History of Revolutions!
Revolutions shape the world's occupation. In short, each such revolution is associated with where the "value" is foreseen.
First of revolutions in occupation were all in "agriculture or farming". Value lay in actual "food". Farming was the valued profession — rightfully so, how could the human race ever sustain without food.
Then, enters the age of industrial revolution: machines add more value than men or animals. Be it farming, transport or energy. Somehow "value" shifts from "Food" to "Machines" that help produce, transport or consume it. Establishments and an Engineer earn more — in social position and monetary benefits — than a farmer. A farmer might have thought, at the end society needs food and his job would always be safe, secure and most valued. Was it so? Answer it yourself.
Most of us have witnessed the next revolution first-hand, where the age of internet, mobile, fast data and outcomes from smart soft logic became more valued than the means itself. Apple, Google, Facebook are the most "Valued". It's not actual apple (food), neither do they create machinery — forget about it, they don't even own much of any hard asset — but for sure they create "Value".
Observation!
Is everyone already well fed? Are machines no longer required? No. Perhaps the need for them exists as ever — but in the meantime "value" has shifted its charm. This shift is evident in industrial giants, perhaps catching up with value hunting, across the globe: GE calls for "Digital Industrial", Siemens for analytics, many others as "Industrie 4.0", "industrial internet" or internet of things. The data about the machine has become more important than the machine itself.
Some engineers, just like farmers, would argue: without actual core technology or machines, the rest of it — programming, data analytics etc. — doesn't have existence. I won't be surprised if, just like machines replaced large numbers of farmers over decades, a large number — at least those who are not sound, technical engineers — get to be "synergised".
Aspects to Ponder
World would find a balance eventually. I just wonder, from food, to machines to software program and data — how fickle the item to which we associate "value" has become. This for sure would increase the volatility. Even if one adapts to this quick value hunting, are there any root values which should check, if not govern, where the fundamental economic values should lay? Keep hunting!
Call to Action
What's your experience with what is "Value"? Have you seen it shift in your own life — for yourself, at work, or in the society you are part of? Eager to read your comments @LinkedIn!