TABLE OF CONTENTS Much has, and will be written about trends in technology. I can t hope to condense all of that into a section in a chapter. So I will compromise and only look at particular areas of technology. It seems though that once you adopt a systems approach, there is a certain inevitability in where these technologies will lead us. The technologies I have chosen are obviously not the only technologies which are going to affect our future. If you want to do some work of your own on technological scenarios, Peter Schwartz gives you a method to follow, in his book: The Art of the Long View32.
Business and economic thinkers are announcing a new world economy, of which the greater portion is made up of money, information and services, none of which conform to traditional economic principles.
There are many reasons people have chosen (or been forced) to use technology. In Chapter One I discussed Zuboff s analysis of technology as falling into the automation, information and transformation role in the organisation.
Compression drives us to use technology it allows us to compress time, dimensions, distance, costs and data.
Time has been compressed in product development times, production cycles, order fulfilment cycles, and search periods speeded up, even appearing to be instantaneous. It is paradoxically sad that with all this time saving going on, we have even less time on our hands. American parents are spending 10 hours less time per week with...
