Thursday, October 28, 2021
The missing piece in the point of inflection
In the last two weeks I've been reading and noting some remarkably prophetic articles in Edmund Berkeley's Computers and Automation journal, from 1956 to 1976.
The authors had a sharp and clear grasp of the virtues and failings of computer tech, which was just about ready to transform the world in 1976. They also saw and predicted Deepstate's takeover of all souls through tech.
At the exact same time a parallel change was rumbling, a change that affected the country and economy in the same way and the same places as tech. Offshoring had started around 1958 in consumer electronics (first to Japan), and spread to the entire real economy by 1990. 1976 was the BIG inflection point in this trend because Mao died.
Nixon had been opening the gates from our side, but China didn't unbolt its side of the door until Mao died and new leaders restored China's natural capitalism.
Other tech magazines and CEOs like Romney were already worrying about offshoring in '58. I haven't seen even the slightest mention of China or Japan or offshoring in Berkeley's mag.
Why? I don't know. Were these authors ivory-tower academics who didn't think about factories? No, there were plenty of articles ABOUT factories by practical industrial types.
Labels: Asked and unanswered
¶ 9:15 PM
