Working in the Information Age
Redefining the way people create value in the 21st century
Introduction
There is no doubt that we now live in a highly-connected and fast-paced world in which knowledge and information are available at the click of a button, and thoughts can be conveyed to millions of people instantaneously. Never before in recorded history have we been more connected and more in the know about world events, emerging trends, new technology, and more.
Perhaps the biggest change brought about by this new age is in how we work, and subsequently how we get paid and promoted to better opportunities. Gone are the days when anyone can literally take any job, and with the base income from that job alone, go out and purchase a house, car, clothing, tools, and everything else required for a functional life. More and more people are having to defer and delay marriage and family, hobbies and interests, and their own pursuit of happiness and fulfillment, instead choosing to shack up with roommates for years while finishing degree programs that may rack up student debt, only to enter a brutally competitive and cutthroat job market in which everyone wants “experience” in something. But how does one go about getting this required experience to gain an edge on the competition? Is there a way to live and work in which there is no such thing as competition?
Why do we work?
Before going too deep into the concept of working in the digital age, let’s take a look at why we actually work in the first place. At first glance, the obvious answer is “because we need money”. But is that really always the case? What did people do prior to the invention of currency? Well, they worked, of course, not for money but for their own survival and for pleasure and enjoyment. To this day, many people who are financially well-off and could retire at any moment continue to work, and many people volunteer their time in return for nothing more than smiles and hugs. So, clearly, money is not the common motivator for work. So what is the real reason?
We as humans want to enjoy a good life. Whether you’re living in 2000BC or 2000AD, chances are you want a warm shelter, great food, sturdy clothes and tools, and great times with friends and family. If you are out camping in the woods in the 21st century, you could theoretically run into your 2000BC counterpart and have more in common than you would imagine. After all, 4000 years later and we’re still out in the woods, gathering food, building fires, and navigating by the sun and stars. Of course, this isn’t because it’s necessarily the most efficient way to go about living, but it’s a deeply rooted tradition in the human psyche, one which motivates even the most high-tech people to get up, go outside, and enjoy spending time with our Mother Earth.
So, regardless of whether we have no money, have infinite money, or live in a society in which money has become obsolete, there is still an underlying drive for us to work on something or another and be satisfied with the results.
Creating value for self and others
Beyond the concept of money and trade, and even at the root of it, lies the fundamental idea of producing things of value that we ourselves can use, and also trade for other things (such as money). When you enter into employment with an organization, you are still effectively engaging in trade (your time for money). Of course, there are plenty of people who have figured out how to earn money without a job, and there are more people still who don’t require money at all for their day-to-day life, such as a wandering nomad or a monk.
In today’s world, it can be very difficult to gauge the value of a work product. Imagine you’re a stonemason thousands of years ago. It’s pretty obvious what the product of your work is, to both people of the time and future generations of visitors from around the world, as in the case with the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands mostly intact after millennia of sun, sand, and looting. The sculptor of the same era, a classical definition of an artist if any, also produces something that can be clearly seen and appreciated for centuries to come.
But what about the digital artist? In truth, their work exists mostly as a sketch on a notepad, some 0s and 1s in a computer, and some copies of those bits scattered around the world in various other computers and networks. The same can be said for the modern musician, who might earn money through a combination of digital and analog media sales, live events, merchandise, and sponsorship. This of course began with the invention of the phonograph and the television, which ushered in a new way for people to distribute their artistic products around the world instead of just at home. The musician who has already produced a platinum record may retire for life and never work another day again, and yet gets up at 3AM to begin working on a new track because they couldn’t sleep until they got part of it down on tape (or disk).
Knowledge work in a nutshell
In today’s world, the highest-value items are intangible. Companies such as Google, Microsoft, and others have invested billions in the development and construction of giant datacenters and networks, and yet most of the hardware will be obsolete within a few years. It’s not the datacenter or the network that creates the value. The real value lies in what people can do with it, which is driven by the application software, services, and interfaces that make use of it in ways that are beneficial to others. This is where the concept of knowledge work comes into play. But what is it? According to Wikipedia:
Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, and academics, and any other white-collar workers, whose line of work requires the one to “think for a living”.
So, this isn’t exactly a new concept. There have been architects, physicians, and other knowledge-based professions for thousands of years. What makes this radically different than previously in history is the idea that the resulting knowledge work product can be distributed across any number of media outlets instantaneously and shared across the world. In the highly connected digital age, no longer does the artist, writer, designer, producer, or musician have to create some tangible item of value and then physically run around looking for an interested buyer. Today’s artist can sell and license high-quality copies of their work, straight from a computer, with the potential to quickly reach millions of people around the world.
The 21st century economic landscape
With market saturation becoming an increasingly challenging problem to deal with in the physical goods sector, many corporations have begun searching for new and better ways of reaching consumers and creating sustainable business models that serve these consumers in the modern digital economy.
The law of supply and demand is simple: as the supply of some product approaches infinity, the demand for it approaches zero. While an “infinite” supply might seem a bit far-fetched, consider that any supply which grossly outweighs its demand might as well be infinity. If there are three million people who are into some kind of product or thing and you have already sold one to all of them, then there is literally zero demand for your products. As goods become cheaper and more accessible, the idea of selling the next awesome smartphone or other gadget becomes more of a challenge, because there are already hundreds of millions of them floating around the world, most of which have more than enough power for the average consumer.
This is where the landscape of the modern digital world differs from the usual standard fare material economy. Producing goods of a high quality which are still affordable is becoming increasingly challenging, as market saturation drives the price of goods down while the collapse of the material economy is simultaneously inducing everyday people to search for new means of work.
Conclusion
Today’s economy is largely driven by knowledge work, with IT and other technical skills in high demand year after year. As the price of goods in general continues to drop and people begin purchasing fewer homes, cars, and other things, there will be a steady rise in demand for knowledge work, dealing in non-physical assets such as software applications, digital media, intellectual property, and the ability to dynamically provide solutions to new and increasingly complex problems. At the core of this knowledge work lies the foundations of mathematics, science, communication, and other technical and personal skills — which unlike a specific trade or industry knowledge, will never become obsolete (when was the last time Pythagorean’s Theorem or the Unit Circle was replaced with something newer or better?)
Kenneth Reilly (8_bit_hacker) is CTO of LevelUP
