SOCIETY

INFORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY : PART 2

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulder of giants(Isaac newton)

Give the position and velocities of all the particles in the universe and I will predict the future(Pierre Simon laplace)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities(Voltaire)

Individual ambition serves the common good(Adam smith)

Printing press and the industrial society

Rise of scientific disciplines: The printing press came to Europe in sixteenth century. It caused printing of Ancient Greek and roman texts and the knowledge of ancient science became disseminated throughout Europe.However soon literate people started comparing these texts and testing their correctness. Most ancient science except geometry was based on common sense hypothesis. Thus the earth was supposed to be the centre of the universe because sun ,moon and stars moved daily across the earth sky .However astronomers like Galileo accurately noted the movement of celestial bodies. He had data from other astromomers which was available in printed form. Printing in addition to mass distribution in the population makes possible accurate reproduction of data. Earlier scribes frequently made mistakes while copying books. Over a period of time the content of the book changed due to  wrong reproduction of texts and data.This comparison of data from different independent observations allowed Copernicus to propose that sun and not earth was at the centre of solar system. In the meantime collection of data and their classification was occurring in biological sciences and led to the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. Comparison of printed  navigation maps allowed better maps and exploration and ultimate discovery of sea routes to India and America.

   Isaac newton studied keplers laws of planetary motion and discovered the underlying laws of gravitation. The importance of experiments to test and select hypothesis was made by Roger Bacon. Science now was not restricted by common sense but the results of experiments.

Industrial Revolution: The results of advancement of science had effects on the economy. Initially there was a massive rise in trade led by discovery of America and Asian trade routes. The ability to finance these explorations required a  banking system with new financial instruments. The growing trade prompted specialization of production. In colonies plantations produced a special product say tea or cotton with economics of scale using cheap labour from colonies. Later this specialization extended to manufactured goods. As the volume of trade increased the demand for goods also increased due to higher standard of living. This led to search for mechanisms to increase productivity .Two processes ,division of labour by mechanization of production and discovery of mechanical power to drive the production occured .Earlier craftsmen produced the goods individually and without standardization. With discovery of steam power,electricity the goods could be produced in mass scale in factories in a standard and specialized manner.The rise of firms as organizations for producing goods and services and competing among themselves in a market economy led to modern economics

Rise of modern state:The medieval state had a beauracracy loyal to the king. The king himself was all powerful in making laws. With printing and spread of rational thought philosophers like Rousseau hypothesized that sovereign power belongs to the people and not the king. As the general population became prosperous and a middle class arose these ideas spread rapidly in Europe. It culminated in the French Revolution where democratic power shifted to the general public.There was a corresponding change in the beauracracy  as the rules became independent of the person in power but based on citizens needs and comforts.

Religion:When printing press first came to Europe the first book produced was the Bible. When it became available to the majority of population there were dissenting voices. The predominant was that of Martin Luther. His version of Lutherian bible also was printed all over Europe. This led to schism in the catholic church. 

The printing revolution thus led to formation of abstract concepts foremost in science. However  newconcepts arose in economy.politics and religion.The formal stage of Piaget had spread to new areas of economy  and governance with abstract concepts of democracy,firms,banks etc 

The digital revolution

The twentieth century saw the invention of the computer. The computer with the Internet has brought a new phase of information input in society, This is transforming many parts of society

Economy: Earlier manufacturing fascilities were coordinated within the boundaries of a nation. With computers the tracking of production and distribution can be done remotely and in real time. There has been thus Globalization of manufacturing as well as services to low cost countries by transnational companies where cost of production is low. 

Digitization of processes in offices has allowed firms to automate many of them. Thus railway reservation for berths which earlier was a cumbersome procedure and involved going to a railway reservation office and manual checking of vacant berths by a clerical staff , has become automated and can be done through ones mobile phone. .With artificial intelligence ,which can be considered as human like computing there will be profound change in nature of production. Thus most routine factory production becomes automated . Similarly routine software production can be automated in services. Routine legal, radiological expertise can be automated by AI. What AI cannot automate is hypothesis formation which is the hallmark of human thinking.

In retail digital commerce has allowed consumers vast choice of buying goods online without travelling to brick and mortar stores.Digital payment and even loans has reduced the scope of retail banks and  for ordinary payment through cheques,paper money,cards and ATMs.

Government: Governance has been made much easier through digital transactions. Today most bill payments ,from electricity  Bills  to municipal and income taxes is done online and there no need to go to the concerned offices to pay bills.Government subsidy schemes can pay the recipient directly in  his bank account without going through any middlemen’s or leaks. 

Science: science has greatly benefitted from supercomputers which can rapidly calculate  enormous amount of data. Thus from LHC calculation of trajectory of elementary particles to complicated data of genetic distributions ,all depend today on computing to get results

Abstract concepts  based on hypothesis formation  are invented in society when a suitable  information base is present. Human beings  reason by hypothesis formation as it is a basic property of human brain. However in the absence of data hypothesis formation becomes impossible. Human beings then use preoperational or concrete operations to form concepts..

Self organization in society

Human organizations are based on rules and one can imitate and create similar organizations. Moreover the economic benefits provided by organizations have an agglomeration effect. This happens because knowledge of rules diffuses out from a particular organization in the form of workers coming in contact. The externality benefit obtained by staying in a productive region or country thus is high and favours self aggregation. The opportunity cost of a doctor is much higher in a developed country as his services are exchanged for much higher remuneration where as though doctors are scarce in developing countries their remuneration is not commensurate with their rarity in society.The agglomeration effect however has a limit.As locations having less expensive labour costs and infrastructure cost compete gradually alternative regions and countries with identical organizations develop. The society thus organizes into cities and regional centres.

   Self organization can also occur temporarally. The best example are business cycles. They self organize based on synchronization of effective demand in the economy or supply shocks. Long term technological changes also change demand of goods produced in an economy and lead to long economic cycles. These are based on major technological changes such as invention of steam power, invention of electricity, internal combustion engine or computers and internet.

Information thus organizes society based on self aggregation .

Ack:The evolution of knowledge :rethinking science for the Anthropocene,The printing revolution in early Europe,