Posted on 06/09/2010 10:51:49 AM PDT by Pete
Back in 1993, I began to realize that something significant was happening. I thought about it, wrote about it, and then spoke about it. There were two principal reactions.
The first one was amusement. I had been speaking to my partners, and afterward, one of them came up to me , smiled, and said, “Well, I suppose that’s interesting. If you ever find a use for it, let me know”.
The second one was overt antagonism. I remember one occasion when I was speaking to a group of businessmen. After I finished, an executive rushed up to me and said, angrily, right ino my face, “How dare you be so arrogant and tell us that if we don’t change, we will be left behind. Who do you think you are!”
I had done a lot of public speaking. This was the first time that people had reacted in these ways. I thought that something must be wrong with what I was saying. So, I stopped public speaking, retired, and put these ideas away.
Until now.
In 2009, I was on my personal computer on the internet. I suddenly realized that, back in 1993, personal computers were primitive. And there was no internet.
What I did not realize fully in 1993 was that these ideas required powerful personal computers … and an internet, in order to have relevance and meaning ... in order to be unleashed. So, back in 1993, my ideas were interesting, but useless. I recall, back in 1993, thinking that the missing pieces might be computers that were more powerful, and some way of linking computers together. It turns out I was right about that.
But what I missed completely was what would happen after that, and why.
What we have been witnessing, for the first time in history, is a reversal in the direction of power – away from the concentration of power, and toward the distribution of power.
This is what I wrote in 1993 (with a few updates).
This is about the journey, more than the destination. It is a discussion about the cause of what is being increasingly referred to as “a new paradigm”. Alvin Toffler focuses on a fundamental change in the nature and the structure of power in “Powershift”; Peter Drucker, in “New Realities” identifies the end of the paradigm “paradise through socialism”; some members of government are talking about a new paradigm, which is characterized by “market forces, choice, decentralization, empowerment, and accountability”.
This chapter is about CIC (pronounced kick).
CIC is the force which has been unleashed by modern computers and the internet (that is what I didn’t see in 1993). It is the force created when creativity, information, and communication, each an exponential force, combine and reach a critical mass. So, it becomes a “triple” exponential force. CIC transforms power into a very different and unfamiliar form.
The source of Creativity is a religious and a philosophical issue. Creativity itself, however, is exponential power, whether in the form of a wheel, a rifle, a printing press, or a computer. Creativity acted as its own catalyst, synthesizing the products of creativity to produce information.
The Industrial Revolution began when CI (Creativity and Information) reached a critical mass. After creativity combined with information, each acted as a catalyst on the other. The resulting force grew exponentially until it generated enough power to act as a catalyst for a Revolution.
CI without Communication is a power-generator. The dominant characteristic of the Industrial Revolution was success through the concentration of power generated by CI. The transformation of existing systems, and the creation of new systems was based on the principle of concentration of CI-power.
The dominant system structure was the pyramid in all major systems – political, economic, social, religious, educational, financial, defensive, and industrial. The generic technique was the transfer of individual responsibility, power, and freedom to each system in order to concentrate power. Each system became more powerful as it was able to absorb more and more individual power. Each individual became weaker. The resulting wealth and magnitude of systems created by CI-power was unprecedented.
The major exception to the CI-power revolution, viewed worldwide as an aberration and an experiment, was the development of democracy in the United States of America. Although much of it was based on the CI-power structure, it was in many respects a precursor of the next major evolutionary step, the CIC Revolution.
In that chapter, the author introduces the idea of the linear versus exponential change. In Chapter 2, above, he introduces the idea CIC (pronounced kick), which stands for Creativity, Information and Communication and discusses general principles that are applied to specific areas (Media, Demographics, Economics, etc) in later chapters.
The text is not technical so it is readily accessible by non-mathematicians. It is also HIGHLY relevant to individuals understanding and acting to influence everything we are experiencing today with regards to politics, economics, foreign policy, family and more.
CIC is the part of the ship that monitors communications and threats. CIC is adjacent to the bridge and next to the captain’s ready room.
Different CIC;)
The CIC is a limp-wristed Marxist dufus.
What? Wrong CIC? AGAIN?!? =)
Very interesting. It explains some of the vague “unsettled” feelings the population is experiencing. I was thinking of Sarah Palin and why she is so compelling. She is the embodiment of CIC.
Yes, exactly. Others who get it are Michele Bachmann and Jim Demint. I think the prominent person who is most using CIC principles is Glenn Beck in his distribution of information to his audience.
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