The term information revolution describes current

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

, social and technological trends beyond the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Many competing terms have been proposed that focus on different aspects of this societal development. The British

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

crystallographer J. D. Bernal introduced the term "''scientific and technical revolution''" in his 1939 book ''The Social Function of Science'' to describe the new role that science and technology are coming to play within society. He asserted that science is becoming a "productive force", using the Marxist

Theory of Productive Forces The theory of the productive forces, sometimes referred to as productive force determinism, is a variation of historical materialism and Marxism that places primary emphasis on technical advances as the basis for advances and changes in the socia ...

. After some controversy, the term was taken up by authors and institutions of the then- Soviet Bloc. Their aim was to show that

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

was a safe home for the scientific and technical ("technological" for some authors) revolution, referred to by the acronym STR. The book ''Civilization at the Crossroads'', edited by the Czech philosopher

Radovan Richta Radovan Richta (June 6, 1924 – July 21, 1983) was a Czech philosopher who coined the term technological evolution; a theory about how societies diminish physical labour by increasing mental labour. Richta was born in Prague. Richta's first wor ...

(1969), became a standard reference for this topic.

Daniel Bell Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading A ...

(1980) challenged this theory and advocated

post-industrial society In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to si ...

, which would lead to a

service economy Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments: * The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer manu ...

rather than

. Many other authors presented their views, including

Zbigniew Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter' ...

(1976) with his "Technetronic Society".

Information in social and economic activities

The main feature of the information revolution is the growing economic, social and technological role of

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

. Information-related activities did not come up with the Information Revolution. They existed, in one form or the other, in all human societies, and eventually developed into institutions, such as the

Platonic Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic p ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

Peripatetic school The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...

in the

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

, the

Musaeum The Musaeum or Mouseion of Alexandria ( grc, Μουσεῖον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας; ), which arguably included the Great Library of Alexandria, was an institution said to have been founded by Ptolemy I Soter and his son Ptolemy II Ph ...

and the Library of Alexandria, or the schools of

Babylonian astronomy Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. Babylonian astronomy seemed to have focused on a select group of stars and constellations known as Ziqpu stars. These constellations ...

. The Agricultural Revolution and the

came up when new informational inputs were produced by individual innovators, or by scientific and technical institutions. During the Information Revolution all these activities are experiencing continuous growth, while other information-oriented activities are emerging. Information is the central theme of several new sciences, which emerged in the 1940s, including Shannon's (1949) '' Information Theory'' and Wiener's (1948) '' Cybernetics''. Wiener stated: "information is information not matter or energy". This aphorism suggests that information should be considered along with

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...

and

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

as the third constituent part of the Universe; information is carried by matter or by energy. By the 1990s some writers believed that changes implied by the Information revolution will lead to not only a fiscal crisis for governments but also the disintegration of all "large structures".

The theory of information revolution

The term ''information revolution'' may relate to, or contrast with, such widely used terms as

and Agricultural Revolution. Note, however, that you may prefer mentalist to materialist paradigm. The following fundamental aspects of the theory of information revolution can be given: # The object of economic activities can be conceptualized according to the fundamental distinction between matter, energy, and information. These apply both to the object of each economic activity, as well as within each economic activity or enterprise. For instance, an industry may process matter (e.g. iron) using energy and information (production and process technologies, management, etc.). # Information is a

factor of production In economics, factors of production, resources, or inputs are what is used in the production process to produce output—that is, goods and services. The utilized amounts of the various inputs determine the quantity of output according to the rel ...

(along with capital,

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

land (economics) In economics, land comprises all naturally occurring resources as well as geographic land. Examples include particular geographical locations, mineral deposits, forests, fish stocks, atmospheric quality, geostationary orbits, and portions of t ...

), as well as a

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

sold in the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

, that is, a commodity. As such, it acquires

use value Use value (german: Gebrauchswert) or value in use is a concept in classical political economy and Marxist economics. It refers to the tangible features of a commodity (a tradeable object) which can satisfy some human requirement, want or need, or ...

and exchange value, and therefore a

price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...

