Each evening I drawn into an ocean of thoughts, memories, C2H5OH self-pitty and dispair. Magidacally, with each morning I find strenght, courage, elan and love to get re-born again.

#phoenix

The Tulipmania – the greatest economic bubble. in 1637 Dutch people found themselves in a situation to believe that a single bulb costs as much as a house.

On the picture (via Wikipedia): an allegory of tulip mania by Hendrik Gerritsz Pot, circa 1640. Flora, the goddess of flowers, is blown by the wind and rides with a tippler, money changers, and the two-faced goddess Fortuna. They are followed by dissolute Haarlem weavers, on their way to destruction in the sea.

Thoughts provoked when looking at the facebook evaluation of 50 Billion and the looming IPO…

Nenko was doing dull stuff at Icy all day long. The guys there knew he was good, they knew also they give him stupid things to work on. They couldn’t change much in this aspect – when you are at the tail of the food chain, you take what comes. They just couldn’t challenge or utilize Nenko’s talent better. So they paid him a decent amount of money to keep him around. Social security was sea level low, but Bulgarians are short term oriented anyway.

My pitch was going against all these odds. I could offer him 4 times less the money he got at Icy at that time. On the other hand I told him that we are going to change the world. The thing is I believed in what I say – it always makes the difference when you say something you believe in. It seams I managed to impress him somewhat.  Nenko was listening carefully and at some point he took a deep breath and said: I know “the destiny favored the brave”… but he didn’t go on. He said  this in Bulgarian and due to a lapse or something else, unwillingly surfacing skepticism maybe, he used the past tense of the verb “favor”. I thought for a beat “Oh my God, I’ve failed, he is not in, he thinks the destiny used to favor the brave, but doesn’t do it anymore”. But several days later Nenko was on board. And we started creating exciting things.

But somehow in what Nenko said that day, he encoded what was about to come on the way of our journey.

In Latin, the original of this sentence “the destiny favored the brave” sounds exactly like “fortuna favit fortus”.

Nasko presumably came up with the name FAVIT whole two years later, in the yearly 2008. But… wouldn’t be possible that this name, this service, this idea was floating in a meta-physical reality , embracing  us all, since that very day?

Go figure…

So, I come from the web industry. Some of you might know that this is a place where people get together to have fun and create amazing technologies that give people control over information in its two expressions:  as content and communication. Many people (as I suspect my father being one among them) probably think that the boys and girls from the Web are teasing the lion and will ultimately cause some big, fat unexplainable tragedy in a very near future. My conscience is clear though. So far I haven’t had any internal doubts that one day I will have to go back in the past and to – back to the future terminatorish style – wipe out the younger me, in order to prevent some future evil.

No! What the entire Internet industry and our company as a tiny, little, ambitious part of it is doing, is creating tools with which to make it possible for everyone of us to: Create, Understand, Consume, Distribute, Organize & Filter  CONTENT

The goal is to provide meaningful technological means  to control the main resource of our time – the content or the information in the broader perception. And, for the first time in history, everyone will have this control…for free. Information is a powerful thing. It was contained for a very long time, but now it broke out and started eroding the status quo in all its manifestations: personal life, social and economical relations.  The established order is slightly collapsing day-by-day before our eyes.

It would be naive to think that this change will leave our social structure unaffected. There will be a decline of the old and the emergence of new classes. In this talk I’d like to share with you what, in my view, would be these new classes of the information society. If any at all. Having in mind that the classes are just a result of a segregation process, that is caused by differences of some sort, I would like to search for possible differences that would eventually cause segregation.

As we deal with social dynamics here, we need to understand how the past social relations have evolved into the present and would, most likely, develop into the future. Direct extrapolation of trends will not be very accurate because we have a lot of trend-disturbing factors. But the new developments don’t start from scratch. So, how we ended up with the Information Age?

So far, humanity went through 2 Economic ages before the Information one:

In terms of distribution of power, in the first 2 ages – Agricultural and Industrial – the ruling class dominated through institutionalized control, a.k.a. power, over the main scarce resources of its time. In the Agricultural era, the primary scarcity was the LAND. In the Industrial age the primary scarcity were the MEANS OF PRODUCTION and the involved manufacturing technologies. All minerals, energy and raw materials needed for the manufacturing of goods are included into the terms “means of production”.

