Description
The New Reality. Volume 11 in the UBSS Publications series. An essential reading for those working in the higher education industry.
Humans have completed four technological eras: the 2-million-year scavenging era (which succeeded the 4-million-year foraging era of our predecessors, the Australopithecines), the 1-million-year hunting era, the 12-thousand-year farming era, and the 200-year industrial era. Economic historians sometimes break these eras into phases – e.g., Phase 1, in which the early adopters of the new technology are in a minority; Phase 2, in which the majority of the population have adopted the now not-so new technology but many – the technology convicts – have done so grudgingly; and Phase 3, when everyone is a digital native or convert and very comfortable with the now well-established technology. Historians also hypothesise that crises may have sped up the adoption of the new technology in each era, facilitating the transitions between the phases. But the evidence for this is scant and the mechanisms proposed are mainly thought bubbles.
We now live in mankind’s fifth technological era – the digital era. Compared with the earlier eras (but probably not with those yet to come), it is an era on steroids. And a major crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic – has occurred during the era. We no longer have to speculate about the impact of crises on technology adoption, mores, and ways of behaving. Since early 2020, we have been living future history on the subject.
“The New Reality” is always in stock. “Printed On Demand” in Australia by Intertype
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