The difference between technical revolution (hereinafter referred to as T. R.) and technological change is not clearly defined. Technological change can be seen as the introduction of one single new technology, while a technological revolution is a period when almost all new innovations are adopted almost simultaneously.
The bottom line is
Technical revolution increases productivity and efficiency. This may be due to material or ideological changes brought about by the introduction of a device or system. Some examples of its potential impact are business management, education, social interactions, financial and research methodology. It is not limited to technical aspects only. The technological revolution rewrites the material conditions of human existence and can change culture. It can act as a trigger for a chain of various and unpredictable changes.
Main Features
Everything that distinguishes a technological revolution from a random collection of technological systems and justifies its conceptualization as a revolution (and not just a change) can be easily summarized in two points:
- Strong interconnection and interdependence of participating systems in technologies and markets.
- The ability to profoundly transform the rest of the economy (and ultimately society).
Consequences
The consequences of the socio-technical revolution are not necessarily positive. For example, some innovations, such as the use of coal as an energy source, can have a negative impact on the environment and even cause unemployment in certain sectors of the economy. The concept discussed in the article is based on the idea that technological progress is not linear, but rather a cyclical phenomenon.
Views
Technical revolution could be:
- Sectoral, affecting changes in one sector.
- Universal, involving radical changes in more sectors. It is, first of all, a complex of several parallel industry revolutions. For example, the Second Industrial Revolution and the technological revolution of the Renaissance.
The concept of universal technological revolutions is a key factor in the neo-Schumpeterian theory of long economic waves/cycles.
History
The most famous examples of this phenomenon were the industrial revolution in the 19th century, the scientific and technological revolution (scientific and technological progress) of the 1950-1960s, the neolithic revolution, the digital revolution, etc. The term "technological revolution" is often abused, therefore, it is not easy to determine which events in the course of the history of the world were really related to this phenomenon, having a universal effect on humanity. One universal technological revolution should consist of several sectoral ones (in science, industry, transport, etc.).
We can highlight several universal technological revolutions that have taken place in the modern era in Western culture:
- Financial and agricultural revolution (1600-1740).
- Industrial Revolution (1780-1840).
- Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1920).
- Scientific and technological revolution (1940-1970).
- Information and telecommunications revolution (1975 to present).
Attempts to find comparable periods of well-defined technological change in the pre-revolutionary era are highly speculative. Probably one of the most systematic attempts to suggest a time frame for technological revolutions in pre-modern Europe was by Daniel Schmichula:
- Indo-European technological revolution (1900-1100 BC).
- Celtic and Greek technological revolution (700-200 BC).
- German-Slavic technological revolution (300-700 AD).
- Medieval technological revolution (930-1200 AD).
- Renaissance Technological Revolution (1340-1470 AD).
After 2000, there was a popular idea that the sequence of such revolutions is not yet over, and in the coming future we will witness the birth of a new universal T. R. The main innovations should develop in the fields of nanotechnology, alternative fuel and energy systems, biotechnology, genetic engineering, etc.
Sometimes the term "technological revolution" is used for the Second Industrial Revolution, which began around 1900. When the concept of technological revolution is used in a more general sense, it is almost identical to scientific and technological progress. Such a revolution, if sectoral, may be limited to changes in management, organization, and so-called intangible technologies (such as advances in mathematics or accounting).
More general classification
There is also a more general, broad and universal classification of T. R.:
- Upper Paleolithic Revolution: Emergence of "high culture", new technologies and regional cultures (50,000-40,000 years ago).
- The Neolithic Revolution (probably 13,000 years ago) that formed the basis for the development of human civilization.
- The Technological Revolution of the Renaissance: many inventions during the Renaissance, roughly from the 14th to the 16th century.
- Commercial revolution: the period of the European economicexpansion, colonialism and mercantilism that lasted roughly from the 16th to the early 18th century.