But a very interesting process began after the World War II…

This process was driven by the unstoppable thrive of the post war industrial elite for increased profits. The existing intellectual potential was engaged. A simple conclusion followed: speed up every single process in the value production chain – from the planning down to the distribution.

During the WWII everywhere one could see mass-planning, production and distribution in action. It was actually preceding the mass market goods production that was about to explode during the 60s.

And one company deployed technology that improved dramatically all the processes involved in the goods manufacturing during the WWII – International Business Machines. The IBM data processing machines were used by Americans, Germans and Japanese alike. The Russians didn’t  use them directly, they copied them.

It is actually quite easy to realize why IBM was the primary innovation carrier in the whole post WWII period – it had a huge head start. I actually wonder that they left the Germans from Siemens to mix-up in the game.

Several cycles of innovation passed. Over time, the hardware technology improved and became cheaper to produce and easier to use. In the mid-80′s it was simple and cheap enough to exit the offices and to enter into the people’s homes.

After the massive computerization came the mass wiring. We’ve got computers everywhere that are interconnected to each other and can exchange quickly large amounts of data. The wireless access to information removed the last bits of technology obstacles for us, users, to hang out non-stop in the web.

Very recently we ended up with the current WEB: Billions of hard drives building networks, connected with wires and wireless. The information is  encoded on billions of hard disks and can be edited, commented upon, shared etc. with the help of thousands of PC- and web-based tools.

This technology and infrastructure made communication very easy. More and more people started to keep in touch with each other and with the real, physical world through the web. The trend is clear and unique. Try to imagine how humans would interact after 5, 10 or 20 years from now.

The emergence of the network and the opportunities it created, led to a major change in our society. Now we’re linked with each other in a way in which we have never been linked throughout human history. We can quickly and easily communicate, exchange ideas, make plans and share experiences with one another.

From the pyramidal, bureaucratic structure of our societies, we are on track to adhocracy – a flat society with quite different internal structure and internal dynamics.

But, let’s forget about our private sphere. The information became the main drive of our economic activities. There is one simple sequence: the economy is driven by the progress and the progress depends from the productivity growth rate.

Throughout the evolution of our species, ever since we developed consciousness and started to worry about what others might say if they eventually see us digging in some of our nose holes, the fundamental reasons that drive growth are two:

Information and Energy, a.k.a. I KNOW and I CAN.

From the dawn of humanity people work together, or put in other words – unite their personal resources – in order to increase productivity. In the pre-informational age the people have united efforts (we flock to work on the field or to fabricate goods at the conveyor).

Remember Trinity…?

Question: What do we unite in the information age?

Answer: Talent, creativity and knowledge.
The early signs are that, by doing so, we  are able to achieve a productivity growth that was unthinkable just a decade ago. Because of our technological capabilities we are able to think effectively in groups, make plans for development in groups, look for opportunities in groups. In short – we came up to a point where we are able to enhance our brain capacity with other people’s brain capacity and as a result achieve a collective wisdom that changes our reality in every aspect. Look around – don’t you see innovation and creativity literally exploding?!

We are able to think and work – unite intellectual power – with people that are 12 000 kilometers away from us. Imagine the Middle Ages Europeans being able to work with the Mayas on the problem of crops watering. The latter might still be around and their faith would be different, less painful. Now we are enjoying an instant access to a technology that someone somewhere came up with, and shared with the rest of us. Knowledge flows around like air and we enjoy all this thanks to the Information technology and the behavioral pattern of sharing. We are also able to process and analyze enormous datasets in seconds. This alone dramatically reduced the time needed to create whatever we want. Remember Trinity from the Matrix, learning to fly a helicopter in just a snap? That’s a nice metaphor of the Information Age.

Yes, indeed, information is the most valuable resource of our time. It creates communication and knowledge, which is able to improve or worsen our lives, depending on what we will start with it. And here is a very important point: actually, the information is utterly available to everyone. Or the access barriers are extremely low.

A wise shadow from the past – Karl Marx – says: if we have a situation in which critical social-economic resources are equally available to everyone in the society, then there are main prerequisites evident for this society to be a classless society. In fact, it appears that Marx was obsessed with the classless society, but having spent some months as a teenager, reading his Das Kapital, I felt that Carl was actually obsessed with thinking up the model of a just society. He finally came up with the revolutionary idea about a certain model of human group organization without differences in wealth and position, furthermore in race, gender or ethnicity. Fair enough. I personally believe that the classless society developed as a dogma cost too many lives and was fundamentally a pursue of the wrong hypothesis – the real ideal should be just society, no matter how many classes we will have.

