Hamilton 23 jewel pocket watch
Toronto. The digital revolution is driven by sand. Silicon is nothing more than reconstituted sand, after all. We in photography are all too aware of the severe impact digital has had on our industry. Film, chemicals, darkrooms, traditional cameras, lighting etc. have all but disappeared (into our fairs and auctions; in to member collections).
But think about other industries. This hit home the other day when I used my iPod Touch to check the outdoor temperature. Good bye thermometers and the factories that made them and their sales at wholesale and retail. 40 years ago I would have looked at the outside thermometer next to my kitchen window. Today, I pull out my iPod Touch and a quick flick of my finger tells me whether to add a sweater or coat before going outdoors.
Books? Magazines? Newspapers? All traditional copies are quietly disappearing as are the publishers, printers, stores, pulp makers, fine paper makers, reporters, photographers, managers, and everyone else who relied on the hard copy publishing industry for jobs.
Almost any industry you can think of was impacted by the digital revolution. The internet has taken news, education, research, entertainment, etc. by storm. Over the years, every industry somewhat felt the impact of change, but not this strong; not this wide. As consumers we benefit from cheaper cameras, cheaper images, cheaper communications, better transportation, better computers, etc., but at a short term severe cost to those who produced the now obsolete things we once consumed.
The world is indeed in a revolution just as Alvin Toffler predicted in his monumental Third Wave and Future Shock books over half a century ago. The name of this post is a riff off an old British saying, “a spanner in the works” which the Beatles’ John Lennon revised as “A Spaniard in the Works” for a book title.
