A New Era in Symbolism

 A New Era in Symbolism

Nomads continued to traverse the globe 5,000 years ago. In their hands and on their backs, they lugged their meagre but valuable belongings. At random, they went hunting and gathering.

People began to permanently inhabit and develop strong emotional, legal, and physical ties to individual pieces of land during the Agricultural Revolution. A well-thought-out strategy guided their food production. Animals were brought under their control and brought into modern times. Massive changes occurred in population distribution as a result of this new way of human life.

The time it took for the Industrial Revolution to begin was four thousand five hundred years later. The separation of land, raw materials, and production tools was its primary accomplishment. Having a well-educated workforce was also made necessary by it. The emergence of cities (which provided labour for mega-factories), widespread educational opportunities, and leisure time were all products of this Revolution.

People started to have more spare time than ever before in history.

In response to the ever-increasing complexity of social and economic institutions and the insatiable appetite for entertainment, a plethora of organisations, businesses, and other establishments emerged.

The service-oriented society was and is an integral aspect of the industrial world, despite popular belief to the contrary.

The worst storm in recorded history, the Third Wave (to use Alvin Toffler's wonderful term), is bearing down on us right now. A new era of information and understanding has begun. The future of our economy is shifting towards one that is built on the acquisition, processing, and distribution of knowledge and information, which are like raw materials and processed goods, respectively. More and more people from all walks of life will be able to afford all of these.

That is, in fact, the key difference between this Revolution and its forerunners:

It's fair because anyone can take part in it.

Huge sums of money were required to take part in the first two revolutions. The acquisition of land, capital goods, raw materials, and slave labor—among other production means—was facilitated by the use of raw force in situations where capital was lacking.

Good ideas, a little (and getting progressively less) technical background, and ever-decreasingly inexpensive infrastructure are all that's required for this Revolution, unlike previous ones.

This Revolution, then, is accessible to teenagers in their parents' garages (where behemoths like Apple Computer and Microsoft were born).

Age, gender, race, colour, nationality, and sexual orientation are all irrelevant because it is non-discriminatory. This Revolution Helps Level the Playing Field.

The integration of production, marketing, and distribution channels into a single entity is a first in human history. Consider the following case study of online product sales (e.g., software):

Programming languages allow users to manipulate electronic bits in a virtual environment, which is how computers write software. To sum up, everything from the product (software) to the production processes (programming languages) to the raw materials (mental algorithms converted to electronic bits) to the distribution channels (Internet-based electronic bit streams) is interconnected.

The technology's low price tag is a result of this. Because of this, the results of the next Revolution will spread like wildfire. Instead of being esoteric, manufacturing and distribution will become commonplace tasks.

(3) The impact of the Agricultural Revolution on our ancestors is limited. The impact of the Industrial Revolution on only a subset of these people is limited. Over time, the proportion of people engaged in agricultural activities declined from more than 60% to under 3% (in the United States, for example). Among the working-age population, there is a corresponding decline.

However, the third revolution was different:

Everyone on this planet feels the effects of the Information/Knowledge Revolution, the third and most profound revolution.

Whether it's radio, TV, computers, cellular phones, or the Internet, we're all constantly exposed to it. These goods and services are lowering in price and expanding in availability every single month. The new Revolution has spread far and wide.

(4) A new type of economic development emerged as a result of all the aforementioned traits; it was decentralised, had a high value added, advanced rapidly, and experienced short business cycles. This period in human history is unique in that it is free of colonialism and mercantilism. In the past, businesses could only function by importing cheap raw materials from the same markets that bought finished goods made from those materials for a premium.

Over time, this kind of exploitation will become totally out of the question. The location of production holds little significance in today's market. The old difference between "coloniser" and "colony" has all but disappeared because the boundaries between raw materials and finished goods are so porous, even when it comes to traditional industrial goods.

Less developed and developing nations have a lot to gain from this.

Huge sums of money and other non-monetary resources would have been required to bring them up to par with the developed world in the (recent) past. Nowadays, a lot less money is required to get the same outcomes. For Western media guru Marshall McLuhan, "The Global Village" was the ultimate description of the modern world. Where you are is less important than what you think. The ability to think outside the box, be adaptable, and take calculated risks is highly valued in today's global economy.

Every country in the world, from the poorest to the wealthiest, from the most developed to the least developed, has equal and abundant access to these new mental commodities.

There has been a shift away from the traditional view of economic development as a linear progression from an agricultural to an industrial to a service economy. It is recommended that nations like Macedonia skip the agricultural phase and jump straight into the Third Wave, which consists of information and knowledge industries, according to the new school of economic thought. These industries are a good fit for Macedonia because they are accessible, cheap, easy to understand and implement, lucrative, dynamic, and always improving.

It would be foolish for Macedonia to be the first to adopt such a bold strategy of rushing forward, bypassing the Industrial Revolution and entering the Information Age instead. Along with Israel, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and (with some reluctance) India, this has been done before. Naturally, all of these nations were impoverished. Isolated, desolate islands or enormously overpopulated ones are among them. Some are merely deserts. The revolution was still in its early stages, but they were all able to become deeply involved. With the exception of India, a newcomer with only half the commitment, none of these countries have lower per capita GDP than the rest of the world.

The risk was worthwhile.

A fascinating side-benefit, though, is associated with this option.

A change from working with symbols to dealing with reality has occurred with the transition from industry to the information technology and knowledge industries. Regardless of the symbols in question, the methods for manipulating them remain identical. A nation's ability to train operators of symbols determines how well that nation can handle, operate, and change any symbol.

When it comes to the most important symbol of all, money, the same holds true.

Everyone knows that money is just a symbol. A consensus is a result of deliberation and compromise among a group of individuals. It is worthless in and of itself. Manipulating the symbol known as money is as easy as using the same techniques to manipulate information.

A nation's proficiency in handling all types of financial transactions is directly proportional to its proficiency in processing symbols, or information. It has a better chance of luring investors, creating thriving money and stock markets, educating the next generation of workers, engaging in trade, and generally becoming woven into the web of the contemporary global economy.

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