The distinction, perhaps, is between infrastructure, hardware, and large-scale systems, on one hand, and software applications, data networks, and mobile commerce, on the other. It might also be one of centralized platform solutions vs. distributed connectivity. And true technical innovation vs. business model refashioning.
Maybe the recent call to action touches on all these things, individually or in combination.
One feels the fundamental truth of the position, but also that there’s been enormous building underway for decades, in many ways unprecedented in magnitude and velocity.
When push comes to shove, the difference may be one of weight: on one hand, the heavy and capital intense projects that require massive funding and yield a long-term payback; while on the other hand, the lower cost and entry-barrier undertakings with the potential for rapid scale.
If there’s something to this interpretation, then the referenced building treatise is also a call to financial markets. Funding amounts, investment expectations, financing terms, liquidity support and potential backstops (including from the public sector), are all ingrained in industrial directions.
It’s hard to know which leads and which one follows, a circular cause-and-effect reality is probably most correct. But if it’s time to build, as stated, it’s probably also time to recapitalize.
Speculative Fiction 