1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: Get in text with Technology with textaff from works dot com. 2 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to text UFF. I'm Jonathan Strickland 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: and I'm joined today by nobody. It's just me. So 4 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: it's another solo episode. And today I thought I would 5 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: talk about something that gets a lot of attention. There 6 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: are a lot of articles about this, and you hear 7 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: a lot of talking heads mention it, and you see 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: it on social media all the time. And that is 9 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: the concept of disruptive technology. And you hear it a lot, 10 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: but often it is not very well explained and sometimes, 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: in fact, often it is misused. Uh. Disruptive technology sometimes 12 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: is being used just to mean something that has a 13 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: lot of buzz around it, but doesn't necessarily mean it's 14 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: going to be disruptive. Uh. The term itself is actually 15 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: pretty specific. It was originally coined by Clayton M. Christensen 16 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: in a book titled The Innovator's Dilemma, and specifically was 17 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: talking about disruptive innovation, not just technology, but innovation in general, 18 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: because it doesn't have to be a physical thing. It 19 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: could be a new way of going about doing something. 20 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: And Christensen was saying that disruptive innovation was something that 21 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: in business meant adopting techniques or developing technology that eventually 22 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: completely surpasses or replaces previous approaches, possibly harming whatever business 23 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: back the other older and in the long run, wrong technology. 24 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: So I'd say a type of technology that disrupts an industry, 25 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: sometimes completely changing the way stuff is done, sometimes completely 26 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: invalidating long standing UH industries or business practices. So it's 27 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: it's meant to signify something that is really going to 28 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: be transformative, not necessarily for the better. It doesn't mean 29 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: that the disruptive technology is more powerful or more effective 30 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: or more efficient. It might just be cheaper or easier 31 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: to produce than the previous version. So here's an example. 32 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: You might look at a ah you know, something that 33 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: was made by hand, like a handmade article of clothing 34 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: versus a machine made article article of clothing. One is 35 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: not necessarily better than the other just because it happens 36 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: to be made in a different way. You could have 37 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: handmade clothing that is superior to machine made clothing, but 38 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: because the speed and the expense of using a machine 39 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: can be much lower, or the speed is faster but 40 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: the expense is lower than and if you were to 41 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: rely on a human being to produce that piece of clothing. 42 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: The sewing machine and other automated ways of creating garments 43 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:16,679 Speaker 1: end up pushing the the handmade version to a niche market. Now, 44 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: you could argue that in cases like that, a person 45 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,519 Speaker 1: could still make a pretty decent living working by hand. 46 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: It's just that the nature of the business has changed. 47 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: In fact, you could argue that by marketing it as handmade, 48 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: you could charge more for your product and thus make 49 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: more money on a per product basis, and that could 50 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: be very helpful. But the industry overall, the giant umbrella industry, 51 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: has changed significantly. So I'm going to look at several 52 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: different disruptive technologies. I'm pulling a lot of these from 53 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: an article that we have on how Stuff Works dot com. 54 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: If you don't remember how stuff works dot Com is 55 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: my employer, Tech Stuff is part of how Stuff Work. 56 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: And the article is ten disruptive technologies you use every day. Now, 57 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: there's one that's not on the list that you certainly 58 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: use frequently. You have to if you're listening to this 59 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: podcast that I think merits special mention, and that is 60 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: the Internet. The Internet is incredibly disruptive and that it 61 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: has changed the way we do lots of stuff. It 62 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: has enabled platforms to exist on top of it that 63 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 1: have completely shaken up the way things used to work. 64 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: Here's a you know, a simple example is shopping. You know, 65 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: back in the day, you had to do one of 66 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: two things. You order from a catalog, in which case 67 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: you would go through a catalog, you'd fill out your order, 68 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: you'd send it in, and then you would wait for 69 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: stuff to be delivered to you, or you would have 70 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: to go to an actual physical store and purchase things. 