All Tomorrows Armies

November 29, 2008 · Comments

lego Today, we wonder how newspapers survive. Today, we wonder how the music industry will survive. Today, we wonder how GM and Ford and the rest of the US auto industry will survive. We worry about a lot of larger scale creations.

We used to worry about larger computers. We no longer do. We used to worry about sharing information. We no longer do. We used to worry about small voices being lost in the shuffle. We used to worry about a lot of things.

Tomorrow (and I mean the day after you read this), we already are equipped with the most robust and least expensive toolset for communications that the world has ever seen. We possess massive distribution networks for free. We are all Gutenberg. We are all Murdock. We are all available and ready.

Why do we seem scared? Because the money didn’t follow the distribution lines the same way as it did with the other media (news, radio, TV, movies). But maybe that’s not where we need to get our money from this next time.

Tomorrow (and I mean the day after you read this), we are modular. We are fighting smaller wars. We are reporting smaller news. We are having simpler conversations. We are the dial tone. We are the movie theater.

Yes, bigger things will still loom. Yes, there will be those stories and issues that need the largest stage possible. This cannot and should not change.

But as for you and me, it becomes our job to atomize everything. Make components. Break it all down. From your text to your video, share and make share-able. Point out the good things. Give every piece a network. Deliver every piece to the outposts. Forget the home base. Forget the fleet. Make and launch pirate ships in all directions and seek out the gold (=goal, =whatever you think is worth sailing for).

Stay with the old at your own risk. All tomorrow’s armies are equipped and ready to embed. We don’t need to gather. We have our own dial tone. We connect and disband the way waves shape the beach.

Or not.

Photo credit, Dade

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  • Thanks for the end-of-the-year, middle-of-the-weekend, motivational boost! I know you said "the day after..." but for me, my tomorrow began yesterday :)
  • Thanks for awakening my inner pirate.
  • Times will continue to change and predicting the future is a guessing game.

    I say we focus on learning new things. Improving our position and marketability to survive any market.

    Happy Holidays,

    Michael
  • In response to your Christmas presents for social media nerds (link is gone when followed from my reader); I really want one of those flipmino HD video camcorders. I'm planning on giving a variety of things including some goodies to some social media friends like tweeple and linkedin connections.
  • Ooo... I'm liking the "atomize" visual there. It's like all tomorrow's armies are a new middle-set between creator and consumer in some cases. We filter and atomize and redistribute. Like some kind of maddened octopus. And of course, I agree with Va-4-Hire that the pirate imagery is a fantastic choice.
  • 'small news' .. an interesting concept - yup you were right more gist for my thought mill thanks Chris
  • eye eye matey!
  • Agreed. The gap between technologies is already massive. It's a new modernity.
  • What if I told you the tech wasn't the thing? The approach was the thing. What if I told you the maps are all wrong? What if I asked you to lower your sensors and use the force, Luke?

    To me, it's as powerful as that. And then again, not.

    This is small arms warfare after decades of building up massive nuclear arsenals. This is door-to-door combat that renders our tanks useless.

    Or, this is communications.
  • today i'm wondering how it is that we can wonder how things of value will survive and live with no doubt that armies will survive, that wars will go on. this is a crisis of imagination.

    tomorrow, i see armies getting smaller and smaller, wars getting smaller and smaller, engulfed by the waves of simple human to human communication that are shaping this planet in an image of our true selves, our child-selves, our happy funny friendly selves.
  • Jon Hoel
    We may be in a similar situation to the early days of commercial computers when they thought there might be a market for only a few dozen, worldwide. And as late as the 1970s, many people at big companies doubted individuals wanted PCs. The market was proven, then expanded.

    But what has changed this time is as you say, the massive free distribution networks.
  • Chris,

    Nice post! Very thought provoking. So many small attacks against so called 'mighty nations'. Big business is under attack from the ripple-effect of AIG and Lehman Brothers antics.

    Now China's factories stand idle because of the lame greediness of a few soul-less companies. I wonder if Lehman or AIG have used Social Media?

    Respectfully,

    Nicholas Chase
    Twitter/nachase
  • Let's see ... how can I put my reaction to this post in a nice, mature, professionally polished context which will be universally respected, uncontroversial, safe, conservative-yet-edgy, and just sufficiently novel to boost my own little work-peer-clique popularity so I get the next promotion in a way that fosters consensus from all that indeed, I was the more deserving than they for sociological distinction? Let's see ... what what that safest one word response look like? Oh yes, that's the word: pre-fucking-cisely. That's it. Tomorrow, (and I mean the day after you read this) the utterly unvarnished uncontroversial truth generally works best. Authenticity is the New Root of All Value. Welcome to the Human Internet; the Identity Web; call it what you will, but it is anything BUT Web 2-Point-Whatever-Digit-Point-Oh. Onward.
  • Michael Silverton,

    I think Web 2.0 is the current business model that has surfaced in response to the current way the internet is constructed in the form of networked pages. In this sense you're right. Web 2.0 isn't tomorrow as the internet probably won't stay like this forever, but Web 2.0 is authentic and should not be taken lightly. I recently read Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Shuen and it held valuable and relevant information on the topic. As far as the human internet or the identity web is concerned, I'm sure it will just end up being called web 3.0 (as it is already starting to be called), and I'm sure business models will arise to take advantage of it. In my opinion tomorrow is still the information age, and information will be the root of all value. Authenticity is how you market the information, because if you aren't authentic then people will know because they have access to...information. I do sympathize with your cynicism in regards to blog comments. Thanks for the interesting post, Chris.
  • What's even more compelling is how nimble we now are.

