Can Technology Save Us – Again?
February 6th, 2009 | by geo |
I’m not a politician or an economist, but I think a lot and here’s a thought. I don’t see a technology on the radar that will pull us out of this recession. In the 70’s microchips were king, and helped boost our economy. Intel started this whole wave which led to Billions in revenue and tons of jobs. I’m an Intel shareholder BTW.
In the 80’s, the PC came at us full force and every business, and eventually consumer, NEEDED one. Tons of jobs and loads of $$$$$ generated for our economy.
In the 90’s – Welcome to the Internet era. Cash everywhere and more money and jobs to go around.
The bubble burst in 2000, life got hard, but even companies like Google were born (2001) Yes, Google was born during the big internet bust.
So, technology played a big role in boosting our economy over the past several decades. But what about now? What technology is priming the pump? I can’t point to one myself. I don’t think it’s social media, at least not in the near term. I don’t believe Facebook is going to generate the kind of cash and opportunity we saw with semiconductors, PC’s, and Google in the next few yrs. I don’t think it’s online media either, like Hulu for example. Users will only shift their spending from cable companies to online products if it makes sense, and the jobs will shift according to demand as well. It’s not an incremental service. The same goes with the advertising industry, where spending is just shifting from print to online and mobile.
I think the answer has to be altertative energy/Green. Companies like GreenBox might have a shot, where people can intelligently manage the amount of energy they consume. This is radical change that can really have impact. Maybe it will be the auto industry, but big change there feels +10yrs away. I think this time around it will be the energy industry that will bring America back, not high-tech.
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2 Responses to “Can Technology Save Us – Again?”
By MSenne on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Google was founded in 98. Where did you get the 2001 figure from?
I agree that the next big thing isn’t here yet. I’m starting to wonder if it might be something like a converged internet device that actually works. Something that combines your PC, your phone, MP3 player, camera, PDA functions together into a USABLE package. Something that Just Works would shake up the world, and it’d be a mere evolution of what’s already out there.
By geo on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Yes google was founded in 98 – misread wikipedia.
But I was in the ballpark…. give or take a few yrs.
Hey, You’re “converged device” could be closer than u think – heard of Modu? http://www.modumobile.com
I think one form factor though will never be 100% optimal for all of those functions. It’s just like cars – wouldn’t use a dump truck to speed race – know what i mean?