Digital Acceleration: Why Changes Happen Within the Same Generation

Just a few decades ago, a person born and raised in a small, rural town expected to see few technological changes in their adult life. Evolution was gradual, measured in centuries or, at the very least, in long decades. Today, however, the story is completely different. In a span of just 20 or 30 years, we’ve witnessed the rise of dial-up internet, the broadband explosion, the arrival of the iPhone, and the popularization of artificial intelligence. How is it possible that digital acceleration is transforming the world so radically that the same generation that used a floppy disk is now debating the impacts of language models like ChatGPT? The answer lies in a combination of exponential factors that are redefining the pace of innovation and our very concept of time.

Moore's Law and the Technological Snowball Effect

The starting point for understanding this acceleration is Moore's Law, an observation by Gordon Moore, Intel's co-founder, that the number of transistors on a microchip would double every two years. While this "law" isn't an immutable physical rule and its validity is now being questioned, it accurately described the pace of technological advancement for the last five decades. More transistors on a chip mean greater processing power, which, in turn, allows for the creation of more complex technologies.

This evolution isn't linear; it's exponential. With each new generation of hardware, new software possibilities emerge, which require even more processing power, creating a virtuous cycle. Broadband, for example, would not have become popular without faster processors to handle data transmission. Artificial intelligence, which requires colossal computing power, only became commercially viable with the advancement of graphics processing units (GPUs). Each innovation becomes a stepping stone for the next, creating a "snowball effect" that gains speed and mass with every step.

The Digitization of Everything and Global Connectivity

Another pillar of digital acceleration is digitization. In the past, information was trapped in physical formats: books, newspapers, films on videotapes. The internet, and the digitization that accompanies it, liberated this information, making it instantly accessible and replicable. The dissemination of knowledge went from being a slow and costly process to being almost instantaneous. This democratized innovation, allowing developers from anywhere in the world to collaborate and build new tools on top of existing technologies.

Global connectivity, driven by smartphones and social media, further multiplied this effect. The internet isn't just a data repository; it's a network of people. A new idea or a new product can be tested, refined, and distributed to millions of users in a matter of days. Feedback becomes instant, and the development cycle accelerates dramatically. Innovation is no longer an isolated event in a laboratory; it's a collaborative and continuous process.

Consequences and Challenges of Digital Acceleration

The speed of digital change brings with it a set of unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Constant adaptation has become an essential skill. Professions disappear and emerge at a dizzying pace, requiring continuous lifelong learning. The line between work and personal life becomes increasingly blurred, and information overload becomes a real problem.

However, digital acceleration is also the source of solutions for humanity's most pressing problems, from the search for new medical cures to the fight against climate change. What sets this era apart from previous ones is that the changes are no longer external to us. They are part of our everyday experience. Technology is no longer just something we use; it shapes our reality and our future, all within our own lifetime.