All Disruptions Aren't Bad

At first blush, the term, disruptive, sounds terribly negative.  After all, from a very early age we learn that disruptive behaviours are certainly not encouraged in a classroom environment.  Yet, disruptive can simply mean different.  For example, disruptive technology may, indeed, end up as a major convenience and vast improvement.



Today, I heard that Rogers will be closing all it's video stores Canada wide. Of course Blockbuster hit the dust a while back. The major reason is that people have moved on. Streaming and on-demand video programming have killed DVD rentals. Those firms were able to handle a change in format from video tape to disc. However, the more recent changes avoid physical distribution all together. Disruptive technology have totally changed home viewing possibilities, but it was welcome as it made the trip to a video store obsolete. (This is probably not as welcome to shareholders and employees though.)

I just finished listening to this TED talk. The changes outlined for manufacturing promise to be as drastic and the upheaval much greater than simply a change in one's movie format. Click the following title to open this topic in a new browser window.

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing