Category: Humankind Revolutions

Another proof of how Europe fails the transition of the Fourth Revolution

Do you know that the rate of creation of large companies in the last decades has diminished tremendously in Europe? And that it has been maintained in the US only though all the “Fourth Revolution” companies that accompany the net-economy?

Large companies in US and Europe by date of creation
Large companies in US and Europe by date of creation (the Economist)

In this graph extracted from the Economist paper, “les Miserables“, or how Europe consistently discourages entrepreneurs (published July 2012), all the drama of Europe is being shown. The drama of the end of the Industrial Age and of the struggle to take the leap of the Collaborative Age. Europe relies on large companies that have been predominantly founded at the heart of the Industrial Age.

Unfortunately this graph is incomplete.  It does not show how Indian, Brazilian and Chinese large companies have appeared in the last two decades and how some prominent companies from those countries are already bigger than most companies from the old developed world. Their contribution would only affect the latest period!

Sticking to the Industrial Age model is not a good idea. Europeans, let’s finally do the leap into the Collaborative Age for the sake of the next generation!

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Do you know “Vuja Dé”? – a word that can change the world

I was reading the book Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself
by William C. Taylor. The concept of the book is that crisis moments are the best moments to redefine businesses and economic models. More about it in a future post.

Vuja De by Proust
Vuja De, an old and useful concept!

One of the key concepts explained in the book caught my eye and ignited my attention. The concept is simply Vuja Dé. The reverse of “Déja Vu” obviously, French for “seen already”. This concept implies the possibility to look at the same old things and redefine how we use them.

Or, like Proust, a famous French author of the beginning of the XXth century says in the quote, seeing the same thing with new eyes.

How can we redefine what seems to be an established practice, business, industry through the use of Vuja Dé? Not just improve, but redefine?

This is a word that has the power to change the world, because it names a concept which is truly useful in these times of change. A concept of rupture, of reinvention.

Ready to Vuja Dé your job? Your business? Your industry? Tell me how this word changes your mindset in the comments!

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Fourth Revolution in action: online universities are becoming mainstream!

Online universities are becoming recognized and deliver more and more degrees.

We had touched upon this issue in the post “Another Institution under Siege from the Fourth Revolution: Universities – Will they Reinvent themselves in time?” with the example of Udacity, a revolutionary online university.

online university
Online universities are becoming mainstream

Traditional universities are now coming into play. The MIT had its courses available online for a while, but now it is a real rush towards the ever growing market of university degrees online.

Recently, the MIT and Harvard announced the creation of edX, a platform for online studying  and learning (visit the edX site here and read the edX press release here). This platform has an exciting ambitious growth plan, offering classes online for free for millions (but probably paying degrees!).

This excellent post by OnlineUniversities.com, “8 nations leading the way in online education” summarizes the situation and what are the most advanced countries in the field of online education: USA, India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, UK, Australia, South Africa. Many of these countries are geographically very large or serve as a hub for a large region, offering education opportunities for many.

Online education cannot probably replace face-to-face education in all disciplines but it can in many scientific ones. It is an incredible occasion for people to grow themselves for free. It is an incredible occasion to grow the knowledge base of humankind into the remotest corners of the planet.

Those countries and those universities that will miss this revolution will trail behind and eventually disappear into oblivion. When online universities will do more than just broadcasting, when they will unleash the power of collaboration, they will dwarf Industrial Age universities. This will happen soon.

When will you start taking the classes you always dreamed of taking online, for free?

 

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The Fourth Revolution wrecks the society in which it occurs

The title of this post is directly inspired by this quote:

“The major advances in civilisation are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur”

– Marshall Mc Luhan, in “The medium is the massage“, 1967

This prescient quote by a visionary author is directly applicable to the Fourth Revolution, a major advance in civilization. The storm of the Fourth Revolution is upon us. Society will undergo a tremendous change. Are you ready?

[source of the quote: “thinking about the social enterprise”, a blog post by JP Rangaswami]

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Grab the Fourth Revolution Kindle book for 3.99$ only, and thrive through the world’s transformation!

