The best essay I've read for a while is certainly The Economist's Leader on "The Third Industrial Revolution", a timely and fascinating take on the digitisation of manufacturing, and the implications that will have on the geography of jobs. While the first industrial revolution brought us mechanisation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the second industrial revolution of the twentieth century brought mass production (think Henry Ford's quip 'Any colour as long as it's black'), the third industrial revolution of the twenty-first century will bring us mass customisation. We've been moving in this direction for a while (high-end fashion is one example), but, The Economist argues, the converging of several technologies, including clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (such as 3D printing) and web services, now allows the consumer to also be her own producer.
Job revolution
Job revolution
Job revolution
The best essay I've read for a while is certainly The Economist's Leader on "The Third Industrial Revolution", a timely and fascinating take on the digitisation of manufacturing, and the implications that will have on the geography of jobs. While the first industrial revolution brought us mechanisation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the second industrial revolution of the twentieth century brought mass production (think Henry Ford's quip 'Any colour as long as it's black'), the third industrial revolution of the twenty-first century will bring us mass customisation. We've been moving in this direction for a while (high-end fashion is one example), but, The Economist argues, the converging of several technologies, including clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (such as 3D printing) and web services, now allows the consumer to also be her own producer.