71 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: I guess theoretically you could have a door to door salesman, 72 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: so maybe there's three, but that that was pretty much 73 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: your only choices, and then you were limited by the 74 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: inventory of the physical space you went to. Uh, you 75 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: were you know, you had to actually make time out 76 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 1: of your day to travel there. Uh. You had to 77 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: expend a lot of energy just to get from point 78 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: A to point being. These days, we can do a 79 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: ton of our shopping online, never leave the comfort of 80 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: our chair. Uh. The inventory is enormous because there are 81 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: a lot of companies out there that either keep huge 82 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: inventories or they can create on demand, depending upon whatever 83 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: the thing is you're trying to buy and so the 84 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 1: Internet has really disrupted the shopping industry. You've got a 85 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: lot of stores out there that are struggling to continue 86 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: to make their numbers so that they can remain open. 87 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: We've seen lots of different chains close over the last 88 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: few years, bookstores being a big one. A lot of 89 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: electronics stores have been having problems. That's indicative of the 90 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: disruption we have seen from the Internet. And that's just 91 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: one thing that the Internet has disrupted. Another there could 92 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: be long distance communications in general. The first one on 93 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: our list in the on the side is email, and 94 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 1: clearly email has been disruptive. It is changed the way 95 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: we communicate with one another. We have this immediacy now. 96 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: We no longer have the long delay between writing something 97 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: and someone else receiving it and then responding, because back 98 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: in the old days, we would write letters and send 99 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: those through the mail, and then we have to wait 100 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: for the postal service to deliver our note. We have 101 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: to wait for the person to read it, then write 102 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: their own response, send it, and we have to wait 103 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: to receive it. So communication was very different by its 104 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: very nature. It had to be. I mean, you couldn't 105 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: be asking a question that you needed an answer you know, 106 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: within twenty four hours that was not going to happen. 107 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: But email has changed things dramatically. It's also kind of 108 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: changed the nature of how we communicate. And you will 109 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: hear people a case really talk about how letter writing 110 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: is now a lost art that people no longer know 111 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: or bother to write letters in a way that they 112 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: used to because email has supplanted. That has really changed 113 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: the nature of communication. But emails cheaper, It's easier than 114 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: handwriting a letter. There's no postage, there's no paper, there's 115 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: no ink. Really, all you need is an internet connection. 116 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: So whether you are paying for internet service or you're 117 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: going someplace like the library, even to send a message, uh, 118 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: you know, that's all you need really, and uh, of 119 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: course it'll get to where it's going in moments, so 120 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: if the other person is online, you could end up 121 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: getting a response before you have a chance to navigate 122 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: away from the email window. So it's very different. It 123 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: has completely changed the nature of the postal service. Um 124 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: things like greeting cards and invitations, even those have started 125 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,679 Speaker 1: to decline. According to a two thousand eleven Pew Internet 126 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: survey of adults in the US who got online used 127 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: email them used it on a typical day of all 128 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: Americans used email to some extent. That might even mean 129 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: that we're communicating more. It may not be the same 130 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: quality of communication, but the quantity certainly has gone up. 131 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: And of course there's tons of other stuff that we 132 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: send through email. So that's a good example of how 133 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: the Internet has disrupted things. Beyond the shopping aspect, there 134 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: are others as well. Social media, which is number nine 135 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: on the list, also applies. Obviously, they are allowing us 136 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: to have interactions with our friends and family, no matter 137 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: how far apart they may be from us. Um you 138 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: can share information, not just through text, but you can 139 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: share links, you can share videos or music, you can 140 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: share photographs. You have this up a tunity to have 141 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: these interactions that before would have been limited to whenever 142 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: you were with one another, or perhaps you had to 143 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: rely on something like the snail mail service. So again, 144 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: incredibly disruptive, and we've even seen this this pocket get 145 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: shaken up multiple times as new players have incorporated different 146 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: strategies and disrupted social media. So while social media has 147 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: disrupted larger industries, social media itself has experienced disruption. A 148 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: great example of that is my Space which used to 149 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: dominate the social media area, and then Facebook comes along 150 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: and ends up becoming incredibly disruptive because of its appeal 151 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: to a large young user base and grew from there, 152 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: and my Space eventually collapsed in on itself and had 153 