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Change In Our Society...Change In Our Careers
By Kimo Look What the Industrial Revolution did The Industrial Revolution "mechanized" the production of goods, tremendously increasing output and decreasing cost. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, the Industrial Revolution mechanized it with steam power, the price of cotton textiles fell by 90 percent, and production increased 150-fold. Today it's the computer that has changed how we inventory, distribute, and sell goods causing the prices we pay at Costco to plummet to a fraction of what we paid 20 years ago. In the early Industrial Revolution, the steam engine was the center-stage technological wonder. It powered factories, creating industry. It led to the steam locomotive that mobilized people, opening the West. Though the steam engine began that revolution, it soon took a back seat to new technology. Electric telegraphy and photography replaced (and had little, if anything, to do with) steam or steam engines. Public health became a major industry, with pure water and sewers making the city a more healthful habitat than the countryside for the first time. Correspondingly, computers were hot items in early '80s. Though its processing power has increased 100 fold, its awe has faded. Now, it's the Internet and the changes it brings! The Industrial Revolution gave us postal service, journalism, and banking—to name just a few benefits. These had even less to do with the steam engine and technology, yet they came to dominate industry and economics! The question is what will the Information Revolution bring? |