Is the internet our version of the industrial revolution?
In the year 2000, AOL exec. Barry Schuler said that the internet would:
“…transcend the Industrial Revolution on the effect on mankind”
They must’ve thought he was bonkers at the time. We now know Schuler was right.
The Industrial Revolution changed the world.
It drove a rural workforce into sprawling cities… commerce connected cities and countries. And a new class system was born.
All of the above created demand. Supply chains flourished.
The coal that fired the furnaces… that smelted the steel…. that built the machines… that made the products that sold millions.
Mechanisation replaced the skilled hand of the artisan.
The internet has done the same. It’s connected, automated and commoditised.
Small businesses can trade globally with just a click. The shop never closes — it can sell whilst the owner sleeps.
Too big to value
The internet is a lucrative industry that has become so ingrained in our lives that economists say it’s impossible to value it.
