The year is 2020. I am reading a book written by one of my favorite non fiction writers, Michael Lewis. This one is from two decades ago called 'next - the future just happened'.
In the book Michael goes on to show how change was happening fast around the year 1999 and the internet was becoming a pervasive force that very few really understood.
But the thesis of the book is to say that those that did not jump into the flow and take advantage of the change that was imminent were likely to be left behind. And a whole lot of folks did get left behind.
Anticipating change and being amenable to it is a good thing. Stasis can kill. However, there is another side to that coin.
Having information now accessible at the click of a mouse was the new norm but it did not foresee all of the (unintended) consequences.
Back in the day the phrase in America was 'armchair quarterback'. When television antennas beamed an NFL game to a cathode ray tube the public was enamored and without shelling big bucks watched the action on the irongrid in the comfort of their lazy boys (a fitting sitting appliance name to describe the onset of obesity in America).
It seemed everyone could call the play and decide what mistakes the QB had made. Really? Well that phenomenon now continues at even more breakneck pace with this internet that unleashed on us two decades ago. Websites touting all manners of services mushroomed and everyone at work and play it seemed knew what ailment you had and what the diagnosis was likely to be. There are even sites called WEBMD. LOL.
No surprise there. The book goes on to describe this trend taking on the form of online day trading where any dude you meet at a party knows what the next money maker is. Touting the virtues of some obscure drug maker or a new new tech that was about to launch with a custom massage for wake up service, there are all manner of folks that will recommend or berate a stock or brand.
This access might prove our undoing project. Perhaps this blogger is an example of someone who thinks they have something worthwhile to say and can publish ad nauseum adding to the chaotic crumbs in the cyberverse. Oops!
In the book Michael goes on to show how change was happening fast around the year 1999 and the internet was becoming a pervasive force that very few really understood.
But the thesis of the book is to say that those that did not jump into the flow and take advantage of the change that was imminent were likely to be left behind. And a whole lot of folks did get left behind.
Anticipating change and being amenable to it is a good thing. Stasis can kill. However, there is another side to that coin.
Having information now accessible at the click of a mouse was the new norm but it did not foresee all of the (unintended) consequences.
Back in the day the phrase in America was 'armchair quarterback'. When television antennas beamed an NFL game to a cathode ray tube the public was enamored and without shelling big bucks watched the action on the irongrid in the comfort of their lazy boys (a fitting sitting appliance name to describe the onset of obesity in America).
It seemed everyone could call the play and decide what mistakes the QB had made. Really? Well that phenomenon now continues at even more breakneck pace with this internet that unleashed on us two decades ago. Websites touting all manners of services mushroomed and everyone at work and play it seemed knew what ailment you had and what the diagnosis was likely to be. There are even sites called WEBMD. LOL.
No surprise there. The book goes on to describe this trend taking on the form of online day trading where any dude you meet at a party knows what the next money maker is. Touting the virtues of some obscure drug maker or a new new tech that was about to launch with a custom massage for wake up service, there are all manner of folks that will recommend or berate a stock or brand.
This access might prove our undoing project. Perhaps this blogger is an example of someone who thinks they have something worthwhile to say and can publish ad nauseum adding to the chaotic crumbs in the cyberverse. Oops!
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