Quote from: Hydrogen on March 30, 2018, 09:26:50 PM

Quote from: SHBlizzard on March 23, 2018, 05:17:58 AM

There might not have been a technological paradigm shift, but there definitely was a societal one. before the 2nd I.R. and cars, people had to get around in horse drawn carriages to get to the train station if they wanted to get out of town. Most farmers still had cattle or horses to pull carts. after the advent of cars and the combustion engine (different from steam) society changed A LOT. I think that is the paradigm shift, a shift in society caused by the technological advances

That is a good point.

I think there also may have been a massive population boom after the petrol revolution where oil was found to be useful in pesticides, fertilizer, fuel, lubricants and a host of widespread innovations which allowed a larger population to be sustainable(which also fuels concerns over peak oil et al). Said population boom could represent many changes which validate the distinction between 1st and 2nd industrial revolutions.

I wish academic lexicon, jargon and terminology were more intuitive. Rather than introducing paradigms which further isolate the average person from understanding many of the buzzwords and abstracts utilized within. Lowering the learning curve might not be such a bad thing? Also would not mind more emphasis on terminology which help the average person to put historical events into context in a way which helps the public to recognize real issues society faced in the past and lessons which could be derived from them.

I think more emphasis on centralized versus decentralized markets and related phenomena could be more valuable an abstract than distinctions between 1st, 2nd or 3rd industrial revolutions. But hey I'm a supporter of bitcoin and crypto posting on a crypto forum so maybe I am a bit biased there?

Especially in this new age of big data where everyone is bombarded with new information all the time, it is hard to take a step back and look at the big picture that the past has painted for us. I think we might be potentially at a fork in the road where either we as a society become more individualistic and centered around self gratification OR we become a sharing circular economy, where knowledge, electricity, logistics, is shared at a fraction of the cost that it was previously. I am a firm believer that it'll be the 2nd scenario. And I inclined to agree with you, I am biased as well, nonetheless I am a firm believer that the cryptocurrency distribution model/smart contracts/Ledger can have a huge impact on the finances of future generations (at least IMHO)