Jeremy Philips: The Internet is already our era's big disrupter (book review)
[Mr. Philips is executive vice president of News Corp., which owns Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.]
In the Middle Ages, a simple military innovation helped to create an entirely new social structure. By introducing saddle stirrups made out of flexible leather rather than rigid metal, Charlemagne enabled mounted soldiers to keep their balance while moving freely—and to fight more formidably than their earthbound compatriots. To give these "knights" an income, he granted them their own territories from which they could collect rents. Thus was born feudalism. Charlemagne, meanwhile, ascended to new heights as Holy Roman Emperor.
It is far from certain, of course, that a leather stirrup can even begin to explain what "caused" feudal society. But to Larry Downes, in "The Laws of Disruption," it is a useful instance of a small material change having big effects. Mr. Downes, the author of "Unleashing the Killer App" (1998), says that history is pushed in surprising directions by exactly such innovations. He notes, for instance, that the steam engine, antibiotics and the atom bomb made dramatic appearances that were then followed "by even more dramatic changes to the civilizations that used them." The Internet is our own era's big disrupter. We already know how it has changed our habits and ways of doing things. Mr. Downes says that its long-term effects on society will be even greater.
The central thesis of "The Laws of Disruption" is that "technology changes exponentially, but social, economic and legal systems change incrementally." When it comes to the digital revolution, Mr. Downes says, our laws have not kept pace with the changes that it has brought about. Governments levy taxes, oversee intellectual property and regulate communications as if we all lived in a prelapsarian world—with a land-line phone, a typewriter and a library card. Thus he argues against out-dated regulatory distinctions—for instance, between different types of voice and data carriers. He argues against the ban on Internet gambling, too, and against the attempts to bring about "net neutrality." He is particularly critical of the Federal Communications Commission, which he says has shown a "baffling and dogged determination to see the world exactly as it looked" at the end of AT&T's monopoly reign 25 years ago.
Not that Mr. Downes wants regulators and judges to rush to keep up by imposing ever new laws and regulations. He counsels instead that these authorities simply use a light touch, because the rapid pace of change makes it impossible to predict the course of technology. He quotes federal judge Frank Easterbrook, who once observed that "the blind are not good trailblazers." For the most part, Mr. Downes says, regulators should leave the Web alone and simply protect it from interference—for example, by granting immunity to Web sites that might be sued for the comments of their users...
Read entire article at WSJ
In the Middle Ages, a simple military innovation helped to create an entirely new social structure. By introducing saddle stirrups made out of flexible leather rather than rigid metal, Charlemagne enabled mounted soldiers to keep their balance while moving freely—and to fight more formidably than their earthbound compatriots. To give these "knights" an income, he granted them their own territories from which they could collect rents. Thus was born feudalism. Charlemagne, meanwhile, ascended to new heights as Holy Roman Emperor.
It is far from certain, of course, that a leather stirrup can even begin to explain what "caused" feudal society. But to Larry Downes, in "The Laws of Disruption," it is a useful instance of a small material change having big effects. Mr. Downes, the author of "Unleashing the Killer App" (1998), says that history is pushed in surprising directions by exactly such innovations. He notes, for instance, that the steam engine, antibiotics and the atom bomb made dramatic appearances that were then followed "by even more dramatic changes to the civilizations that used them." The Internet is our own era's big disrupter. We already know how it has changed our habits and ways of doing things. Mr. Downes says that its long-term effects on society will be even greater.
The central thesis of "The Laws of Disruption" is that "technology changes exponentially, but social, economic and legal systems change incrementally." When it comes to the digital revolution, Mr. Downes says, our laws have not kept pace with the changes that it has brought about. Governments levy taxes, oversee intellectual property and regulate communications as if we all lived in a prelapsarian world—with a land-line phone, a typewriter and a library card. Thus he argues against out-dated regulatory distinctions—for instance, between different types of voice and data carriers. He argues against the ban on Internet gambling, too, and against the attempts to bring about "net neutrality." He is particularly critical of the Federal Communications Commission, which he says has shown a "baffling and dogged determination to see the world exactly as it looked" at the end of AT&T's monopoly reign 25 years ago.
Not that Mr. Downes wants regulators and judges to rush to keep up by imposing ever new laws and regulations. He counsels instead that these authorities simply use a light touch, because the rapid pace of change makes it impossible to predict the course of technology. He quotes federal judge Frank Easterbrook, who once observed that "the blind are not good trailblazers." For the most part, Mr. Downes says, regulators should leave the Web alone and simply protect it from interference—for example, by granting immunity to Web sites that might be sued for the comments of their users...