604
L. A. Moscato et al.
bridges between those protagonists became the most important Goal of the Agenda
2030 (SDG 17).
3 The Digital Era
The current historic time has been called the DIGITAL ERA. Some consider that the
most valuable resource of today’s world is no longer oil or gold, but data, most of
it generated, transmitted, and stored in digital format. Others emphasize the worldwide changes in the means of production, calling it the period of the 4th Industrial
Revolution. Other groups consider that the most crucial characteristic of our times
is the speed of changes, highlighting that the only constant of our times is precisely
change, and not a linear change but an exponential one. People are also calling
the current period the Age of Accelerations, given the impact of three simultaneous gigantic accelerations of current life: information, globalization, and the use of
natural resources.
The most mentioned example of exponential change on Digital information is the
case of the “Moore’s Law,” in which its creator, Gordon Moore,
4 predicted in 1965
that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit would double in about every
two years. That’s highly exponential, as many other examples of highly accelerated
change. Similarly, the flows of information and knowledge connecting the world of
economic transactions and exchanges also brought accelerated transformations in
culture and habits. Currently, there are no doubts that the planet is more and more
inter-connected and inter-dependent.
It is also clear now that solutions researched need to be treated under that global,
accelerated and systemic approach, a concept that the Sustainable Development
paradigm inherited from the Systems Theory, including the idea of measurement,
parameters, and quantitative method of targets and goals around human beings and
Life in general. Looking at Earth as a System, or as a System of Systems, implies
a multi-dimensional approach, and that has impacted geology, mechanics, robotics,
and even the mutual influence between engineering and human or socially complex
systems. In other words, the Digital Age and the Sustainability Science are converging.
4 The Exponential Organizations
Two rivers converge bringing waters of change at the current crossroads of the new
Millennium. They bring the Scientific wisdom of the Sustainability Paradigm and
the Technological tools of the Digital Era. Both are the most creative flows bring4 Moore’s Law—Wikipedia.
L. A. Moscato et al.
bridges between those protagonists became the most important Goal of the Agenda
2030 (SDG 17).
3 The Digital Era
The current historic time has been called the DIGITAL ERA. Some consider that the
most valuable resource of today’s world is no longer oil or gold, but data, most of
it generated, transmitted, and stored in digital format. Others emphasize the worldwide changes in the means of production, calling it the period of the 4th Industrial
Revolution. Other groups consider that the most crucial characteristic of our times
is the speed of changes, highlighting that the only constant of our times is precisely
change, and not a linear change but an exponential one. People are also calling
the current period the Age of Accelerations, given the impact of three simultaneous gigantic accelerations of current life: information, globalization, and the use of
natural resources.
The most mentioned example of exponential change on Digital information is the
case of the “Moore’s Law,” in which its creator, Gordon Moore,
4 predicted in 1965
that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit would double in about every
two years. That’s highly exponential, as many other examples of highly accelerated
change. Similarly, the flows of information and knowledge connecting the world of
economic transactions and exchanges also brought accelerated transformations in
culture and habits. Currently, there are no doubts that the planet is more and more
inter-connected and inter-dependent.
It is also clear now that solutions researched need to be treated under that global,
accelerated and systemic approach, a concept that the Sustainable Development
paradigm inherited from the Systems Theory, including the idea of measurement,
parameters, and quantitative method of targets and goals around human beings and
Life in general. Looking at Earth as a System, or as a System of Systems, implies
a multi-dimensional approach, and that has impacted geology, mechanics, robotics,
and even the mutual influence between engineering and human or socially complex
systems. In other words, the Digital Age and the Sustainability Science are converging.
4 The Exponential Organizations
Two rivers converge bringing waters of change at the current crossroads of the new
Millennium. They bring the Scientific wisdom of the Sustainability Paradigm and
the Technological tools of the Digital Era. Both are the most creative flows bring4 Moore’s Law—Wikipedia.