Industrial Revolution = Writing Revolution

3D Printer

The machine in the picture does not look like much, but it will transform our lives. It is a 3D printer, which can manufacture three-dimensional objects based on specifications a designer provides by a digital file. On the agenda for production are clothing, furniture, cars, and even planes. The advent of 3D printing has led us to "The Third Industrial Revolution," a time when we will have greater access to the manufacturing process, bypassing costly tooling charges and long waits for products. As a result, we will reap the benefits of greater choice and become manufacturers ourselves, just like we have become high-quality personal print shops. 


This revolution will affect writing as profoundly as the smartphone. We will learn more digital code to communicate in formulas that will process what we want; in short, more than ever we will think like the machine. What we now consider to be cryptic, acronym-laden style will become the parlance of every industry. How much writing will change nobody can predict. But it's coming. Skeptics can review standard documents from the business world a quarter-century ago, around the time most of us started emailing,  to how it has evolved today. Yes, the third industrial revolution means the writing revolution.