Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor

The slides I used for my paper presentation at FTC (Future Technologies Conference) 2022 on October 21, 2022.

Transcript

1. This image was generated by Stable Diffusion using the paper title below Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor Kenji Saito Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.1/8
2. Introduction This review paper describes digital transformation as a shift in civilization, or changes from agricultural or industrial society Which is based on the division of labor, where people are standardized as parts and used by others To a new form of hunter-gatherer society Where people no longer use others and live in an economy that interacts with digitally augmented nature (Meta-Nature) It identifies how the following buzzing concepts can (not ) be useful : Blockchain and smart contracts (censorship-resistant ledgers, program code, and data) DeFi, NFT, DAO (applications on finance, certified tickets, and decentralized autonomous organizations) Web3 (decentralized management of information, and tokenization of everything) Metaverse (digital twins and user-generated worlds) Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.2/8
3. Information Systems, Society and Future Shift Today Hardware Apps Computer usage Users Approaching Misfit Changes beginning to be visible DX OS Human Businesses Earth Human Meta-Nature (Highly-automated decentralized social environment) Earth Second half of this century? Financial System Automation System Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.3/8
4. Tetrad : The Four Questions (ENH) enhancement : What does it enhance, enable, or accelerate? (OBS) obsolescence : What does it make obsolete? (RET) retrieval : What does it restore in a new form that was once obsolete? (REV) reversal : What does it turn into when pushed to extremes? This tool by McLuhan can recapture the effects of movable type he illustrated in his book “Gutenberg Galaxy” And further, it can depict the social changes caused by digital media, which is a reversal of movable type Then, by applying this tool to the monetary economy, we can discuss from a macroscopic perspective How digital transformation will change the current agricultural / industrial society Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.4/8
5. Tetrad of Movable Type Fixed points of view Massive homogeneous replications Censored / out of print Digital media Perspectives of each Indivisual constructions Mosaic and participatory media ENH REV RET OBS Renaissance Books as auditory media Handwritten manuscripts Paradigm of the era New paradigm enhancement obsolescence retrieval reversal Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.5/8
6. Tetrad of Monetary Economy Paradigm of the era New paradigm ENH REV RET OBS enhancement obsolescence retrieval reversal Exchange, Consumption, Saving, Investment Specialization Agricultural / Industrial Society Economic Gaps, Exploitation, Bankruptcy Bullshit Jobs Deliberation DAO Meta-Nature Domination and Obedience Hierarchy Profit Maximization Trust, Sharing, Gift Economy Omnipotence Hunter-Gatherer Society Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.6/8
7. Three-Way Relationship and Its Disruption DX “Perspectives of each” “Individual constructions” “Perspectives of each” “Individual constructions” “Perspectives of each” “Individual constructions” Automation, Efficiency, Inclusion and Democratization Omnipotence Security by the State Money Specialization of Expertise Market (division of labor) support support support finance issue taxes Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.7/8
8. Conclusions This review paper considered the possibility that digital information communication technologies and their interaction with society will bring about the end of agricultural / industrial society in the near future, forming the reverse Gutenberg galaxy, so to speak And that money will decline as the division of labor becomes obsolete and labor itself is transformed It raises questions about our choices It asks whether a future in which we abandon the monetary system, as foreseen in this paper, is indeed possible And whether we can accept such a future This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21H04872 Reverse Gutenberg Galaxy: Digital Transformation of Economy and Labor – p.8/8