Revolution at Our Door, Part Four: ‘Ephemeralization’
[This tip sequence began 10/16/00]
Once upon a time in the middle of the 20th Century in the tiny French town of
Mazamet at the foot of La Montagne Noire (Black Mountain), the leather and
wool workers experienced a revolution in technology that swept their economy,
their lifestyles and the details of their everyday existence into the dust.
If you visit the village today, driving up into the hills that the River
Arnette tumbles through, you see abandoned factories and machinery
everywhere. The town has a sleepy quality, the look of being lost. The old
families of Mazamet, once at the center of a bustling wool manufacturing and
world economy, are still wondering what hit them and how to transform
themselves to be productive in a new era.
At the beginning of this tip sequence, we began our discussion of the
revolution at OUR door in the form of three trends steaming toward
convergence on the rails of the 21st Century:
- Information technology innovation
- Environmental crises & concerns
- Human & societal values realignment
Where these three trends come together, the beginnings of a revolutionary
transformation is taking place in our lifetimes. In this discussion, I want
to talk about what I’m noticing and give you some tips about what you can do
to be on top of the wave and not crushed by it.
A couple nights ago, I saw, for the second time, a one-man show written by D.
W. Jacobs and performed by Ron Campbell called "R. Buckminster Fuller: The
History [And Mystery] of the Universe." ( This show is now being performed in
San Francisco at the George Coates Theatre. For information see
www.foghouse.com.)
Bucky, we all know, was ahead of his time, so much so that he saw mankind
heading for this train wreck in his lifetime. (He died in 1983). Bucky
created the geodesic dome, a low-cost alternative to traditional building,
and design principles that predicted the discovery of carbon-60-a molecular
element (and shape) also known as the Bucky-ball. His idea for a global
energy sharing network has yet to be accepted or developed.
Bucky talked about ephemeralization -- doing more & more with less & less -- which,
in the dot.com world, we now call "dematerialization." Dematerialization is
one of the most obvious effects of information technology. It means that
technology replaces the need for material in the physical world.
For instance, the iMotors website (www.imotors.com) creates a sales network
that allows consumers to request and receive a certified used car without
going to a car lot or talking to a used car salesman. If it works, and Kevin
Hart, Supply Chain Solutions Director, thinks it will -- BOOM! used car lots,
used car salesmen, used car sales offices, file cabinets, telephones, and fax
machines evaporate. The need for used car sales is met by technology.
Knowledge, aggregated and transmitted by digital tools, substitutes for
natural resources and physical materials. Think of the energy savings!
Here’s where the environment comes in. Doing more & more with less & less is
exactly the approach we need to conserve natural resources and, perhaps, save
our natural world. Our manufacturing processes have been colossally
inefficient, producing as much as 95% waste for 5% product. Meanwhile wasps
build lightweight hanging ‘apartment’ buildings from material they
regurgitate. A spider turns flies and insects into an excreted web that, if
the sizes were proportional, would stop a jet plane. A snail commutes on
slime. Barnacles and muscles have created glue that sets-up underwater. (See
Janine Benyus’s Biomimicry for more fascinating examples of Nature’s
manufacturing processes.)
Ephemeralization has been Nature’s approach since the Big Bang!
More next week.
