The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves [Kindle Edition]

W Brian Arthur's book on technology is a great companion to "the origins of wealth". It takes the broader exploration of complexity economics and focuses it down to a theory of technology evolution. The logic builds well, and I spent the first part of the book agreeing but being underwhelmed, it is when he draws the threads together that you see that what seems to be a very theoretical book has significant pragmatic implications. The writing is clear, the logic strong and the flow impecable

W. Brian Arthur's The Nature of Technology is an important book for technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, in fact anyone in the business of creating, marketing or selling innovative technology.

This book is an ontology of the process of technological innovation and is a major contribution to the understanding of the evolution of technology and its influence on our economy and civilization. nature of technology

I write this review as a layman, from my perspective of the observer of technological change over 40 years in the computer industry, initially in engineering, then sales and marketing and for the past 5 years focused on solving sales and marketing performance problems in innovative technology companies.

There is a clue in the title as to the main arguments in the book and few others in the World have the background to conceive, advance and prove such a powerful argument in just 216 pages. Brian Arthur is an engineer, mathematician, system theorist, economist and more recently a diligent scholar of Darwinian evolution.

Arthur coins a new phrase to describe the advances in technology as "combinatorial evolution"; whereas in nature evolution is biological and subject to the Darwinian laws of natural selection, technology evolves as a result of combinations of existing technologies and methods to create new innovations, the critical ingredient in the process is human knowledge and ingenuity.

Once a technology is created, it is then subject to Darwinian evolution, whereby the innovation advances through refinement of its component systems and further innovation and addition, the weaker ideas discarded to become museum artifacts and the process continually advancing.

Arthur examines the development path that produced the steam engine, the jet engine, the laser printer, the development of radar, the cyclotron, DNA and many other innovations including the computer to create a logical and balanced argument that is self evident, yet until this book, was untold. He also cites the great thinkers on the subject of technology including Joseph Schumpeter, Martin Heidegger, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela and Thomas Khun.

Written in a clear, logical and carefully constructed prose, Arthur reminds us that our economy is the sum and manifestation of our technology and that it is becoming generative with the accelerating rate of technological change. "It's focus is shifting from optimizing fixed operations into creating new combinations, new configurable offerings." For high-technology entrepreneurs in startups, he captures the problems of both the innovator and the investor;

* he doesn't know if the new technology will work
* nor how well it will be received,
* who the competitors will be
* what government regulations will apply

"The environment around the launching of a new combinatorial business is not merely uncertain: particular aspects are unknown"

Finally he suggests that "in the generative economy, management derives its competitive advantage not from its stock of resources and its ability to transform these into finished goods, but from its ability to translate its stock of deep expertise into ever new strategic combinations."

Stimulating, thought-provoking and highly recommended!

This books sets out to describe how technologies evolve. Arthur uses (existing) words to describe the process. It is a little like reading philosophy - he is defining these words to have these specific meanings. He claims that he is describing general principles but all he provides are (a limited range of) illustrations. The reader is left to assess the claim for yourself. I have a good knowledge of the history of the computer and the concepts he describes work for that example to my knowledge. Arthur agrees that it is hard to pin down a particular technology: they change a great deal over time and keep being developed. It is hard to be precise about a technology at one point in time - even harder over any prolonged period of time.
I was frustrated by the references to the (very variable) amount of time technologies take to develop and to be taken up by societies. To me this is a fascinating topic that deserves more space than Arthur gives it. The variables that influence how quickly a technology are taken up are barely touched upon by Arthur.
I found the last chapter the least satisfactory and I am still wondering what Arthur was trying to say with it.
I found "The Box" a more satisfying read. It does locate a technology in its broad social context and show how many (apparently unrelated) factors influenced the development of the technology and its take-up by shippers and ports.
I have been reflecting if I will remember and use Arthur's concepts when thinking about technologies in the future. On balance, I think not. The book is a brave attempt to bring a more systematic approach to thinking about technology - but I don't think it succeeds.