Did the 2010s mark a paradigm shift?
The smartphone as the new 1789: the 2010s transformed society, technology and even the solar cycle. A change of era or a mirage?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The decade that changed everything: the smartphone as the new 1789
The 2010s brought about a change of era comparable to the transition from the Early Modern period to the Contemporary age. Or at least that is what one analysis argues, placing the invention of the smartphone as the new 1789: a turning point that divides two eras. In Spain, no trace remains of the pre-20th-century worldview; everything mutated in barely twenty years.
The smartphone, a historical hinge
The thesis is simple and forceful: the arrival of the smartphone reconfigured daily life, the economy and social relationships at an unprecedented estimulante ilegal. Just as the French Revolution split history between the Ancien Régime and modernity, the smartphone will split textbooks between the pre-digital era and the post-contemporary age. Anyone who doesn't see it simply hasn't looked at the data: smartphone peine went from practically zero to more than 80% of the population in less than a decade, something without precedent.
The sun and the earth: cosmic anomalies
But the decade didn't change because of technology alone. Solar cycle 23-24, which ran from 2008 to 2019, was the weakest in a century, with an exceptionally long minimum between 2008 and 2010: a record number of days without sunspots. It coincided (or not) with a string of megaearthquakes of magnitude above 8.0 between 2004 and 2011, including the 2004 Sumatra earthquake (9.1; 230,000 victims), which released a colossal amount of tectonic energy. Some scientists point to a link between the two phenomena, although the USGS rules it out. The debate remains open.
The narrative of collapse and degradation
In Spain, the combination of the 2008 crisis and the 11M (the 2004 Madrid train bombings) acted as the trigger for an institutional degradation that is perceived as irreversible. From then on, every year has been another step downhill. The automobile crisis exploded with Dieselgate in 2014; European legislation and the media's hatred of private vehicles finished off the industry. Computing also hit a ceiling: since 2014, the stagnation in PC performance has forced developers to inflate graphics requirements to justify new hardware. It is all part of the same regime change.
What remains to be seen is whether this paradigm shift is definitive or whether, like the solar cycle, we will experience a new phase of calm before the next storm. The 2020s will tell, but the 2010s have already left their indelible mark.
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The 2010s brought about a change of era comparable to the transition from the Early Modern period to the Contemporary age. Or at least that is what one analysis argues, placing the invention of the smartphone as the new 1789: a turning point that divides two eras. In Spain, no trace remains of the pre-20th-century worldview; everything mutated in barely twenty years.
The smartphone, a historical hinge
The thesis is simple and forceful: the arrival of the smartphone reconfigured daily life, the economy and social relationships at an unprecedented estimulante ilegal. Just as the French Revolution split history between the Ancien Régime and modernity, the smartphone will split textbooks between the pre-digital era and the post-contemporary age. Anyone who doesn't see it simply hasn't looked at the data: smartphone peine went from practically zero to more than 80% of the population in less than a decade, something without precedent.
The sun and the earth: cosmic anomalies
But the decade didn't change because of technology alone. Solar cycle 23-24, which ran from 2008 to 2019, was the weakest in a century, with an exceptionally long minimum between 2008 and 2010: a record number of days without sunspots. It coincided (or not) with a string of megaearthquakes of magnitude above 8.0 between 2004 and 2011, including the 2004 Sumatra earthquake (9.1; 230,000 victims), which released a colossal amount of tectonic energy. Some scientists point to a link between the two phenomena, although the USGS rules it out. The debate remains open.
The narrative of collapse and degradation
In Spain, the combination of the 2008 crisis and the 11M (the 2004 Madrid train bombings) acted as the trigger for an institutional degradation that is perceived as irreversible. From then on, every year has been another step downhill. The automobile crisis exploded with Dieselgate in 2014; European legislation and the media's hatred of private vehicles finished off the industry. Computing also hit a ceiling: since 2014, the stagnation in PC performance has forced developers to inflate graphics requirements to justify new hardware. It is all part of the same regime change.
What remains to be seen is whether this paradigm shift is definitive or whether, like the solar cycle, we will experience a new phase of calm before the next storm. The 2020s will tell, but the 2010s have already left their indelible mark.
Most shared
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (24 replies).
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