Ephemeralization
Ephemeralization, a term coined by
Fuller uses Henry Ford's assembly line (used by Henry Ford at his car factory), as an example of how ephemeralization can continuously lead to better products at lower cost with no upper bound on productivity. Fuller saw ephemeralization as an inevitable trend in human development.[1]
Consequences to society
Francis Heylighen[3] and Alvin Toffler[4] have written that ephemeralization, though it may increase our power to solve physical problems, can make non-physical problems worse. According to Heylighen and Toffler, increasing system complexity and information overload make it difficult and stressful for the people who must control the ephemeralized systems. This might negate the advantages of ephemeralization.[3][4]
The solution proposed by Heylighen
In Heylighen's view, the system could frequently be fed with new information from its myriad human users and computer agents, which it would take into account to offer the human users a list of the best possible approaches to achieve tasks.[5] Heylighen believes near-optimization could be achieved both at the level of the individual who makes the request, and at the level of society which attempts to minimize the conflicts between the desires of its different members and to aim at long term, global progress while as much as possible protecting individual liberty and privacy.[5]
See also
- Jevons Paradox
- Accelerating change
- Accidental complexity
- Attention economy
- Collective intelligence
- Emergence
- Global brain
- Intelligence amplification
- Miniaturization
- Technological singularity
References
- ^ a b c R. Buckminster Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon, Anchor Books, 1938, 1973, pp. 252–59.
- ^ "Why the Periodic Table of Elements Is More Important Than Ever". Bloomberg.com. 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-135-97764-1.
- ^ Powershift(1990)
- ^ a b c d Francis Heylighen, Tackling Complexity and Information Overload: intelligence amplification, attention economy and the global brain, draft paper, to be submitted to The Information Society, pages 20-44, 2002-04-12
Further reading
- Essay on ephemeralization (worldtrans.org)
- An Essay by Paul Graham. Quote: The smartphone and tablet computer"have effectively drilled a hole that will allow ephemeralization to flow into a lot of new areas."
