DOCSLIB.ORG

Waves of Technological Innovations and the End of the Information Revolution

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Waves of Technological Innovations and the End of the Information Revolution Journal of Economics and International Finance Vol. 2(4), pp. 58-67, April 2010 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JEIF ISSN 2006-9812© 2010 Academic Journals Review Paper Waves of technological innovations and the end of the information revolution Daniel Šmihula Institute of Political Science of the Slovak Academy of Science University of Central Europe, Skalica, Slovakia. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]. Accepted 19 February, 2010 The article is about new views on the theory of “long waves” and especially from the point of view of technological progress, importance of which is stressed. It developed a new conception of waves of technological innovations in a modern society (from 1600 AD). The last 5th wave (based on a progress in informatics and telecomunications) is just coming to an end. Today economic crisis (2008) must be seen also as the crisis of the end of the cycle of innovations. It could be overcome by a new technological revolution (post-informational technological revolution) which could start about 2015. Keywords: Crisis, innovation, invention, Kondratieffs cycles, long waves, post-information technological revolution, technological progress, waves of technological innovation. INTRODUCTION The term “information revolution”( Freeman, Christopher, industrial and information society are both just stages in Die Computerrevolution in den langen Zyklen der the development of modern society. Technolo-gical ökonomischen Entwicklung, München, Carl Friedrich von progress (For definition of technological progress see: Siemens Stiftung, 1985, p.31), which achieved wide- Dosi, Giovanni, Orsenigo, Luigi, „Coordination and spread currency in the period 1960 – 1980, reflected the transformation: an overview of structures, behaviours penetration of computers and information technology into and change in evolutionary environmnets“, in Dosi, the economy and everyday life. This revolution was Giovanni, Freeman, Christopher, Nelson, Richard, Silver- sometime supposed to represent a change in the berg, Gerald, Soete, Luc (editors), Technical Change structure of society as momentous as the Neolithic revo- and Economic Theory, London, Pinter Publishers, 1988, lution 9000 years ago, or the industrial revolution at the pp. 15-16) and innovations is integral and constant part start of the nineteenth century (Toffler, Alvin, The Third of such modern society and its economy. Wave, New York, Bantam Books, 1980, pp.5-11). The first “modern” or “western” countries were Nether- However, it would be more correct to say that since the lands (Kennedy, Paul, Vzestup a pád velmocí (The Rise seventeenth- eighteenth centuries we (At least Euro- and Fall of the Great Powers ), Praha, Nakladatelství peans, because this modernization started in Europe – Lidové noviny, 1996, p.94) and England (in 17th and from reason which are out of scope of this article 18th centuries) and the area of modernity had to spread (Landes, David S. Bohatství a bída národ ů; The Wealth step by step: Western Europe and Northern America in and Poverty of Nations; Praha, BB/art s.r.o., 2004, p.493, 1800 -1850, Scandinavia and Germany (Landes, David Jourdin, Michel Mollat du, Evropa a mo ře; L´ Europe et la S. Bohatství a bída národ ů (The Wealth and Poverty of mer), Bratislava, Archa, 1994, PP.128-164, 274-285 and Nations ), Praha, BB/art s.r.o., 2004, pp.292-305) in 1850 Kennedy, Paul, Vzestup a pád velmocí; The Rise and -1900, Japan( Landes, David S. Bohatství a bída národ ů Fall of the Great Powers ), Praha, Nakladatelství Lidové (The Wealth and Poverty of Nations ), Praha, BB/art noviny, 1996, pp. 21-52 ) have lived in a modern society s.r.o., 2004, pp.371), Latin America(Landes, David S. which is characterized by a non-stop stream of Bohatství a bída národ ů (The Wealth and Poverty of technological innovations (and economic growth Nations), Praha, BB/art s.r.o., 2004, pp.322), South, (Freeman, Chris, Louçâ, As Time Goes By, Oxford, Central and Eastern Europe in 1900 - 2000 (This process Oxford University Press, 2001, pp.26-27) and that was in Central and Eastern Europe delayed by the com- Šmihula 59 munist experiment) (Berend, Ivan T, An Economic demy Press, 1986, pp.89-91), this limit will be reached History of Twentieth-Century Europe, Cambridge, only more quickly. Of course, presented financial “tricks” Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp.172-189) and almost always stimulate even a demand for new several former Third world countries in 1980 - 2005 technologies and their development, especially if the (Hong-cong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, economy is approaching the described maximal potential parts of China and India)(Kennedy, Paul, Sv ět v 21. limit of production. století (Preparing for the Twenty-First Century ), Praha, In this context, a more accurate model would be the Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 1996, 35). All following so-called Kondratieffs long cycles (Kondratieff, Nikolai, description