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: to redefine itself and still all is struggling to define 154 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: itself as something relevant in today's social media landscape. Has 155 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: of early two, more than half of the people who 156 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: use the Internet also regularly use social media, not a 157 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: big surprise. In the US that tends to be on 158 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: the high end of the scale, so about as of 159 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: January two. In other nations it may be lower, but 160 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: it shows that people are really you know, that they've 161 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: incorporated this into their lives. It's not just something that 162 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: is occasionally used. I mean, I don't know about you, 163 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: but I have Facebook open pretty much the entire time 164 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: I'm sitting at any computer. And it may not be 165 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: that I'm on Facebook the entire time solely, but it's 166 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: always got a tab dedicated to it, because this is 167 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: how I tend to interact with my friends. These days. 168 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: We all are very busy. We all have schedules that 169 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: pretty much prevent us from getting together on a regular basis. 170 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: But this is the way I can maintain in contact 171 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: without having to you know, put anyone to any trouble, 172 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: which is nice. Now, It also, you could argue, is 173 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: less satisfying than other means of interaction, like an actual 174 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: physical get together where you can hang out and spend 175 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: time with one another. And I don't argue that at all. Again, 176 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: the disruption doesn't necessarily mean it's better. Sometimes just means 177 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: it's easier or more effective in a way. So, uh, 178 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: you know that, depending on your view of social media, 179 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: you might see it as helpful disruption or very harmful disruption. 180 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: There are a lot of other examples of disruptive technologies 181 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: that have utilized the Internet, streaming media being a huge one. 182 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: This is enormous. A few years ago I talked about 183 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: how people would be increasingly moving away from cable and 184 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: using the Internet to get access to various forms of entertainment. 185 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: At the time, you know, it was it was an 186 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: obvious move even when I I said it, but it 187 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: was still something that was only occasionally talked about because 188 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: I think, well, for one thing, the big media companies 189 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: were a little worried about where things were going because 190 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: they relied on old forms of media delivery to get 191 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: their message across. So it's kind of scary to report 192 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: on the potential decline of the industry you currently are in, 193 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: but that is exactly what we've seen happen. We've seen 194 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: cable subscriptions for cable television decline as we've seen people 195 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: start to use other services online more frequently, things like 196 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: Amazon or Hulu or Netflix to get their their their entertainment. 197 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: We've also seen the growth of new forms of entertainment, 198 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: things like YouTube, where people who are not part of 199 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: a larger network are creating their own content and finding 200 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:01,559 Speaker 1: an audience. Uh that has become an incredib dobly powerful 201 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 1: story where people who normally would not have had an 202 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: opportunity to communicate through the Internet suddenly have this outlet. 203 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: And not only do they have an outlet, but people 204 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: find what they're saying to be valuable, whether that's entertainment 205 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: or its news or just personal opinion or whatever it 206 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: may be. There's now this outlet that that did not 207 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: exist before, and it's actually starting to take a big 208 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: chunk out of the traditional media. Now, there's still a 209 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: long way to go. You're gonna hear a lot of 210 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: people talk about how this stuff is going to force 211 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: the traditional media companies out of business, and in the 212 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: long run, maybe that's going to be the case. I 213 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: think it will probably even out where we're going to 214 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: have a balance across multiple platforms. That's my own personal guests, 215 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: but it's certainly has proven itself to be a valuable 216 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: way of getting to an audience. It's been effective, and 217 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: it's just going to continue to grow. The big challenge 218 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,319 Speaker 1: moving forward, I think for content creators is getting noticed 219 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: because this space is getting more and more crowded. So 220 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: it may turn out that until something else comes along 221 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: and shakes up this industry, the streaming media industry, that 222 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: you're going to have a few really big players in 223 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: the space and then a whole bunch of little guys. 224 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: And as someone who creates videos and uh and podcasts 225 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: that are not part of how stuff works, I can 226 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: tell you being one of those little guys, it's tough. 