Disruptive Information

Democracy disrupted monarchy, the automobile disrupted horse breeders, email disrupted the Postal Service and personal computers put typewriter companies out of business. When Paul and Silas arrived in Philippi, they had information that turned the town upside down.

Often, when change happens, it totally disrupts the world as we know it. Change is inconvenient and disruptive.

• Democracy disrupted monarchy.
• The automobile disrupted horse breeders.
• Email disrupted the postal service and the envelope manufacturers.
• Personal computers put typewriter companies out of business.
• And remember stereos, reel-to-reel tape recorders and players, VCRs and cassette tapes?

We could go on. Sometimes, new industries are generated while other businesses fail. Still, we wouldn’t have it any other way. As one writer says, “Few people are crying that Edison put lantern makers/sellers out of business.”

And the disruption continues. It comes to us today in the form of the devices we carry around on our wrists, or in pockets or purses. Sensors, cloud infrastructure, data and business intelligence tools, AI, robotics, nanomaterials, biotech, bioinformatics, quantum computing and the Internet of Things — all are changing, transforming and ...