As Apple hit the never-before-reached milestone of becoming the first trillion-dollar company in the history of mankind, I pondered for a bit the significance of that.
The History Channel had a great series titled “The Men Who Built America,” which I highly recommend. It details the amazing stories of Ford, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt and how they built the physical infrastructure of America. Oil and steel were essential to building and fueling American business. Railroads were essential in transporting goods. And automobiles gave Americans a mobile freedom which birthed an entire travel and entertainment industry.
But fast-forward to today, and moving oil, steel, and people is no longer on the cutting edge of where business is going. Nowadays it is all about moving and collecting data. In the future, when they create a 21st century version of "The Men Who Built America," it will tell the stories of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergei Brian.
Moving data, not resources or people, is what is transforming how we live and work. The PC revolution changed the business world. The iPhone brought an even bigger revolution to the consumer world. Facebook is connecting people in ways that were unimaginable only 20 years ago. And Android has pioneered harvesting global data for money-making purposes.
Even though Amazon is still about moving merchandise, I include them in this category because they are so forward thinking in their data collection and use of it. You can make a case that they are tech company first. Despite my reservations about the Amazon Echo, I acknowledge it was a transformative pivot point in digital history which set the agenda for years to come for other tech companies.
I wouldn’t include Elon Musk in this group though, because all of his endeavors boil down to transporting people. He is simply continuing the evolution of tech from the 1800s. That being building machines that move people X number of miles.
Society will change just as much in the next 150 years as it has in the past 150. And it will be due to the collection and use of data. Companies will be able to sell and transport goods digitally via 3D printing. Robots will do most manual labor. The cost of living will drop drastically, allowing people to get paid to do things robots can’t do, things like companionship and therapy.
For better or for worse, you can boil down a company’s market cap to this: What impact will this company have on society in the future? Because in capitalism, profit is a result of a company’s service to man. Apple has been judged as being a pivotal player in the future of connecting people digitally.
But fast-forward to today, and moving oil, steel, and people is no longer on the cutting edge of where business is going. Nowadays it is all about moving and collecting data. In the future, when they create a 21st century version of "The Men Who Built America," it will tell the stories of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergei Brian.
Moving data, not resources or people, is what is transforming how we live and work. The PC revolution changed the business world. The iPhone brought an even bigger revolution to the consumer world. Facebook is connecting people in ways that were unimaginable only 20 years ago. And Android has pioneered harvesting global data for money-making purposes.
Even though Amazon is still about moving merchandise, I include them in this category because they are so forward thinking in their data collection and use of it. You can make a case that they are tech company first. Despite my reservations about the Amazon Echo, I acknowledge it was a transformative pivot point in digital history which set the agenda for years to come for other tech companies.
I wouldn’t include Elon Musk in this group though, because all of his endeavors boil down to transporting people. He is simply continuing the evolution of tech from the 1800s. That being building machines that move people X number of miles.
Society will change just as much in the next 150 years as it has in the past 150. And it will be due to the collection and use of data. Companies will be able to sell and transport goods digitally via 3D printing. Robots will do most manual labor. The cost of living will drop drastically, allowing people to get paid to do things robots can’t do, things like companionship and therapy.
For better or for worse, you can boil down a company’s market cap to this: What impact will this company have on society in the future? Because in capitalism, profit is a result of a company’s service to man. Apple has been judged as being a pivotal player in the future of connecting people digitally.
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