227 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it's tough to get noticed, but uh, ultimately 228 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: it all depends on why you're doing it. If you're 229 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: doing it for fun, like I do for my outside projects, 230 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: it's not as big a deal because you just do 231 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: it until it's no longer fun, and then you stop 232 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: doing it. If you're doing it to make a living, 233 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: then it's a much bigger deal. Obviously, you have to 234 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: figure out how to reach that audience so that you 235 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: can get paid. However that may be, whether it's through 236 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: sponsorships or direct contributions through Patreon or something along those lines. 237 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: But these streaming services have really created a new story 238 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: that didn't exist just a few years ago. Back then, 239 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: I mean, the only way you could end up getting 240 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: on television if you didn't already have a job there 241 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: was through like a public access station, or maybe if 242 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: you went to college and they had a college television station, 243 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: that was a way you could break into the industry. 244 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: But otherwise it was pretty tough. So it's been amazing 245 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: to watch this particular transition. Next on the list is 246 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: e readers and e reader apps, obviously one of the 247 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: hallmark disruptive technologies to come along over the last decade so. 248 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: E readers have been around for a while, but it's 249 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: only been you know, a few years since the first 250 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: e paper uh devices really became affordable to the average 251 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: person and paired with the right you know, service like 252 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: Amazon and by right, I mean it makes it really 253 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: super easy to get stuff onto that book. They've become 254 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: powerful tools. So whether you like Amazon's business approach or not, 255 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: it's impossible to deny their effectiveness. Because you go out 256 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: and buy a kindle, it is incredibly easy to purchase 257 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: content for your kindle through the kindle. You know you're 258 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: buying it through Amazon, and that was their business model. 259 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: It makes incredible sense, the idea of selling this piece 260 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: of hardware that makes it really easy for you to 261 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: get content, and people are able to grab books and 262 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: movies and music through Amazon and experience it through their 263 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: various devices. It has been a huge blow not just 264 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: too brick and mortar book companies, but publishers as well 265 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: as music companies and film. Honestly, home video clearly has 266 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: taken a huge hit. Whether it's the brick and mortar 267 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,159 Speaker 1: retail stores where you would go and buy a DVD 268 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: or Blu Ray, or it's uh, you know, rental places. 269 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: There are very few of those left around. You've got 270 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: Red Box and a couple of others, and here in Atlanta, 271 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: we've got some independent companies that are still around that 272 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: are really charming and have very Eclectic Collections Video Drome 273 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: in Atlanta. If you were ever in Atlanta and you 274 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 1: want to see a real quirky, weird video rental place, 275 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,679 Speaker 1: go to Video Drome. UM. It's at the corner of 276 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: Highland and North Avenue and it is amazing. They have 277 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:48,360 Speaker 1: a lot of character. But obviously that business model, which 278 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: used to be enormous, I mean Blockbuster Video and other 279 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: companies like it dominated various strip malls across the United States. 280 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: You could not go very far without seeing another one. 281 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 1: In these days, they're long forgotten. Well. E readers UH 282 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: and e readers and other devices, streaming devices and streaming media, 283 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: as well as the shopping I was talking about earlier, 284 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 1: have all contributed to seeing those kind of fade away. 285 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: Smart mobile devices similar approach. It's also something that has 286 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: really been disruptive. It's number six on the list. UH. 287 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: It was just a few years ago that everyone assumed 288 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,120 Speaker 1: that cell phones were just going to continue to get 289 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: smaller and smaller in the future, because that was what 290 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: was considered to be sexy. You would get a phone, 291 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: the next model would be even smaller and more compact. 292 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: There were lots of UH sketches on television, particularly starting 293 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 1: that live of characters who had comically tiny phones because 294 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: it was a status symbol supposed to show how important 295 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: that character was, or how important that character wanted to 296 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: seem to be. And that was the joke, was that 297 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: it was just going to continuously get smaller and smaller. Uh, 298 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: smartphones turned that all around. So smartphones disrupted the phone 299 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: the mobile phone market, because once the iPhone came out 300 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: and showed that there was a compelling way to access 301 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: things like the Internet through your phone, it meant that 302 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 1: you wanted to have a screen that was of a 303 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: large enough size for you to be able to read 304 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 1: things and interact with it. And then we saw the 305 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: trend start to reverse until now we're at the point 306 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,719 Speaker 1: where you start seeing the comically large phones, the fablets. 