Tech Revolutions

Roughly a decade each

• Mainframes
• Minicomputers
• Micros/PCs
• LAN/Distributed
• Internet/Web
• Cloud

Nicholas Carr describes in The Big Switch that the move to the cloud is analogous to the move from personal/local power generation to centralised power generation and distribution.

John Cassidy’s Dot.Con is about the bursting of the [[Dotcom Bubble]].

In 2010 the UK’s Office for Science ran a major 2-year project investigating the future of computer trading in the market. Both unit lecturers were involved in this project.

In Carlota Perez’s 2002 book “Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital”, she describes the first four “surges” of technology, and the current fifth:

• Industrial Revolution
• Steam & Railways
• Steel, Electricity
• Oil, Car, Mass Production
• IT & Telecoms

Q: What are Perez’s five “surges” of technology? A: \

• Industrial Revolution - 1770 - 1829
• Steam & Railways - 1829 - 1873
• Steel, Electricity - 1875 - 1918
• Oil, Cars, Mass Production - 1908 - 1974
• IT & Telecoms - 1974 - ?