#ThrowbackThursday: Is the Information Age a precursor to Infrastructure Age?

‘May you live in an interesting age.’

This phrase, despite its ordinary use of diction, has quite a lot of insinuations behind it. Some regard it as an old Chinese curse. Some attribute it to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy who meant it as a salutation of sorts. But no matter what the intent behind this phrase, one thing is for sure; we do live in an age where science, technology and human ingenuity continues to enthrall us in many ways.

Information Age

One of the biggest reasons behind this age of wonder has got to do with the fact that we are all living in an Information Age. Thanks to the internet backed by superior technological hardware and infrastructure, information sharing is a near-effortless and an instantaneous process for most of us. We are truly surrounded by a plethora of media and channels that can help us disperse ideas, news, facts, help, etc. in the form of 1s and 0s.

The internet has made information readily available and that too for quite some time. There has been great change in society, in our personal spheres and business circles alike. Nothing has been left untouched by the rapid change brought about by making the information highway accessible to all.

Infrastructure Age

Now that enough time has passed to make a psychological, economical and sociological assessment of the Information Age, what follows naturally is the Infrastructure Age. And here’s what we mean by that.

Suppose the increasing population of people who are forever glued to their smartphones. A population that is unwittingly, tethered to the demands of their mobile gadget’s charging levels. These miniature yet sophisticated pieces of technology sip battery fast.

And the smart wearables that are coming out today? They are nothing less than glorified information-providers, a task that our smartphones were already capable of.

So what comes next? Gadgets we have aplenty. Isn’t it time that the focus shifted to infrastructure development and miniaturization?

This thinking is what the rationale behind the Infrastructure Age is. Let’s consider power and energy, a domain that has historically been controlled by municipalities and distribution companies. The power company generates it and provides it to households and that’s the way it has always been.

Instead of relying on a corporation, what if you, the consumer, would be able to generate and use your own power? The prospect is tantalizing to say the least with products like the recent Tesla Powerwall and PowerPack are a step in this direction.

The Infrastructure Age is about how people conceive technology of today. It combines self-sufficiency and the going-green philosophy. Instead of exhausting the limited resources that we have on Earth, we need to come up with radical ideas of gadgets that work by themselves. Of self-managed home and business entities that rely on a gamut of technological solutions.

If the internet of things phenomenon takes off, then we will see the Infrastructure age being realized sooner. Our home appliances and electronics, if they can communicate with each other, will be able to learn habits and work based on their owner’s whims. Self-driving cars are here and they may mean tremendous progress in reducing the number of road-related fatalities and driving habits in society.

Concluding Thoughts

Change is the only constant and it comes for us all. The rapid pace of technology and social changes mean that life is going to become easier and simpler as time goes on. As the Information Age was all about acclimatizing us all to the wondrous uses of instant communication and exchange of ideas, the Infrastructure Age would like you to change the way technology works for people. The Infrastructure age will be about adopting a hands-off approach to everyday tasks.

Like we said earlier, we live in such interesting times.