307 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: I own one of those. I have an next to six. 308 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: It's enormous, So that trend ended up reversing. We've also 309 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: seen that they these devices have disrupted other industries, including 310 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: e readers and tablets, and we've seen them disrupt some 311 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: gaming industry too. Because of the way that apps have 312 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: reshaped the gaming landscape. You have gamers who are truly 313 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:03,360 Speaker 1: dedicated to specific cons rolls or two computers to PCs, 314 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: and then you have others who are happy to play 315 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: whatever on whichever platform. And mobile devices are incredibly handy 316 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: because you almost always have one with you, and the 317 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:20,439 Speaker 1: experiences can be really satisfying, depending upon the design of 318 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: the app. Obviously, not all apps are created equal, but 319 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 1: we've also seen smartphones replace other stuff, things like uh, 320 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: day planners, which you might think, well, that's not that 321 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 1: big a deal, but there are companies that just made 322 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: day planners, or they made day planners as part of 323 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: their business, and there's less and less reason to go 324 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: out and buy one of those. Or digital cameras. Back 325 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: in the day, we used to have digital cameras as 326 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: standalone devices because they've took much better photos than our 327 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: phones could. Phone images would be really low resolution, very grainy. 328 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 1: But to ay, we're seeing better and better sensors incorporated 329 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:08,360 Speaker 1: into phones, and I rarely carry around an extra camera. 330 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: Sometimes I do in very specific circumstances, but most of 331 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: the time I'm happy to just carry my phone. Same 332 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: thing is true with MP three players. I used to 333 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: be the person who wanted to have an MP three 334 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: player dedicated solely to MP three playing, and that's it. 335 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: But as phone uh storage got larger and larger, and 336 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: as cloud storage began to become a thing, I stopped 337 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: doing that. Cloud storage would be another great example not 338 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: on the list here, but I'll talk about it for 339 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,239 Speaker 1: a second. Cloud computing and cloud storage in general has 340 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: been incredibly disruptive because by offloading the processing and storage 341 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: requirements from a localized area to the cloud, you disrupt 342 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,199 Speaker 1: all the businesses that used to provide the machines that 343 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: either processed information or stored it. So more and more 344 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: companies are moving to cloud based server us is it 345 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:05,960 Speaker 1: decreases the demand they have for powerful machinery on the 346 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: front end, and it means they can make a lower investment. 347 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: So in other words, the employees at a business might 348 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: end up with cheaper laptops, but in the end it 349 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: doesn't matter because the laptops aren't really doing all the work. 350 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: A lot of the work is being offloaded to the cloud. 351 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: So very disruptive. It also means it creates new opportunities. 352 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: If you're the one making those inexpensive laptops, you've got 353 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 1: a powerful business now because of these other companies that 354 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: have created these powerful cloud services. Next on the list, 355 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,159 Speaker 1: we have mobile payment options. There's so many of these, 356 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: Apple Pay being one that's in the news quite a bit, 357 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,959 Speaker 1: but there are other ones as well, things that end 358 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: up taking the the the sting out of having to, 359 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: you know, keep track of all your various cards, reward systems, 360 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: things like that, all of that being wrapped up into 361 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: an app that can keep track of everything for you. 362 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: Very powerful, also extremely disruptive, really good example in this list. 363 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: So there are a lot of different options here. I 364 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: mean there's the Google Wallet, there's Apple Pay, there's into 365 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: it go payment, There's lots of stuff out there. And 366 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 1: this applies both on the user side and on the 367 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: vendor side. You've got companies that are using this stuff 368 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: in order to be their point of sale, and it's 369 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: really great tool for them because they can end up 370 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: offloading that and they don't have to invest in you know, 371 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: larger technologies like cashiers and things like that, or cash 372 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: registers I should say, not cashiers, and uh, you know, 373 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:51,720 Speaker 1: we're seeing more of this sort of approach where you 374 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,719 Speaker 1: can do the tap and pay and that ends up 375 00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: decreasing the need for sales personnel. Thus, this is disruptive. 