    If we sail your ships, Chris, and find no treasure, it's profoundly easy now to abandon ship and sail elsewhere. To try, to fail, to explore. The portable nature of these communities and conversations make them powerful and yes, lethal. Momentum is not driven by the masses now, but by lightfooted cadres of those with an unwavering sense of adventure and a need to connect.

    We need not wait for someone else to move before we can. We don't need precedent, we just need provocation.
  • @Amber - what's interesting is you've just explained both rapid prototyping (a software construct) as well as modern entrepreneur methods (at least in the tech space). Try, fail, try something new. There you have it. Iterative.

    So, innovation died on lots of fronts. Is this its recovery option?
  • As always Chris, a very thought provoking post. You are right though, the collective WE/US is now greater than THEY/THEM ever were.

    So let us sail forth onto this sea of change, but remember this ... Today is the Tomorrow you talked about Yesterday.
  • Ahhh, reading this was like a soothing balm on my frazzled social media nerves. Reading this was like hot chocolate on a freezing day. It comforted me to no end. As someone passionate about WE and not THEM, it felt great to read. As someone passionate about LOCAL not NATIONAL news, it felt great to read. As someone passionate about the SMALL things instead of the BIG things, it felt great to read. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are social media conservatives (thinking small while dreaming big, acting locally, not nationally). I hope this never changes.
  • Fantastic post.

    Can't think of anything to add. Simply a fantastic post.
  • The idea of small communications, or micro niche is now, Chris is right on. There are dozens of micro niche social networking sites, and lots of ways for all of us to listen in on "the cocktail party conversation" of our choice. It is like walking into a crowded coffee shop, with every seat taken, and lots of conversations going on. Which one do you engage in, or do you just listen, or do your own thing? Your choice, just like the information flow.
  • @Chris I sure think so. The absolute rapidity of our hyperconnected world requires it. We can't afford months of research and development for every damn thing we do, especially in communications. And the human element of communicating means that there are *always* unforseen variables.

    IDEO understands this, and they embrace the idea that thousands of imperfect ideas that can be deployed and tested in a hurry trump a handful of those that are refined in a bubble. They understand that true innovation is as much human-based as it is charted out in a boardroom.

    Human relationships don't go through R&D. They're imperfect, and they defy logic sometimes. It's time we quit railing against that and learn how adapt. It's happening anyway, with or without us.
  • @Chris Allison: Right. Totally appreciate the corporate mittens required for such entities to attempt to interact with humans. Sorry if analogy a little vague, will try to elaborate a bit later.

    @Amber Naslund: "true innovation is as much human-based as it is charted out in a boardroom. Human relationships don’t go through R&D. They’re imperfect, and they defy logic sometimes. It’s time we quit railing against that and learn how adapt. It’s happening anyway, with or without us."

    OMG! My head is exploding with the clubfactor overload cn this thread. Good Stuff(tm). ;-)
  • doh! "clubfactor" supposed to be CLUEFACTOR.

    My bad for trusting tabletPC ink input a bit too quickly. sigh. Tablets way better than past versions, but still require a little extra from their humans. Sorry for extra post.
  • Do you remember the monologue at the end of the Matrix? I thought I was having a flashback to that at the end of your post. Poetic.

    Anyway, I wonder whether there are any other folks out there who started subscribing to a ton more 'old' media outlets when they got rid of cable TV.

    When we fired our cable TV service provider years ago we became big newspaper and magazine subscriber. Not exclusively -- online we follow many good feeds and tweeters and video sources etc.

    But we felt like, to stay current, we wanted the Times, the Chronicle, Wired, MAKEmagazine, regional Business Journals, The Week, and others to supplement online stuff.

    We read, read, read -- and use iTunes like crazy. Are we that unusual?
  • M.
    What a great post. Small news is still important news. Our view, what we see and hear and know is OUR NEWS, the news that matters. Control what we can, let go of the rest and live to see another day.

    Dream Big.
    M.
  • Sheena Miller
    I like this. Encouraging and straightforward. Thanks!
  • Speaking of Rupert Murdoch -- Just saw a documentary called OutFoxed. http://tinyurl.com/5akn85
    The man owns media outlets that reach over 3/4 of the world's population. Notice I didn't say "news" outlets because Murdoch isn't interested in reporting the news - he's interested in controlling what people hear and see. Don't count Murdoch out yet.
  • The identity web. Provocation. Higher and higher levels of granularity. Privateers instead of navies. Special agents instead of armies. Rapid prototyping. Ready, fire, aim, fire.
    So much food for thought here. Thanks for the intriguing post and the insightful comments all.
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