THE NEXT CYCLE OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
The relationship between religion and science has been a subject of study since antiquity, addressed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. Most scientific and technical innovations prior to the scientific revolution were achieved by religious scholars. Elements of the scientific method were pioneered by ancient pagan, Islamic, and Christian scholars.
However, with the advent of the industrial age, religion and science shifted to a state of seemingly continuous conflict. And when societies and states changed from an agrarian base to an industrial base, the way they made war also changed and became vastly more mechanized. Industrial nations furnished their armies with tools very different from those produced by agrarian nations. As a result, the machine gun, steam and petroleum powered engines, the railroad, telegraph, radios, aircraft, and much more formed the basis not only of the modern military but also of modern society as whole, including business.
Many observers have said that the impacts of the information revolution on society will be far greater than the impact science had during the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society. We already know that the scale of social, technological and economic change are not easy things to predict. And so the information future itself is, of course, not entirely clear.
The next cycle of technology and systems development in the smart connected systems arena is supposed to be setting the stage for a multi-year wave of growth based on the convergence of software and real world systems. But is it?
If, as we have often said, the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are embedding software into their products—and now are building more and more software into their systems and solutions businesses—are the dominant “translators” of how these technologies will be integrated into our economy and society, then we may have a bumpy road ahead as OEMs sort through the complexity and challenges of new software-driven business models.