376 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: It means that people who would normally be able to 377 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: get a job doing that, being a sales representative at 378 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: a retail establishment. They might find it harder to get 379 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,120 Speaker 1: that kind of job because there's less need for it. 380 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: So sometimes disruptive can mean pretty tough consequences for people, 381 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: at least in the short term, until you figure out 382 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: some other place where you have a need that people 383 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: can go and work at and fill that need. Plus 384 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: they can go and get paid for the work they do. 385 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: So disruptive does not always mean great. It might mean 386 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: great things for that whatever technology is just doing the disrupting, 387 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: but it could have other consequences that roll out to 388 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: lots of other people. Self checkout stations is similar in 389 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 1: that way. It's also on the list. It's at number four. 390 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: Very disruptive. Obviously. If you go to a grocery store 391 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: and you see that there are only three lanes open, 392 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: there's twenty lanes there. Three of them are open with 393 00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:01,160 Speaker 1: with cashiers and the rest are are empty. And it's 394 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,159 Speaker 1: because these self service lanes have taken a lot of 395 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: the load off. You don't need to employ as many 396 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:12,640 Speaker 1: people to handle the shopping requirements of your customers. I mean, 397 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: that's powerful and again just as I was saying with 398 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,479 Speaker 1: the other one, it means that it might put some 399 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: folks out of a job. That's tough. Number three in 400 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: the list is wearable fitness devices. This is interesting to me. Um, 401 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 1: We're still kind of casting about for the perfect one. 402 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: There are a lot on the market, and a lot 403 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: of people have been testing out different ones, and companies 404 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:42,640 Speaker 1: keep coming out with new ones. And whether it's something 405 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: simple like a fitbit, which is what I'm wearing right now, 406 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: or it's more complicated like a smart watch that also 407 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:56,440 Speaker 1: has step tracking and maybe a heart monitor and other 408 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:02,119 Speaker 1: items that are related to fitness apps. Uh, They're everywhere 409 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: and they are disruptive. Uh. They are also you know, 410 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,919 Speaker 1: really powerful in the sense of they raise awareness, at 411 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: least of fitness. Whether they actually drive fitness is still 412 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: a matter of debate. I've seen studies that suggest that 413 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: if you are already motivated, then you are likely to 414 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,119 Speaker 1: use these properly. But in that case, you're using it 415 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: to help keep track of what you were already going 416 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: to do. It's not like the fitness device encouraged you 417 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: to do, you know, to be fit, but rather that 418 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,719 Speaker 1: it enabled you to keep better track of it. So 419 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: it may be that these devices really just replace more 420 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: simple devices like your standard pedometer, but still pretty disruptive. Uh. 421 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: The last two on the list of I've actually already 422 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: covered because there's cloud computing in the Internet. They are, 423 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,760 Speaker 1: uh the number one and number two. Um, but I 424 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:57,360 Speaker 1: already mentioned though, so I'm not going to go through 425 00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: that again. There are a couple of others that are 426 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: not on the list that I want to mention that 427 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,400 Speaker 1: I think have been that are either incredibly disruptive or 428 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,399 Speaker 1: have the potential to be really disruptive. One is the 429 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: Internet of things. Obviously, the Internet of things we've talked 430 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,920 Speaker 1: about so many times, but just in case you're new 431 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: to the program, you haven't heard about it, or or 432 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 1: you you're kind of confused, what does the Internet of 433 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:23,879 Speaker 1: things really mean? Internet of things ultimately refers to a 434 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: world in which you have Internet connected sensors and actuators, 435 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: things that can either take information from the environment or 436 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: interact with the environment in some way, and they're all 437 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:40,680 Speaker 1: connected to the Internet, uh, in order to process information 438 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: or send information. So here's an example. Let's use a 439 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: house as our model, and you have you walk into 440 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: your house and you've got motion sensors that are connected 441 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,199 Speaker 1: to the internet. Um, they activate your lights and a 442 00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: sound system when you walk in, The sound system plays 443 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: from a playlist that you have selected, or maybe it 444 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 1: even interacts by checking the information from a wearable you 445 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: have on that detects your heart rate, and based on 446 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: your heart rate, the house selects music that should complement 447 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: your current mood based upon just the limited information it has. Uh, 448 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 1: maybe it has information about what you had for dinner 449 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: last night and has suggestions on things to eat tonight 450 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: that might be interesting to you. These are all based 451 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: on simple things that end up monitoring information, sending it 452 