Re: Technology penetration

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Nov 16 2000 - 08:59:31 MST


"Sean Kenny" <seankenny@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:

> One of my interests is how quickly new technologies penetrate societies.

Mine too. This is going to be a major factor in how new technologies
are going to affect societies. If technology diffusion is fast, then
new (useful) technology will not cause major rifts between haves and
have nots, while slower technology diffusion (compared to the rate of
emergence of new technology) would have a more disruptive
effect. Also, I guess fast technology diffusion both reflects the
adaptability of a society and how well the market can meet the demands
posed by the potential customers.

Are there any good datasets or books on the subject? I would like to
bite into it a bit.

> However we are constantly being told by the media =
> that mobile phones have not taken off in the US to the same extent
> as in = Europe. I'm curious as to American perceptions of this
> phenomena.

Yes, here in Ericsson-land the numbers are definitely higher than 40%
of all adults, I guess at least 60%.

(I am a national traitor with my Motorola phone :-)

When I lecture on the future of computing, I ask the audience how many
has mobile phones. Then I suggest that the same number will have
wearables if I gave the same talk in ten years or so.

Although lately I have begun to think that wearables may never take
off. If PDAs manage to continue improving their interfaces and
usability, then what is the use of a wearable?

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y


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