"Each great technological revolution-steam power, railways, steel, automobiles, information technology-follows a predictable arc: an installation period of financial speculation and infrastructure-building, followed by a deployment period in which society learns to use the new technology productively and broadly, with a dramatic reduction in income inequality and shared prosperity as a result."
"We are, she argues, at exactly that inflection point with digital and green technologies. The installation phase-the dot-com boom, the shale revolution, the explosion of platform companies-is behind us. What comes next, if societies make the right choices, is a potential "golden age" of broad-based prosperity, grounded not in the extraction of physical materials but in the creation of knowledge, services, and sustainable."
Oil market disruptions from Iran's potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered concerns about prices reaching $150 per barrel, evoking 1970s crisis comparisons. However, expensive oil may represent a critical inflection point that aligns economic incentives with long-ignored sustainability challenges. Economic historian Carlota Perez argues that technological revolutions follow predictable patterns: installation phases of speculation and infrastructure-building, followed by deployment phases enabling broad prosperity. Digital and green technologies are transitioning from installation to deployment phases. This shift presents an opportunity for a "golden age" of shared prosperity based on knowledge, services, and sustainable practices rather than physical resource extraction, provided societies make appropriate policy choices.
Read at Fast Company
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