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: to some other source where it gets processed, and then 453 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: the processed information comes back to affect you in a 454 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: meaningful way. Another great example would be traffic infrastructure. So 455 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: let's say we have real time sensors out along the 456 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: various roads of a busy city like Atlanta. It's a 457 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: great example, and those sensors are picking up traffic patterns 458 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: and sending it to a centralized processing station which is 459 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: able to monitor the information and make useful conclusions such 460 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: as maybe it needs to adjust the timing on certain 461 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: intersections so that traffic can flow more freely. Through there 462 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:20,239 Speaker 1: to alleviate some traffic congestion. It's being a smart traffic system. Well, 463 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,720 Speaker 1: the Internet of Things is like that, but imagine that 464 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,480 Speaker 1: with everything. So you might have an experience where when 465 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: you step outside, things are very much tailored to your 466 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: preferences or your current state of being, and so you 467 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: it ideally would have a very wonderful experience wherever you 468 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: went all the time, it was always going to be 469 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: catered to you. The reality will probably be a little 470 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: less science fiction Ee and Disney than that is, but 471 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: we're already seeing examples of this, and so the Internet 472 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: of things is going to be really disruptive as it 473 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: makes regular tasks more efficient and or effortless where we 474 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: don't have to have middlemen to kind of negotiate things 475 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: on our behalf. You know, we were able to have 476 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: that stuff happen kind of automatically. Uh, that's gonna be 477 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: really disruptive. Um, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to 478 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: put lots of people out of work, although I imagined 479 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: that first at least some things, that will be the case. 480 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: But it definitely means that it's going to change things. 481 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: And again, it may not necessarily be better. It may 482 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: just be that that's the easiest way to do things, 483 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 1: and so it might not be better, it might be 484 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: the way things are. The last one I would pick 485 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: to talk about is autonomous cars. Autonomous cars are definitely 486 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: going to be disruptive. They've already started to be disruptive, 487 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: and they're not even something that consumers can get their 488 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: hands on yet. Autonomous cars will be disruptive for multiple reasons. 489 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 1: One of the big ones is that it will open 490 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: up the potential for people to no longer younger own 491 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: a personal vehicle. The idea here is that you could 492 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: have a fleet of autonomous cars in a city. Let's 493 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,720 Speaker 1: say this would really only apply to folks who are 494 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: living in urban environments for the most part. So imagine 495 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: that you've got a fleet of autonomous cars and they're 496 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: on the street, driving very safely because they're relying upon 497 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: high tech sensors that allow them to react in a 498 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,479 Speaker 1: fraction of the time it would take a human to react. 499 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 1: So we've got these safe autonomous cars roving around. When 500 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: you need to go somewhere, you use an app and say, hey, 501 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: I need a ride, and one of these autonomous vehicles 502 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: pulls up and you get in and it drives off. 503 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: When an autonomous car needs to rest, like it needs 504 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: to refuel or probably recharge, because I imagine that this 505 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: is going to be largely an electric vehicle fleet, then 506 00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: it'll just take itself off the grid in another car 507 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: come online to replace it. And this would mean that 508 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: you would travel whenever you needed it. But otherwise you 509 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: know you did, you wouldn't need a vehicle, So people 510 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: would not have to spend the money on a personal car. 511 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: They could just rely on this service. Uh, you know, 512 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: it's one of those things that has actually been bandied 513 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:26,239 Speaker 1: about as a possible business model. Uber is looking into it. 514 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: There have been studies that have shown that such a 515 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: model could potentially reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from cars 516 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: by nine Now keep in mind that car greenhouse gas emissions, 517 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,959 Speaker 1: that's a problem, but it's a tiny fraction of the 518 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: overall greenhouse gas emissions that we see. So clearly, if 519 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: all of those cars, those electric vehicles are being powered 520 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: by coal fire, coal fired power plants, really you haven't 521 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: you haven't really addressed the underlying problem, which is that 522 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: you need to find some other means of generating electricity 523 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: that does not dump out that many greenhouse gases in 524 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: the process. It's always one of those issues where you 525 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: gotta look at the bigger picture. But that autonomous approach 526 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: could end up