my gut
tells me that will happen first before a badly needed transportation
revolution.

