8 - The digital world: Industries transformed

Summary

In just fifty years digital electronics have transfigured every aspect of human life and redrawn the economic map of the world. Their effect has been revolutionary.

But revolutions produce displacements as well. We must now assess the impact of digital technology on some key industries and the consumers they serve. We will discuss the implications for national economies in Chapter 9, keeping in mind that changes are so rapid that conclusions are risky.

We began our exploration of digital electronics by defining the breakthroughs of the 1950s and 1960s: the devices, systems, and software that launched the digital revolution. We also looked at how scientists and entrepreneurs created and commercialized the resulting products and services that grew out of these innovations.

Their efforts changed the world at incredible speed, often in unanticipated ways, and with far greater effect than even the most optimistic visionaries could have foreseen. Since the 1970s powerful digital systems have transformed the way people work, talk on the phone, send messages, acquire knowledge, play games, access entertainment, and even cure diseases. This is especially true of the Internet, the ultimate embodiment of the digital technology's power and reach.

Nor have the benefits accrued only to wealthy nations. Electronic devices are now so inexpensive that hundreds of millions of consumers in developing countries use cell phones, PCs, and MP3 players. Just two or three decades ago many of these people would have considered a standard telephone to be an unattainable luxury.