disrupting the automotive industry. If people don't 527 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: need personal vehicles, then that's going to be a huge 528 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: hit to multiple companies. Of course, any company that is 529 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: the one that's actually supplying those autonomous fleets, they're gonna 530 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: make it killing, but everyone else is going to have 531 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: a real hard time of it. On top of that, 532 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: things like taxi companies, they'll have a real hard time. 533 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it'll be a lot harder to get employment 534 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: as a taxi driver if you have all these robot 535 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: cars that are available and are really efficient, and you 536 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about a robot car having a 537 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: weird conversation with you because it's just gonna take you 538 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: to where you want to go, as opposed to, you know, 539 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: talking about some weird thing in the news or an 540 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: odd personal problem that sometimes you get with taxi drivers. 541 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,960 Speaker 1: So it could be an incredibly disruptive Now this is 542 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: just a selection of disruptive technologies. There are tons of 543 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,759 Speaker 1: other ones that we could talk about. VR and a 544 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 1: R virtor reality and augmented reality another potentially disruptive technology. 545 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: Hollow lens in particular Microsoft's approach and Magic Leap being 546 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: another could really disrupt things like if you can turn 547 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 1: any surface into a monitor, you don't need to buy 548 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,840 Speaker 1: a monitor anymore. You just need the headset, and so 549 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,840 Speaker 1: there's a possibility that you could change lease. You also 550 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: could have a new means of interacting with your computer 551 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,719 Speaker 1: using voice and just your controls. If it's compelling enough 552 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: and easy enough and versatile enough, that could be incredibly disruptive. 553 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: We have seen the model of the PC to be 554 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: largely unchanged since the early nineteen eighties. You know, you've 555 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: got your keyboard and mouse, and that's the chief way 556 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: you interact with computers these days. But it's possible that 557 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: if you created a system that is easy enough to 558 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,279 Speaker 1: use and does what you needed to do, we could 559 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: finally see that model fade away or at least end 560 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,799 Speaker 1: up competing with a different model. Uh. I don't know 561 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 1: if that's necessarily going to happen. I haven't had my 562 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: hands on a hollow lens yet, and there are probably 563 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 1: going to be plenty of applications where you're going to think, no, 564 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: I want a computer with a keyboard and a mouse 565 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: to do this. It doesn't make sense for me to 566 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: do it using this other model. But there might be 567 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: enough cases where the hollow lens could be truly disruptive 568 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: and be the next or you know, not just the 569 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 1: hollow lens, but augmented reality in general be truly disruptive 570 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:44,560 Speaker 1: and be the next step in how we interact with information. 571 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: So that's another great example. There's tons of other ones 572 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 1: obviously that have been in the news on and off, 573 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: and I'm curious to hear what you guys think. I 574 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: want to know what you think is the most interesting 575 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:03,000 Speaker 1: disruptive technology, and keep in minding, disruptive technologies are not 576 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: a new thing. There have been disruptive technologies for as 577 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 1: long as there's been technology. Great example is the printing press, 578 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:15,360 Speaker 1: very disruptive technology. It ended up disrupting all those monks 579 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 1: who are illuminating scripts. Um. So this is something that 580 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,920 Speaker 1: has been around pretty much as long as technology has 581 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: been around. But if you guys have a favorite one, 582 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 1: you should let me know. There's some that are still 583 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:32,399 Speaker 1: on the you know, debatable side, like bitcoin. It could 584 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: be truly disruptive in the long run. Right now, it's 585 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: still kind of justifying its existence. It has its dedicated 586 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:46,880 Speaker 1: followers for good reason, but it hasn't received widespread adoptions. However, 587 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: if it ever does, that will be an incredibly disruptive technology. 588 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,480 Speaker 1: So stuff like that. If you have any suggestions, like 589 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,359 Speaker 1: specific examples, things that you would love be to cover 590 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: in future episodes, maybe dedicate an entire episode to a 591 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: specific technology to tell you the story of how it 592 00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: came to be and where is it going. You should 593 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,000 Speaker 1: write me and let me know. The email address you 594 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,879 Speaker 1: should use is text stuff at how stuff works dot com, 595 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: where you can drop me a line on Facebook, Twitter 596 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 1: or Tumbler. The handle it all three is text of 597 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:20,759 Speaker 1: hs W. I look forward to hearing from you, and 598 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon for more on 599 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,759 Speaker 1: this and bass another topic because it has stop works 600 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:42,120 Speaker 1: dot com