From Chapter II of the 29th Day.
This chapter is about CIC (pronounced kick).
CIC is the force which has been unleashed by modern computers and the internet. It is the force created when creativity, information, and communication, each an exponential force, combine and reach a critical mass. So, it becomes a “triple” exponential force. CIC transforms power into a very different and unfamiliar form.
The source of Creativity is a religious and a philosophical issue. Creativity itself, however, is exponential power, whether in the form of a wheel, a rifle, a printing press, or a computer. Creativity acted as its own catalyst, synthesizing the products of creativity to produce information.
The Industrial Revolution began when CI (Creativity and Information) reached a critical mass. After creativity combined with information, each acted as a catalyst on the other. The resulting force grew exponentially until it generated enough power to act as a catalyst for a Revolution.
CI without Communication is a power-generator. The dominant characteristic of the Industrial Revolution was success through the concentration of power generated by CI. The transformation of existing systems, and the creation of new systems was based on the principle of concentration of CI-power.
The dominant system structure was the pyramid in all major systems – political, economic, social, religious, educational, financial, defensive, and industrial. The generic technique was the transfer of individual responsibility, power, and freedom to each system in order to concentrate power. Each system became more powerful as it was able to absorb more and more individual power. Each individual became weaker. The resulting wealth and magnitude of systems created by CI-power was unprecedented.
The major exception to the CI-power revolution, viewed worldwide as an aberration and an experiment, was the development of democracy in the United States of America. Although much of it was based on the CI-power structure, it was in many respects a precursor of the next major evolutionary step, the CIC Revolution.
Within each step is sown the seeds of the next step. What fueled the engine of the Industrial Revolution in each major system was an expanding “market”, whether the product was cars, health care, government, religion, or working conditions. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, and expanding “markets” were observed to be the fuel for its engine, communication in general and mass communication in particular emerged as the key to such expansion.
The results were dramatic as the exponential forces of Creativity, Information, and Communication combined and began to act as catalysts on each other. The new force created by this combination, CIC-power, began to expand exponentially.
What has only recently been observed is that the addition of Communication to CI-power did more than expand “markets”. In fact, the major result of CIC has been to transfer power from each major system to its “market”. In effect, Communication is a power-distributor, not a power-generator.
Consequently, whereas CI-power was a power-generator-concentrator, CIC is a power-generator-distributor. What we are experiencing now, therefore, is a clash between the two forces which are diametrically opposed in what they do with power – CI concentrates power, CIC distributes power.
