Five technological revolutions in three minutes (feat. Prof. Carlota Perez)

Capitalism reinvents itself every 40-70 years. Each reinvention brings a new common sense together with a new set of all-pervasive technologies. That common sense determines how we produce, consume, and organize our institutions. There have been five technological revolutions: The first one, the industrial revolution in late 18th century Britain, built canals, for cheap and easy transport, and introduced machinery and factories. Six decades later, the age of steam, coal, iron and railways, began in Britain too.

00:54 - From the 1870s, the age of steel and heavy engineering, saw Britain, the US, and Germany competing for leadership. It was the first globalization. And in the early 20th century, the age of the automobile, oil, petrochemicals and mass production began in the US. Our current age of information and communications technology started in the 1970s, also in the US, in Silicon Valley. Each technological revolution begins in one or a few sectors, in some corner of the world, and from there spreads to encompass most of human activity. The new technologies appear and come together when the industries of the previous revolution are mature and declining.

01:49 - Those uncertain new technologies need risk finance to develop. The initial successes bring a frenzy of investment that ends in major financial bubbles. Their inevitable collapses bring recessions and social unrest. Those who lost their jobs and skills are resentful and tend to follow emerging populist leaders. In order to achieve social well-being for all, we need to recognize the failure of the dominant practices, which are now obsolete, and also to identify the potential of the new technologies for creating new and better ones in both the public and the private sphere.

02:36 - Since the microprocessor first appeared, and after the culmination of intense market experimentation with hardware, software and organizations, we are in the aftermath of major bubbles and in the middle of a systemic crisis. The world is at the turning point and we need to reap the full benefits of the digital revolution. In doing so, we must create the new fabric of the economy and the new social safety net. It is up to us to envision what the economy will look like and how society will benefit. Let’s bring forth the green global golden age of the information revolution. .