Mar
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Fax Machines and Land Lines: A Paradigm Shift
March 5, 2007 |
The point at which we understood that we could move information quickly and efficiently without the aid of a paper document was the beginning of the end for fax machines. This change in our perception of the information exchange process did not occur at the same time that technology made digital transmission of information a possibility. Instead, it came on the heels of the paradigm shift that altered the way we thought about information.
I still remember the first time I heard of “paradigm shift” explained. I was reading Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He told the story of a man and his children on a subway train. The children were wild and out of control and the man just sat there, totally ignoring them. A bystander’s natural, initial reaction would be to explain the childrens’ behavior as a product of lousy parenting and a father who had no control over his family. But, as Covey goes on to tell us, this family was coming from the hospital where the childrens’ mother (the man’s wife) had just passed away.
This new and unexpected knowledge changed the way the bystander evaluated the situation. It changed the way that the man and children were being viewed and it turned the bystander’s disapproval into a desire to try and help.
In the world of science and technology a paradigm is a philosophical point of agreement on how to view the world. According to Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, “men whose research is based on shared paradigms are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice.” If we extrapolate this to view the world of technological innovation, we can see that fax machine manufacturers, Federal Express, UPS, DHL, and the U.S. Postal Service were all committed to the idea that information was paper bound. It was their goal to be able to provide the most efficient service to transporting those pieces of paper from one place to another.
In much the same way, telecommunications companies were committed to the basic assumption that, in order to communicate efficiently over long distances, there had to be some sort of physical network of connecting wires. Hence the preponderance of telephone poles and underground cables. Even after the technological advances that would eventually obsolete these old paradigms, we clung to the old infrastructure. It was a combination of the security provided by the familiar, fear of the unknown, and more fear perpetuated by the panicking providers of the old technologies.
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