And in a situation where the social position and status of each one of us is determined not only by his or her efforts to achieve the desired position in society, work or family, but by the free, candid and unbiased assessment of the dependable group around the person. Imagine that assessments are made on the basis of the most accurate information, then you can really have the preconditions for justice in judgment that determines social status.

That assessment is critical. Not less critical is the context in which the assessment happens.

I am really not ready to claim right now that the Information Society would be a classless society.  Despite the equal access to the biggest scarcity. I see all kinds of objective and subjective differences that inevitably would lead to segregation of some kind. Where to look for these differences? Well, lets start from here:

The brain is our main processor of information. Considering all we said earlier, deem it as the thing that is responsible for the handling of the main resource. We all know that now we use quite under-utilize it. What was… a mere 3% of its capacity. Well, it is because we have not yet become informavors – people that feed themselves with information. God obviously knows his job and designed us with a perspective. Our brain processes information from all streams that flow into it through our senses – mainly eyes and ears for now. Recently, some youths from the University of San Diego, California, estimated that the average person is bombarded with about 34 gigabytes of information per day. With such a large volume of data, differences of even 1% in the speed with which we process, analyze and index the content leads to a substantial difference in our brain output , which in turn affects our initiatives, decisions and deeds in a positive or negative direction.

We are not even born with the same brain potential. We carry different genetic heritage. And in many cases the huge potential of our brain stays unrevealed. But what happens if this guy unleashes his latent brainpower ?

From the moment we cry out to the world for first time, several so called authorities like parents, relatives and teachers fill our minds with what anyone judges suitable for our personal development. And we are in the fragile age in which we cannot prevent any influence, especially if served with a smile. When we mature we assume the reins of our own lives, but do we realize the responsibility?

How we will develop and manage our brains will be actually one of our main responsibilities henceforth. Unfortunately, few of us take it seriously. Here again, we have all the prerequisites for significant differences. Our whole lifestyle – the air we breathe, what we eat, the books we read, the music we listen, videos we watch – is affecting our brain capability. Take the diet. Nutrition is very important for brain activity. New argument – none of us eats the same way as the one next to, how can we expect our brains to work equally well?!

Our brains differ substantially in their abilities and performance. Respectively the output that we will have will also differ substantially. This is the first major reason why we will not be equal in the Information society. Despite the fact that the most valuable resource is probably equally accessible to all of us.

Quality of information

Another place where we differ is the quality of information we will acquire in the process. You may posses a huge brain potential, but if you do not get quality information, it’s all in vain. It’s like to fill the tank of a brand new Ferrari with muddy water.

Quality of information depends on many things, but the most important ones to me are:

1. Interesting: matching the range of my needs. When interesting information hits my mind, it makes me feel happy and/or complete. Not always happy, but if I find it beneficial- I will feel 100% complete.

2. Updated: arrive quickly after it was created otherwise it becomes irrelevant. The information nowadays is like money in high inflation situation. You have them in the morning and they have value, till the afternoon they’ve lost it.

3. Credible: relates with the truth. Decisions are made based on information. Depending on how far it meets the truth, we will take correct or incorrect decisions, otherwise we will be successful or not. Ask the guys on Wallstreet.

In the hunt for credible information is every man on himself.  Several years ago I discovered for myself what to do to get quality information. The source of that knowledge was a little unexpected, but on a second thought, very logical – the CIA.

The book Ghost wars, that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, explains why US has been caught unprepared on 9/11. Well, the CIA is a government subsidized agency charged with the primary task to collect, index and analyze data. Furthermore, CIA has to build a stream of timely updated and credible information to the U.S. government. Based on that information the US Government will take the most appropriate foreign policy decisions. To accomplish the task well the CIA uses 2 types of channels to crosscheck their information: Spies and Satellites. In other words, the CIA information is delivered directly from the source or through trusted people.

The CIA literally overslept the foundation and strengthening of Al Qaeda, because in the early 90′s, just after they’ve won the proxy Afghan war against the Soviets, they decided to cut the spy networks for some reason and to remain only with the satellites that watched what was happening from the space.

