Paradigm Shift
Does anybody remember Thomas Kuhn, the author of the very challenging
?!? He was talking about science. The scientific paradigm shifts he spoke about happened about every thirty years or so, and did so for hundreds of years. Interestingly, there hasn't been a major scientific paradigm shift in more than 40 years, the first time that has happened in centuries.
In contrast, I am talking here in this blog about technology, where fundamental, major, periodic revolutions are par for the course. These paradigm shifts in technology happen roughly every few years. I try to document how this affects employment.
?!? He was talking about science. The scientific paradigm shifts he spoke about happened about every thirty years or so, and did so for hundreds of years. Interestingly, there hasn't been a major scientific paradigm shift in more than 40 years, the first time that has happened in centuries.
In contrast, I am talking here in this blog about technology, where fundamental, major, periodic revolutions are par for the course. These paradigm shifts in technology happen roughly every few years. I try to document how this affects employment.
Remember the Dot Bomb era? 24 year old CEOs controlling billions of dollars of investor money? It went Kaboom! in a big way, and dragged everyone with it. I got lucky and landed a job with the then-small business process outsourcing industry, which supplied 7 years of employment. That industry matured and is now made up of huge companies battling each other for ever smaller chunks of new business. It's no longer a frontier, and so not worth working for, at least for me. No growth.
A long time ago, websites were written in HTML, and contained "content", such as this, one of the most incredible silly ideas in business: Contentville.com (defunct, never even close to a viable business, a laughingstock). There were actually employees of, and investors to that company, and I remember seeing advertisements for it. What were they thinking?
Remember when "you can't go wrong owning CISCO"? I managed to lose money doing it! Luckily, I took the losses during a year I made a lot of side-money.
A long time ago, websites were written in HTML, and contained "content", such as this, one of the most incredible silly ideas in business: Contentville.com (defunct, never even close to a viable business, a laughingstock). There were actually employees of, and investors to that company, and I remember seeing advertisements for it. What were they thinking?
Remember when "you can't go wrong owning CISCO"? I managed to lose money doing it! Luckily, I took the losses during a year I made a lot of side-money.
Technology moves so fast, no one can keep up. All website business are guesses at what might be successful, but no one knows for sure. Obviously, some guesses are better than others, and can be then subjected to some sort of 20-question process that narrows down the profitable aspect of the business. Initially, one has to guess, maybe feel the way the cultural wind is blowing.
Where am I going with this? Why, right here. Now you can start your small business for a shoe-string (not much money) in days, and start making money fast. If still gainfully employed, you can perhaps spend years tweaking it until it replaces your income, and then you can quit your job. The biggest and most important paradigm shift ever is that most individuals can now start businesses with world-wide reach. That's yuge!
Where am I going with this? Why, right here. Now you can start your small business for a shoe-string (not much money) in days, and start making money fast. If still gainfully employed, you can perhaps spend years tweaking it until it replaces your income, and then you can quit your job. The biggest and most important paradigm shift ever is that most individuals can now start businesses with world-wide reach. That's yuge!
Comments
Post a Comment