Doldrums

My first blog entry on May 27 2012 (click to see it) was about some unfortunate events that threatened my self image but also forced me to be who I am. I mentioned the doldrums of my life when nothing seemed to be happening. What excitement did come, they often took me nowhere.

After 3 years, I see that I'm not alone feeling a little lost about how to move forward in a world that is on the cusp of change mainly due to the free distribution of media. The problem is that so much of growth and investment still assumes the process of getting things and information to someone is valuable. The internet and our screens have taken most of the cost out of distribution. Savings in physical distribution will continue so money to be made there will also become scarce.

It's ironic to use the doldrums as an analogy because sailing was what really started the technological revolution of our world. This neglected technology of harnessing the power of winds to travel was what sparked global exploration, colonization, mining, commerce etc. The equatorial doldrums were like death for sailing because of the unpredictability of the winds having no general direction. Often there was no wind at all. The experience can be so traumatic that they inspired the famous poem "The Ancient Mariner" whose albatross imagery is still used to describe an unbearable burden.

The picture was taken in the doldrums where the sea is smooth. Engines effectively conquered doldrums for the sailor. The industrial age that was perhaps sparked by the engine is coming to an end as the information age replaces it rapidly. 

Similar to the way engines forced large vessels in a given direction and much money could be made in transport, the industrial economy changed the world the last century. It has not been smooth with multiple stock market crashes, world wars and many small wars today. The cost the environment, health and quality of life have been negative.

Yet investors do not know how to adjust to the new opportunities of the ascending influence of the information economy. It seems few know what to do with the floodgates that make human expression immediately available almost as soon as it is produced.

Where getting any information used to be valuable, the effectively free distribution of the new age will put more emphasis on quality. Yet, quantity is still the obsession because it was the norm in the passing industrial age. More products produced cheaply, widely distributed, seems to carry over to email, newsfeeds, websites... And we users also see them as products just like clothes or appliances.

But email, newsfeeds and websites etc. are only the infrastructure of the information age. They need to lead to knowledge, inspiration, new experiences, innovation etc in order to be truly valuable. The economy and society needs to progress to grow in technology. 

We are approaching the limits of the current paradigm of creating faster, denser and dissemination of data for growth. Productivity and quality is being redefined as how to live replacing how much. Until the investors, managers and consumers realize this shift in value, the current reliance on speculation, fast money and over spending is only wasting the opportunities that the information age offers us.

No wonder many feel like life is going no where. For the quickly obsolete way to growth is still seen as the best way while ignoring the enormous opportunities of more enlightened ways of working. Obsolescence can be like a slap in the face of the powerful. 

Like engines running on fossil fuel are being replaced by solar, wind, nuclear, hydrogen... we are emerging from the doldrums finding new services, quality improvement and knowledge.