For sure, the CIA had good explanation to cut off the spies. People tend to be inert, their performance is inconsistent and the motivation volatile. CIA realized it was difficult to control them. They realized that the data delivered should have gone through a complex process of verification, which slowed down the whole process of information output and required too many additional resources. So, with the developed space technology, they decided to drop them. They expected a direct and impartial process of data gathering – a change for the better. But in this way they missed so much small and micro trends developing on the ground in the meantime. These data could be communicated only by a living person.

After the drama with the twin towers and the lessons learned the hard way, CIA has gradually re-introduced the social channels of data gathering as this channel diversification actually created the best preconditions for quality information access.

So for 5 years now I am following the CIA principle and I pull information:

• through people I am rationally or emotionally bound
• directly from a selected sources

I do this and it works fine for me, but I am far from claiming this is the best model. Coming to our differences analysis: information may be easy accessible, but it is also abundant. Whoever of us manages to access more quality information, he would also extract greater benefit. Each one of us will establish channels for information access with varying efficiency and will cope differently with their management over time. As a result, we will end up with substantial differences in the benefit extraction.

Why I had to pinpoint the possible differences between people in the upcoming Information society in order to define its social classes?  Because in a society where the basic resource is utterly available and free, there are other scarcities such as:

• Brain capacity to decode and process
• Speed of access
• Reliability and Credibility of the main resource

The social status of each one of us, and therefore the formation of the social classes will depend on the group’s recognition for our contribution to cope with these deficits. And there is pretty much the promise that our status will correspond to the real value we deliver to others, cause the judgment is open and fair. And our ability to deliver value to others will depend on our personal ability to access and process information, on our will to participate and share.

I will now attempt to define behavior archetype that would put us into certain classes in the future information society:

1. > We have individual who is quite self-centered. He or she receives feeds from the surrounding environment. But he or she is a dead end; the information comes and stays with him or her. That’s the consumer that doesn’t add value along the value chain. This is the first class. Poor and selfish.  Their meaning for the group is not existent, mainly because the group is not aware of their existence.

2. <We have an individual who feeds information to the surrounding environment. But he or she doesn’t receive anything from other people and sources. These are the Initiators. Information is emerging in their minds and flows to the others through various channels. The initiators are as good as the ideas they create. As genuine idea bearers, their social role is very important. Unfortunately the majority of the Initiators are sheer examples of selfishness. We have always admired the leaders, the ones that had the talent , the courage and the strength to start something. But the information society will undermine the role of the leader. Imagine a situation where you live among a group that knows everything or is in a position to acquire that knowledge fast. Who would be the leader and how it will come to that to be recognized as such from the very intelligent group? I would assume that there would be occasional initiators, but no leaders in general. I dare to say that the times of the great leading heroes is gone. But there is another behavioral ideal emerging…

3. > < The ideal social role in the information society is the individual who receives and shares. Information flows around you, you extract the value for yourself (each one according to the personal needs and abilities) and you share further with the others, adding value in terms of topicality, speed and credibility. In this way the output of the formal or informal group would be maximized as every single member has contributed efficiently. Through our contributions, each one of us becomes the center of a mini universe. These are the aristocrats of the Information Society. They get the most of the credit by the others as they contribute to coping with the main deficits of the Information society.

Get and share

These new social statuses cannot be evaluated with the old terms. We don’t deal with a fixed, hierarchical society; therefore we cannot place some group on top of the other. Due to the differences that we saw above, each of us will deal with varying degrees of success and will add a different value along the chain. As a consequence each one of us will receive different recognition from the others, which will define the personal status within a group as a higher or lower and all prerequisites for a fair evaluation are present. But despite all our differences and ability gaps we all could embrace and strive to the third model. We will cope differently and will get different credit from the group, but nevertheless we will be part of the most fulfilling social group. Another thing: no one’s social status will be fixed or guaranteed as it is the case right now – it will be a result of our continuous efforts and talent, absolutely free assessed by a totally informed society.

Inspired by Simona, Leo Nefiodow and Alvin Toffler.

]]> http://konstantinhr.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/classes-in-the-information-society/feed/ 0 konstantinhr Image1a Economical eras in the human history bloketree innovatoin steps twit Internet_map_1024-1024x1024 interconnected pyramid of capitalism information society Marx450 brain_small nebuchadnezzar konstantin tedxbg http://konstantinhr.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/hello-world/ http://konstantinhr.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/hello-world/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:41:01 +0000 konstantinhr ]]> Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!