The prevailing industry of the last century was the industry of atoms—physical infrastructure, extraction of natural resources, and moving things around faster.
The prevailing industry of the next century is the industry of bits—internet infrastructure, extraction of data, and moving around information at the speed of light.
The industry of atoms ended up being governed by the infrastructure of bits. Digitization touched every part of the economy and society to the point where the industry of bits is effectively the industry of atoms.
(I don’t recall where I first heard this idea, maybe it was from patio11).
See also:
- The industry of bits was made possible by a jump to universality in computing, might there be others?
- Capitalism is dead shows us how the industry of bits changed capitalism into feudalism
Links to this note
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The Internet Is Not Prosthetic
The internet is not some other thing, separate from life, it is an abstraction that is very real.
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Recent Technological Advancement Is in Simulation
When comparing recent technological advancement with the previous century, most of the biggest changes are simulation versus physical. For example, railroads and airplanes compared to networking and computers.