- Price Revolution: A series of economic events from the second half of the 15th century to the first half of the 17th. The price revolution primarily refers to the high rates of inflation that characterize the period in Western Europe.
- Scientific Revolution: A fundamental transformation in scientific ideas in the 16th century.
- The British Agricultural Revolution (18th century), which spurred urbanization and therefore helped start the Industrial Revolution.
- The Industrial Revolution: A major shift in technological, socio-economic and cultural conditions in the late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread around the world.
- Market Revolution: a dramatic change in the system of manual labor that took place in the southern United States (and soon spread to the north) and then spread to the whole world (circa 1800-1900).
- Second Industrial Revolution (1871-1914).
- The "Green Revolution" (1945-1975): The use of industrial fertilizers and new crops greatly increased the world's agricultural output.
- Digital Revolution: The radical changes brought about by computing and communications technology since 1950 with the creation of the first mainframe electronic computers.
- Information Revolution: The massive economic, social and technological changes brought about by the digital revolution (post-1960).
Link to progress
Technological change (TI), technological development, technological advancement or technological progress is the general process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technologies or processes. Essentially, technological change encompasses the invention of technologies (including processes) and their commercialization or serialization through research and development (creation of new technologies), the continuous improvement of technologies (in which they often become cheaper and more accessible), and their diffusion across entire industry or society (sometimes associated with convergence). In short, technological change is based on both more efficient and higher technologies, which is the main feature of any scientific, industrial and scientific and technological revolution.
Modeling technological change
In its early days, technological change was illustrated by the "Innovation Linear Model", which is now largely rejected by the scientific community, being replaced by a technological change model that includes innovation at all stages of research, development, dissemination and use. When talking about "modeling technological change", it often refers to the process of creating and implementing innovations. This process of continuous improvement is often modeled as a curve depicting cost reductions over time (for example, a fuel cell that gets cheaper every year). TI is also often modeled using a curvelearning, for example: Ct=C0Xt ^ -b
Technical changes themselves are often included in other models (eg climate change models) and perceived as an exogenous factor. These days, TIs are most commonly thought of as an endogenous factor. This means that they are perceived as something that you can influence. Today, there are sectors that support the policy of such targeted influence and thus can influence the speed and direction of technological change. For example, supporters of the induced technological change hypothesis argue that politicians can control the direction of technological advances by influencing relative prices and various factors - an example of this claim is how climate protection policies pursued by many Western countries affect the use of fuel energy, in particular does its more expensive. So far, there is no empirical evidence for the existence of politically driven innovation effects, and this may be due to a number of reasons beyond model sparseness (e.g., long-term policy uncertainty and exogenous factors in the direction of innovation).
Invention
The creation of something new, the invention of "breakthrough" technology - this is what starts the process of industrial and technological revolution. Invention often refers to the process of developing a product and is highly dependent on the research being done in that particular area. The best example is the invention of software forspreadsheets. Newly invented technologies are traditionally patented. This tradition was cemented during the technological revolution of the 20th century.
Diffusion
Diffusion refers to the spread of technology through a society or a particular industry. Diffusion in technology theory usually follows an S-curve, as early versions of technology are rather unsuccessful. It is followed by a period of successful innovation with high adoption rates and finally a drop in demand for this new technology as it reaches its maximum potential in the market. The history of technological revolutions perfectly reflects this trend. In the case of the invention of the personal computer, for example, one new technology has gone beyond the normal working tool it should have been originally, spreading to all areas of human life.
Inventions and diffusion are the two main stages of technological revolutions. After them, there usually comes a recession and stagnation, preceding the next new T. R.
Social aspect
The development of the scientific and technological revolution always affects social processes. Confirmation of the idea of technological change as a social process is the general agreement on the importance of social context and communication. According to this model, technological change is seen as a social process involving manufacturers, inventors, managers, and everyone else (for example, the government above all three), who are deeply influenced bycultural conditions, political institutions and market conditions. The industrial and technological revolution is always a huge shock to society.
