I think it is safe to say that disruptive technologies that have unfolded in the past 7 decades (a little less than my lifespan to date) exceeds those that have emerged in many past centuries.
This note is not intended to list the disruptive technologies of the past as these can be found in numerous articles that can easily be searched online. Instead, I will share my thoughts about the effect of disruptive events in our lives and their effect on creating a cascade of changes in our lives, be it personal, national or global.
On the personal/individual level, every time we encounter some disruption to the flow of our lives, be it driven by social, professional, health or wealth factors, we make adjustments to the way we conduct our lives and only time is the judge of whether these adjustments serve us well or not.
On the national level, by browsing the historic events for each nation it is fair to say that the evolution (rise or fall) of a nation’s health in the form of wealth, power, governance and harmony differ greatly from one nation to the next depending on the specific parameters, natural or man made) that pertain to each nation. Like the personal level, many adjustments are made and only time is the best judge of whether these adjustments serve well the particular nation or not. Needless to say, the changes on the national level cannot be decoupled from the changes that occur on the personal level for the citizens of each nation that they belong to.
Now comes the global level and it gets more complicated! If we cast our minds to the disruptions that occurred in the last century (as a snapshot in history), one will observe that by linking the aforementioned personal and national disruptions (in their many complex forms and aspects) we can begin to understand what are the likely reasons for the global changes (especially man made) that have occurred and those that are still unfolding. Once again, for the global disruptions, only time will be the judge whether or not the changes (ecologic, economic, strategic, scientific, technologic, etc.) will serve well the globe that we all share!
In all events, disruptions are the seeds of some good and some bad outcomes such as new ideas, innovations, honest and dishonest rivalries, good and bad revolutions, proxy wars, religious wars, and, in the extreme, world wars.
A myriad of movies, plays, TV documentaries, newspaper articles, poems, songs, etc. addressing all of the disruptive events and the the resulting changes that occurred over our recorded history were generated, some accurate but, unfortunately, some with bias, prejudice and often misinformation.
In summary, disruptive events on all levels have occurred and will continue to occur over time and it is evident that the present speed of the resulting changes in our lives is mind-boggling! As individual, national and global conscience is but a manifestation of all the complex changes that have occurred over the millennia I wonder by what mechanism, if any at all, will a new disruptive event/events will this world converge to a happy ending!!
At this time we can only hope that the present disruptive Coronavirus pandemic will vanish from our lives and will serve as a lesson that we, as humans, are very vulnerable and that our hope for salvation can only lie in a form of good use of any further disruptions that will occur in our lives!
“Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle.
Hani Badawi
August 6, 2020
