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Concept
Technological revolution
Summary
A technological revolution is a period in which one or more technologies is replaced by another novel technology in a short amount of time. It is an era of accelerated technological progress characterized by innovations whose rapid application and diffusion typically cause an abrupt change in society.
A technological revolution generally increases productivity and efficiency. It may involve material or ideological changes caused by the introduction of a device or system. Some examples of its potential impact are business management, education, social interactions, finance and research methodology; it is not limited strictly to technical aspects. A technological revolution significantly changes the material conditions of human existence and can reshape culture. It can play a role as a trigger of a chain of various and unpredictable changes.
What distinguishes a technological revolution from a random collection of technology systems and justifies conceptualizing it as a revolution are two basic features:
- The strong interconnectedness and interdependence of the participating systems in their technologies and markets.
- The capacity to transform profoundly the rest of the economy (and eventually society). The consequences of a technological revolution are not necessarily positive. For example, innovations, such as the use of coal as an energy source, can have negative environmental impact and cause technological unemployment. Joseph Schumpeter described this contradictory nature of technological revolution as creative destruction. The concept of technological revolution is based on the idea that technological progress is not linear but undulatory. Technological revolution can be Relation revolution (social relations, phones) Sectoral (more technological changes in one sector, e.g. Green Revolution and Commercial Revolution) Universal (interconnected radical changes in more sectors, the universal technological revolution can be seen as a complex of several parallel sectoral technological revolutions, e.g.
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