of economic and technical developments The Long Wave Cycle, New York, Richardson and concerns parts of the world which were “in” the modern Snyder, 1984, pp. 25-29). These cycles in the modern society in a given time. post-agrarian economy were reinforced in the work of the A new technology or innovation (in the broadest mean- Russian economist Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kondratieff ing) (As a new technical device, organizational method, (Kondratyev, 1892 – 1938) (Kondratieff, Nikolai, The financial instrument etc. which enable higher efficiency Long Wave Cycle, New York, Richardson and Snyder, and better exploiting of sources (Freeman, Christo-pher, 1984, Freeman, Chris, Louçâ, As Time Goes By, Oxford, Perez, Carlota, „Structural crisis of adjustment, business Oxford University Press, 2001, p.67 and Freeman, cycles and invetment behaviour.“ in Dosi, Giovanni, Christopher, Die Computerrevolution in den langen Freeman, Christopher, Nelson, Richard, Silver-berg, Zyklen der ökonomischen Entwicklung, München, Carl Gerald, Soete, Luc (editors), Technical Change and Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, 1985, pp.13-15 and 62) Economic Theory, London, Pinter Publishers, 1988, and the Austrian economist Joseph (1883 –1950) pp.45-49) makes possible to exploit much more natural (Freeman, Chris, Louçâ, As Time Goes By, Oxford, resources in more effective way. It is fully equivalent to Oxford University Press, 2001, pp.42-55 and Freeman, “…a gigantic expansion of resource supplies” (Rosen- Christopher, Die Computer revolution in den langen berg, Nathan, „The Impact of Technological Innovation: Zyklen der ökonomischen Entwicklung, München, Carl A Historical View “in Landau, Ralph, Rosenberg, Nathan Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, 1985, pp.16-270. (editors), The Positive Sum Strategy, Washington, The first of the cycles defined by Kondratieff and later National Academy Press, 1986, p. 22). A rapid and long- by Schumpeter and their other followers (Duijn, J.J. van, term economic growth is therefore usually a result of new The Long Wave in Economic Life, London, George Allen technological innovations in industry and economy and Unwin, 1983, p.163) was the age of coal and steam (Freeman, Christopher, Die Computer revolution in den (1780 – 1840), which was facilitated by the first wave of langen Zyklen der ökonomischen Entwicklung, München, the industrial revolution, followed by the age of railways Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, 1985, pp.18-20 and and mass production (1840 – 1890), the second Kondratieff, Nikolai, The Long Wave Cycle, New York, industrial revolution and the age of electricity (1890 – Richardson&Snyder, 1984, p. 66). It is almost generally 1940), the start of which was the so-called technical accepted, that technology (in proper social conditions) is revolution. Later theorists added a fourth wave, the age the critical factor in the long term economic development of electronics and microelectronics (1940 – 80) beginning of modern industrial societies (Landau, Ralph, with the so-called scientific-technological revolution. The Rosenberg, Nathan (editors), The Positive Sum Strategy, current age, which began around 1980, should be the Washington, National Academy Press, 1986, p.vi and 7- age of information and telecommunications trigged by 10). And in the economy without additional sources from the information and telecommunications revolution “outside” (what our planet today is, all parts of the planet (Freeman, Christopher, Die Computerrevolution in den are discovered and distributed) a progress of technolo- langen Zyklen der ökonomischen Entwicklung, München, gies (in the broadest meaning) has stayed as the only Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, 1985, p.17). But significant engine of long-term economic growth (Boskin, Kondratieffs and Schumpeters cycles must be modified J. Michael, “Macroeconomics, Technology, and in order to correspond to modern experience. Economic Growth: An Intraduction to Some Important Issues“ in Landau, Ralph, Rosenberg, Nathan (editors), The Positive Sum Strategy, Washington, National STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANITY Academy Press, 1986, p. 36). All manipulations with low taxation, inflation, low interest rates etc. (instruments of For the reasons given above, it is clearly useful to divide the “business cycle)” can really speed up an economic the development of humanity into four stages: growth, but without innovations in technology they cannot 1. Hunter-gatherer (foraging) society. help to shift (enhance) the maximal potential limit of 2. A society in transition to a production economy and a
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Engineering Growth: Innovative Capacity and Development in the Americas∗
    Engineering Growth: Innovative Capacity and Development in the Americas∗ William F. Maloneyy Felipe Valencia Caicedoz July 1, 2016 Abstract This paper offers the first systematic historical evidence on the role of a central actor in modern growth theory- the engineer. We collect cross-country and state level data on the population share of engineers for the Americas, and county level data on engineering and patenting for the US during the Second Industrial Revolution. These are robustly correlated with income today after controlling for literacy, other types of higher order human capital (e.g. lawyers, physicians), demand side factors, and instrumenting engineering using the Land Grant Colleges program. We support these results with historical case studies from the US and Latin America. A one standard deviation increase in engineers in 1880 accounts for a 16% increase in US county income today, and patenting capacity contributes another 10%. Our estimates also help explain why countries with similar levels of income in 1900, but tenfold differences in engineers diverged in their growth trajectories over the next century. Keywords: Innovative Capacity, Human Capital, Engineers, Technology Diffusion, Patents, Growth, Development, History. JEL: O11,O30,N10,I23 ∗Corresponding author Email: [email protected]. We thank Ufuk Akcigit, David de la Croix, Leo Feler, Claudio Ferraz, Christian Fons-Rosen, Oded Galor, Steve Haber, Lakshmi Iyer, David Mayer- Foulkes, Stelios Michalopoulos, Guy Michaels, Petra Moser, Giacomo Ponzetto, Luis Serven, Andrei Shleifer, Moritz Shularick, Enrico Spolaore, Uwe Sunde, Bulent Unel, Nico Voigtl¨ander,Hans-Joachim Voth, Fabian Waldinger, David Weil and Gavin Wright for helpful discussions. We are grateful to William Kerr for making available the county level patent data.
    [Show full text]
  • Criminal Justice and the Technological Revolution Download The
    Criminal justice and the technological revolution COVID-19 has prompted a profound shift in the use of technology across justice systems internationally. The challenge today is how to build on and accelerate recent progress. Criminal justice and the technological revolution The journey towards a fully digitally-enabled criminal justice system is underway and the potential benefits are vast. The work yet to do is daunting, but the increased access to justice it could deliver is exciting. In this article, we set out some ways that digital and The impact of these changes still needs to be virtual justice can support service transformation evaluated, but this remains a profound shift. And in for victims, witnesses, people with convictions, and many cases, COVID-19 responses either accelerated or criminal justice professionals. We focus on the need to complemented longer-term initiatives to digitise large create a new digital ecosystem around current services parts of the criminal justice system. Our work shows and to target technology investments on the biggest that our focus geographies all have major programmes problems highlighted in our international research of technology-enabled change underway to digitise effort: and manage criminal case information through online platforms and to increase use of remote and virtual • Harnessing digital twin capabilities to reduce court working technologies. Many involve long-term billion- backlogs dollar investments and are among the most significant change programmes operating across governments. • Making virtual prisons a reality Digital and virtual justice at a crossroads • Supporting rehabilitation through virtual desistance The challenge today is how to build on and accelerate platforms recent progress.
    [Show full text]
  • Fourth Industrial Revolution, Challenge Accepted a Guide to Understanding Why Japan Is Set to Re-Own International Leadership in the ‘Era of Acceleration’
    J APAN Fourth Industrial Revolution, challenge accepted A guide to understanding why Japan is set to re-own international leadership in the ‘era of acceleration’ As the dominant force in global manufacturing in the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in the consumer electronics industry, Japan became an economic juggernaut and a poster boy for technological innovation. However, what followed has since become commonly known Like any revolution, there will is already a pioneer – is expected to as the “Lost Decades”: a period of be winners and losers, so Japan, it grow at an annual rate of 12% to “Japan’s forte is in economic decline characterized by seems, couldn’t have timed its manu- reach $79.5bn by 2022. creating high-quality a loss of ground to manufacturing facturing comeback much better. On Yoshiharu Inaba, Chairman and authentic products” rivals in the Asian region and further the back of Prime Minister Shinzo CEO of FANUC – Japan’s leading exasperated by the global fnancial Abe’s eponymous ‘Abenomics’ strate- robotics company – believes the Kazuhiro Kashio, crisis in 2008. gy and Japanese industry’s great glo- signifcance of such growth will be President, CASIO The pendulum though has swung balization push, the country shipped historically monumental. once again, and this period in the run $645.2 billion worth of goods inter- “With the invention of steam en- up to 2020 – the year Japan will host nationally last year, up by 11.1% since gines, Britain’s industrial revolution ucts were synonymous with quality the Olympics – is being marked as 2009 when the economic recession boosted the effciency of manufac- and reliability, and the world knew the country’s great comeback to kicked in, and up 3.2% from 2015.
    [Show full text]
  • Spring Quarter 2019 – Undergraduate Course Offerings
    Spring Quarter 2019 – Undergraduate Course Offerings Courses with an asterisk (*) are open for Pre-registration. ANTHROPOLOGY ANTHRO 221-0 - Social and Health Inequalities 20 (32686) Thomas McDade - TuTh 2:00PM - 3:20PM *Income inequality in the U.S is expanding, while social inequalities in health remain large, and represent longstanding challenges to public health. This course will investigate trends in social and health inequality in the U.S., and their intersection, with attention to the broader global context as well. It will examine how social stratification by race/ethnicity, gender, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, education, and/or other dimensions influence the health status of individuals, families, and populations; and, conversely, how health itself is thought to be a fundamental determinant of key social outcomes such as educational achievement and economic status. The course will draw on research from anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, social epidemiology, biomedicine, and evolutionary biology. ANTHRO 314-0 - Human Growth & Development 20 (32683) Erin Beth Waxenbaum Dennison - MoWe 9:30AM - 10:50AM *In this course, we will examine human growth and development. By its very nature, this topic is a bio cultural process that requires an integrated analysis of social construction and biological phenomena. To this end, we will incorporate insight from evolutionary ecology, developmental biology and psychology, human biology and cultural anthropology. Development is not a simple matter of biological unfolding from birth through adolescence; rather, it is a process that is designed to be in sync with the surrounding environment within which the organism develops. Additionally we will apply these bio cultural and socio-ecological insights to emerging health challenges associated with these developmental stages.
    [Show full text]
  • EDITORIAL BOARD THOUGHTS the Fourth Industrial Revolution Does It Pose an Existential Threat to Libraries? Brady Lund
    EDITORIAL BOARD THOUGHTS The Fourth Industrial Revolution Does It Pose an Existential Threat to Libraries? Brady Lund No. No, it does not. Not any more than any other technological innovation (information systems, personal computers, the Internet, e-readers, Google, Google Scholar) did. However, what is very likely is that the technologies that emerge from this era will slowly (but surely) lead to profound changes in how libraries operate. Those libraries that fail to understand or embrace these technologies may, in fact, be left behind. So, we must, as always, stay abreast of trends in emerging technologies and what the literature (i.e., articles in this journal) propose as ideas for adopting (and adapting) them to better serve our patrons. With this column, my aim is to briefly discuss what the fourth industrial revolution is and its relevance within our profession. THE “FOURTH” INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION? The term “fourth industrial revolution” describes the evolution of information technology towards greater automation and interconnectedness. It includes or incorporates technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, advanced robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, 3D printing, nanotechnology, and quantum computing.1 Imaginations can run amok with idyllic visions of Walt Disney’s EPCOT—a utopian world of interconnectedness and efficiency—or dystopian nightmares captured in the mind of Stephen King, George Orwell, or Pixar’s WALL-E. If we have learned anything from the past though—and after the last 12 months I cannot be entirely sure of that—it is that reality is likely to settle somewhere in the middle. Some things will improve dramatically in our lives but there will also be negative impacts—funding changes, learning curves, and maybe a bit of soul-searching within the profession (not that that last one is necessarily a bad thing).
    [Show full text]
  • Information Technological Revolution and Institutional Innovations
    UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI FACULTY OF BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES Reijo Miettinen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS CRADLE Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning Working papers 4/2014 University of Helsinki Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning CRADLE Working papers 4/2014 Reijo Miettinen INFORMATION TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS University of Helsinki ISBN 978-952-10-8226-9 ISSN-L 1798-3118 ISSN 1798-3118 Helsinki 2014 CONTENTS 1 Technological revolutions and institutional change ....................................... 4 2 The organizational consequences of the information technological revolution ....................................................................................................... 6 3 Networks, open innovation and the breakthrough of commons-based peer-production ............................................................................................ 11 4 Intellectual property rights and the internal contradiction of the knowledge society .................................................................................. 19 5 Innovations and democracy: from top-down policies to local experiments and institutional learning .............................................................................. 27 PREFACE The history of this working paper is the following. I wrote a small book entitled National innovation system. Scientific concept or political rhetoric published by the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra) and Edita publisher in
    [Show full text]
  • Communications, Transportation and Phases of the Industrial Revolution MJ Peterson
    Roots of Interconnection: Communications, Transportation and Phases of the Industrial Revolution MJ Peterson International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering Background Reading Version 1; February 2008 Transnational ethical conflicts are more frequent in the contemporary world and because of the greater interconnection among societies. Though scientists and engineers have maintained active contact with colleagues in other countries for centuries, until recent decades such contacts were limited to periods of study at a foreign university, occasional collaboration in labs or on projects, and exchange of research results through publication or presentation at conferences. As societies became more interconnected, the patterns of joint activity deepened. At the same time, the impacts of science and engineering were felt more deeply in society as the connections between basic science on one side and applied science, technology, and engineering of human-made structures became stronger. Two sets of technological changes increased the possibilities for interconnection between societies by increasing the speed of and broadening access to communications and transportation. The changes in communication took hold more quickly, but both were important to increasing the possibility for interaction among members of different societies. With invention of the telegraph in the 1840s messages could travel from point-to-point at the speed of shifting electrons rather than of galloping horses or relays of visual signals from tower to tower. Basic transmission time between Paris and London went from days (horses) or hours (visual relay) to minutes. However, the need to receive the messages in a special telegraph office, copy the text onto paper, and then either deliver the paper to the recipient or have the recipient come by to pick it up meant that total message time was longer for anyone who did not have a telegraph office on-site.
    [Show full text]
  • The Industrial Revolution in Services *
    The Industrial Revolution in Services * Chang-Tai Hsieh Esteban Rossi-Hansberg University of Chicago and NBER Princeton University and NBER May 12, 2021 Abstract The U.S. has experienced an industrial revolution in services. Firms in service in- dustries, those where output has to be supplied locally, increasingly operate in more markets. Employment, sales, and spending on fixed costs such as R&D and man- agerial employment have increased rapidly in these industries. These changes have favored top firms the most and have led to increasing national concentration in ser- vice industries. Top firms in service industries have grown entirely by expanding into new local markets that are predominantly small and mid-sized U.S. cities. Market concentration at the local level has decreased in all U.S. cities but by significantly more in cities that were initially small. These facts are consistent with the availability of a new menu of fixed-cost-intensive technologies in service sectors that enable adopters to produce at lower marginal costs in any markets. The entry of top service firms into new local markets has led to substantial unmeasured productivity growth, particularly in small markets. *We thank Adarsh Kumar, Feng Lin, Harry Li, and Jihoon Sung for extraordinary research assistance. We also thank Rodrigo Adao, Dan Adelman, Audre Bagnall, Jill Golder, Bob Hall, Pete Klenow, Hugo Hopenhayn, Danial Lashkari, Raghuram Rajan, Richard Rogerson, and Chad Syverson for helpful discussions. The data from the US Census has been reviewed by the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure no confidential information is disclosed. 2 HSIEH AND ROSSI-HANSBERG 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Anthropocene Issue #4.Pdf
    Innovation in the Human Age 4 Innovation in the Human Age The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Natural isn’t —Alvin Toffler what it used to be ISSUE 4 We are a digital, print, and live magazine in which the world’s most creative writers, designers, scientists, and entrepreneurs explore how we can create a sustainable human age we actually want to live in. Cover art by Javier Jaén published by Editor’s Note No Turning Back Now Nostalgia tugs hard at our narratives about na- same exhilarating and profoundly disturbing ture. If we could just hold nature still, even ways that social media reframed our con- for a human lifetime, then we could save it. nections with each other. Seeing the world’s But we cannot. Long before humans 3 trillion trees in real time allows environ- emerged as a planetary force, we have had mental watchdogs to catch criminals. But it to negotiate and renegotiate our relationship also means that the data riches of big tech’s with nature. At various times, it has been an unblinking eyes will go to whoever can evil presence to be beaten back, a resource pay top dollar. to be mined, a treasure to be restored, a When scouting the future, the technol- place of spiritual renewal, and a source for ogy trail is always the easiest to follow. But technological inspiration. it’s far from the only one. The economics And now, here we are in the Anthro- of nature conservation are also changing in pocene, face to face with an existential surprising ways.
    [Show full text]
  • Technological Revolutions: Ethics and Policy in the Dark1
    TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS: ETHICS AND POLICY IN THE DARK1 (2006) Nick Bostrom www.nickbostrom.com [Published in Nanoscale: Issues and Perspectives for the Nano Century, eds. Nigel M. de S. Cameron and M. Ellen Mitchell (John Wiley, 2007): pp. 129‐152.] Abstract Technological revolutions are among the most important things that happen to humanity. Ethical assessment in the incipient stages of a potential technological revolution faces several difficulties, including the unpredictability of their long‐term impacts, the problematic role of human agency in bringing them about, and the fact that technological revolutions rewrite not only the material conditions of our existence but also reshape culture and even – perhaps – human nature. This essay explores some of these difficulties and the challenges they pose for a rational assessment of the ethical and policy issues associated with anticipated technological revolutions. 1. Introduction We might define a technological revolution as a dramatic change brought about relatively quickly by the introduction of some new technology. As this definition is rather vague, it may be useful to complement it with a few candidate paradigm cases. Some eleven thousand years ago, in the neighborhood of Mesopotamia, some of our ancestors took up agriculture, beginning the end of the hunter‐gatherer era. Improved food production led to population growth, causing average nutritional status and quality of life to decline below the hunter‐gatherer level. Eventually, greater population densities led to vastly accelerated cultural and technological development. Standing armies became a possibility, allowing the ancient Sumerians to embark on unprecedented territorial expansion. 1 I am grateful to Eric Drexler, Guy Kahane, Matthew Liao, and Rebecca Roache for helpful suggestions.
    [Show full text]
  • Class Consciousness and the Information Society
    CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY Darin David Barney B.A. (Pol. Sci.) Simon Fraser University, 1989 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Political Science @ Darin avid Barney 1991 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 1991 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, withcut permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME : Darin avid Barney DEGREE: Master of Arts (Political Science) TITLE OF THESIS: Class ~onsciousnessand the Information Society Chairperson: Dr. I,. Dohuzinskis Assistant Professor - U- - _ -- Dr. A.H. Solnjee-_ Professor.. --- ---- Senior Supervisor -- Dr. David %aycockTP-- Assistant Professor Dr. William Leiss Professor, ~ommunications, Vice-president, Research, Simon Fraser university External Examiner DATE APPROVED: PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICtNSE I hereby yran; to Simon Fraser University the right to lend TY thesis, project or exrended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fr-aser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the ! ibrary of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission tor multiple copying of this work for scholarlv purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for firlar?ial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay Class Consciousness and The Information Society Author: (s ignature) Darin David-- Rdrney ( name I ABSTRACT The dominant productive forces of any given epoch generally determine the economic, political and social structures which give shape to society.
    [Show full text]
  • V2p065y1974-76.Pdf
    May 8, 1974 Number 19 Each of us in the research game goes At the same time, we face a decline through life discovering-and noting in material resources and cheap energy. down--all kinds of interesting phe- It will no longer be feasible to produce nomena. We record their occurrence, the myriad widgets whose planned and frequently a correct explanation obsolescence has kept our economy of them, in various ‘data banks’: lab going unless reclamation techniques notebooks, correspondence, articles, are vastly improved. The energy-re- books, microforms, magnetic tape fdes, source crisis and the prospect of less etc. We also store quite a lot of unique consumption has had profound effects information in our own intracranial on Wall Streeters. But while the non- memory banks. consumption of goods causes gloom in These stores of knowledge make up the industrial boardroom, the informa- an imperfect, incomplete and fragile tion industry is prospering as never commodity. Ironically, the imperfec- before. tion of knowledge increases the more Indeed, Machlup, Anderla, and we increase our efforts to make it less others have forecast a continued ex- so. The need for knowledge grows as ponential growth in the production we gather more information to satisfy and handling of scientific and other it. Thus, information is in a special types of informational -3 In 1962, sense a ‘perishable’ commodity. It is Machlup reported that the ‘knowledge ‘perishable’ both in the sense of being industry’ already accounted for 29% of deteriorable (like food) and consumable our GNP. Since then, as one of the (like gasoline). The ‘perishable’ nature ‘white-collar service industries’, it has of information may be of enormous been growing quite rapidly.
    [Show full text]