. # All products have use value, exchange value, and informational value. The latter can be measured by the information content of the product, in terms of innovation, design, etc. # Industries develop information-generating activities, the so-called Research and Development ( R&D) functions. # Enterprises, and society at large, develop the information control and processing functions, in the form of management structures; these are also called " white-collar workers", " bureaucracy", "managerial functions", etc. # Labor can be classified according to the object of labor, into information labor and non-information labor. # Information activities constitute a large, new economic sector, the information sector along with the traditional

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any Industry (economics), industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portio ...

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

, and

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, according to the

three-sector hypothesis The three-sector model in economics divides economies into three sectors of activity: extraction of raw materials (primary), manufacturing (secondary), and service industries which exist to facilitate the transport, distribution and sale o ...

. These should be restated because they are based on the ambiguous definitions made by Colin Clark (1940), who included in the tertiary sector all activities that have not been included in the primary (agriculture, forestry, etc.) and secondary (manufacturing) sectors. The

quaternary sector The quaternary sector of the economy is based upon the economic activity that is associated with either the intellectual or knowledge-based economy. This consists of information technology; media; research and development; information-based serv ...

and the quinary sector of the economy attempt to classify these new activities, but their definitions are not based on a clear conceptual scheme, although the latter is considered by some as equivalent with the information sector

# From a strategic point of view, sectors can be defined as information sector,

means of production The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...

, means of consumption, thus extending the classical

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

model of the Capitalist mode of production (see Influences on Karl Marx).

stressed in many occasions the role of the "intellectual element" in production, but failed to find a place for it into his model. # Innovations are the result of the production of new information, as new products, new methods of production, patents, etc.

Diffusion of innovations Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized the theory in his book ''Diffusion of Innovations''; the boo ...

manifests saturation effects (related term:

market saturation In economics, market saturation is a situation in which a product has become diffused (distributed) within a market; the actual level of saturation can depend on consumer purchasing power; as well as competition, prices, and technology. Theory ...

), following certain cyclical patterns and creating "economic waves", also referred to as "

business cycles Business cycles are intervals of expansion followed by recession in economic activity. These changes have implications for the welfare of the broad population as well as for private institutions. Typically business cycles are measured by examini ...

". There are various types of waves, such as

Kondratiev wave In economics, Kondratiev waves (also called supercycles, great surges, long waves, K-waves or the long economic cycle) are hypothesized cycle-like phenomena in the modern world economy. The phenomenon is closely connected with the technology li ...

(54 years), Kuznets swing (18 years),

Juglar cycle The Juglar cycle is a fixed investment cycle of 7 to 11 years identified in 1862 by Clément Juglar. Within the Juglar cycle one can observe oscillations of investments into fixed capital and not just changes in the level of employment of the fixed ...

(9 years) and Kitchin (about 4 years, see also

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at H ...

) distinguished by their nature, duration, and, thus, economic impact. # Diffusion of innovations causes structural-sectoral shifts in the economy, which can be smooth or can create crisis and renewal, a process which

called vividly "

creative destruction Creative destruction (German: ''schöpferische Zerstörung'') is a concept in economics which since the 1950s is the most readily identified with the Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter who derived it from the work of Karl Marx and pop ...

". From a different perspective,

Irving E. Fang Irving may refer to: People *Irving (name), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters * Irving, the main character's love interest in Cathy (comic strip) * Lloyd Irving, the main protagonist in the ''Tales of Symphonia'' video ...

(1997) identified six 'Information Revolutions': writing, printing, mass media, entertainment, the 'tool shed' (which we call 'home' now), and the information highway. In this work the term 'information revolution' is used in a narrow sense, to describe trends in communication media.

Measuring and modeling the information revolution

Porat (1976) measured the information sector in the US using the

input-output analysis In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals ...

;

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

has included statistics on the information sector in the economic reports of its member countries. Veneris (1984, 1990) explored the theoretical, economic and regional aspects of the informational revolution and developed a systems dynamics

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

computer model Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be deter ...