As we are getting close to the end of the year, time for the festive season and for the period of deciding good resolutions for 2012, I want to make sure that you get the opportunity to read the Fourth Revolution book: understand the main drivers of the world’s transformation to be successful and thriving tomorrow. And act and change accordingly!!

Fourth Revolution book Kindle version
Fourth Revolution book (Kindle version)

Because it is important that you be successful, the Fourth Revolution book’s Kindle version is being sold temporarily at the astonishingly low price of 3.99$ or 2.98 euros*. Think about the value you’ll get to understand the world at this price!

This promotion will not last long. Get your copy today from Amazon’s Kindle store!

The Fourth Revolution on Amazon.com’s Kindle store

The Fourth Revolution on Amazon.co.uk’s Kindle store

The Fourth Revolution on Amazon.fr’s Kindle store

The Fourth Revolution on Amazon.de’s Kindle store

If you don’t have a Kindle you can read this e-book on a Kindle reader available for free for all Apple products (iPad, iPhone etc) and Windows

* depending where you order from there might be some additional local taxes applied on top of this net price

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The history of crowdfunding – the Fourth Revolution in action

I have had quite a few reactions from the blog post on Kiva.org, or how we can give money to needy individuals at the other end of the world.

handling dollar billsThat’s called crowdfunding.

Here is a link to an interesting post about the history of crowdfunding: the history and evolution of crowdfunding.

It shows how experiments are now following each other, more and more frequently, that allow small amounts of money to change hands, without the intermediary of a large organization (and its bureaucracy, risk-adversity, etc). Just because the Fourth Revolution provides us with unprecedented human interaction capability.

Will crowdfunding overtake the Industrial Age conventional financial institutions? For the moment it is rather complementary, a small scale solution to small scale problems that are overlooked by conventional institutions. Still, crowdfunding will become very important for many people. This is only the start!

Crowdfunding adds a layer of possibility on top of the existing institutions. That is what will happen with many of our usual institutions as the Fourth Revolution expands. Looking forward to the crowd-institutions!

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The 2011 crisis reveals the Fourth Revolution in action

Look closely at this picture, taken in a street of a developed country, and so typical of today’s crisis:

2011 crisis queue
a 2011 crisis queue

What are people queuing for?

Maybe their bank went broke and they queue, hoping to save their last pennies.

Maybe they don’t have anything to eat, and they wait for some food to be given away?

Maybe they don’t have a job, and they wait patiently in front of the local job office?

Sorry – none of this. This is what they wait for:

got an iPhone!
the real 2011 crisis!

They wait for the new iPhone. They wait for the new communication tools which, behind the scenes, reshapes our world.

The Fourth Revolution is a Revolution. Institutions and society will change. Arab countries revolt, helped by modern communication technology. The foundations of our industry and financial system are shaken by the changes in the value chain. What was worthwhile yesterday will not be valued tomorrow; what was mainstream yesterday might be unethical tomorrow.

The world readjusts to the Fourth Revolution. Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” is happening right under our eyes. The foundations of the Industrial Revolution are shaken. Silently, behind the scenes, a new world is being shaped by visionaries, Steve Jobs and others. An other world. The Collaborative Age.

 

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How can we hope to understand the Collaborative Age?

We have been raised in the Industrial Age. Our parents lived in the core of the Industrial Age. Our mindset and world-view has been shaped by years and decades of Industrial Age formatting.

Revolutions take often at least one generation to spread, because it involves a drastic mindset change.

Embedded in our Industrial Age conditioning, how can we hope to get a glimpse, understand, the Collaborative world?

Only two approaches are possible.

  • Analyze previous Revolutions to understand typical constants and transformations, and extrapolate to the Fourth Revolution
  • Examine Fourth Revolution precursors and follow their direction towards the Collaborative Age.

The way to understanding the Collaborative Age is hard and dangerous. But it is necessary. Only by anticipating transformations can we thrive through them and find a meaning to the world.

Are you ready to go down the arduous path of trying to understand the Fourth Revolution?

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