the second wave era was shaped by institutions modelled after Systemantics* and Venkatesh Rao's pyramid of sociopaths,clueless and losers.
It was exemplified by command-and-control paradigms governing every aspect of life and this programmed in vast helplessness into the the masses
the coming of the digital communication age made it possible for feedback to close the loop of the command-and-control thinggie.
steve blank's four steps lists four stages of adoption of a new technology - enthusiasts, pragmatic, conservative and skeptic - the first two take this up almost immediately, but are small in terms of numbers. the first large chunk of change happens when the conservatives take this up.
in the information age, it is possible for subcultures to exist more freely than ever before - not because they are protected by distance like in hte past - when weird cults used to hide out in the land spaces  between villages and settlements - but today, there IS no normal. not so much.
while i-t slowly corrodes away at the systems in place,  we need to map what is really happening.
The second wave was defined by mechanized production driven by capital and credit.
now, the second wave instituitions amplified with third wave tech now result in the runaway remuneration of the top bankstas.
however, the third wave kicking in results in a lot of e-commerce, where you can tell the manufacturer what you need sitting in your home. you can direct production by the power of your purchase.
still, you can only buy what is manufactured and that which stocked and distributed by the e-commerce companies. advertising is still needed to inform the masses of the
existence of products and  the benefits of the said product over rivals'. Some education has started to move out of classrooms into digital forms where they are not constrained by time and place. only by bandwidth and electric power supply. A super light weight and widespread audio video format might make this more accessible to everyone, so does the spread of iPods and iPads.
here's a nice term - middleman . the second wave is all about the middleman. they are the market makers. the speculators. the 'risk-takers'. The ones who build a ton of projects and then brainwash tons of people to think that they need them products. then working the governments and banks to create and circulate currency which can then flow into their pockets. evolutionary stable. self sustaining.
Why do we need automated manufacturing ?
ans : 1) because there are so many mouths to feed ? 2) ten million items at one dollar profit per item is more profit than ten items at ten dollar profit, even after you pay off the billboards the magazine and movie placements the bloggers the politicians ....
The feature of marketing that makes it evil is that it takes simple essentials and make them 'premium'.
the crime of this age is a million brilliant minds languishing and bored to death stuck in flat jobs and trying to stay alive with junk food and porn and on the other hand, not being able to pay exhorbitant medical fees because of 'shortage of talent'
this post has jumped ship twice and has stopped being anything other than a whine