. These works can be seen as following the path originated with the work of

Fritz Machlup Fritz Machlup (; ; December 15, 1902 – January 30, 1983) was an Austrian-American economist who was president of the International Economic Association from 1971–1974. He was one of the first economists to examine knowledge as an economic re ...

who in his (1962) book "The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States", claimed that the "knowledge industry represented 29% of the US gross national product", which he saw as evidence that the

Information Age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during ...

had begun. He defines knowledge as a commodity and attempts to measure the magnitude of the production and distribution of this commodity within a modern economy. Machlup divided information use into three classes: instrumental, intellectual, and pastime knowledge. He identified also five types of knowledge: practical knowledge; intellectual knowledge, that is, general culture and the satisfying of intellectual curiosity; pastime knowledge, that is, knowledge satisfying non-intellectual curiosity or the desire for light entertainment and emotional stimulation; spiritual or religious knowledge; unwanted knowledge, accidentally acquired and aimlessly retained. More recent estimates have reached the following results: * the world's technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks grew at a sustained compound annual growth rate of 7% between 1986 and 2007; * the world's technological capacity to store information grew at a sustained compound annual growth rate of 25% between 1986 and 2007; * the world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

networks grew at a sustained compound annual growth rate of 30% during the same two decades; * the world's technological capacity to compute information with the help of humanly guided general-purpose computers grew at a sustained compound annual growth rate of 61% during the same period."video animation on The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information from 1986 to 2010

References

{{Reflist, 35em, refs= Bell, Daniel (1980), ''Sociological Journeys: Essays 1960–1980'', Heinmann, London {{ISBN, 0435820699 Bernal, J. D. (1939), ''The Social Function of Science'', George Routledge & Sons Ltd., London. Brzezinski, Z. (1976), ''Between the Two Ages: America in the Technetronic Era'', Penguin {{ISBN, 0313234981 Clark, C. (1940), ''Conditions of Economic Progress'', McMillan and Co, London. Fang, Irving E. (1997
''A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions''
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417065854/http://home.lu.lv/~s10178/sixrevolutions.pdf , date=2012-04-17 , Focal Press {{ISBN, 0240802543 {{cite journal, doi=10.1126/science.1200970, title=The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information, year=2011, last1=Hilbert, first1=M., last2=Lopez, first2=P., journal=Science, volume=332, issue=6025, pages=60–5, pmid=21310967, bibcode=2011Sci...332...60H, s2cid=206531385 Machlup, F. (1962) ''The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States'', Princeton UP. Marx, K. (1977) ''Capital'', Progress Publishers, Moscow. Porat, M.-U. (1976) ''The Information Economy'', PhD Thesis, Univ. of Stanford. This thesis measured the role of the Information Sector in the US Economy. Ricardo, D. (1978) ''The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation'', Dent, London. (first published in 1817) {{ISBN, 0486434613. Richta, R., Ed. (1969) ''Civilization at the Crossroads'', ME Sharp, NY Shannon, C. E. and W. Weaver (1949) ''The Mathematical Theory of Communication'', Urbana, Ill., University of Illinois Press. Veneris, Y. (1984), ''The Informational Revolution, Cybernetics and Urban Modeling'', PhD Thesis, submitted to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (British Library microfilm no. : D55307/85)

{{cite journal, author=Veneris, Y. , year=1990, url=http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=a220399 , title=Modeling the transition from the Industrial to the Informational Revolution , volume=22, issue=3, pages=399–416, journal= Environment and Planning A, doi=10.1068/a220399, s2cid=144963523 Norbert Wiener, Wiener, Norbert (1948) ''Cybernetics'', MIT Press, CA, \\\, p. 155

Bibliography

* Mills, C. W. (1951),"White Collar: The American Middle Classes", Oxford University Press. * Grinin, L. (2007), Periodization of History: A theoretic-mathematical analysis. In
''History & Mathematics''
Moscow: KomKniga/URSS. P.10-38.

External links

OECD Guide for Measuring the Information SocietyOECD "Measuring the Information Economy 2002"
Cybernetics Information technology Postindustrial society Postmodernism Stages of history Information economy