The tornado funnel of civilizations, the S-curve of technologies

Two tweets from Asymco‘s Horace Dediu can cover a lot of ground.

Having a quick look at the lifespans of civilizations/dynasties/empires (last 5000 years). pic.twitter.com/D4uHGZvSV0

— Horace Dediu (@asymco) March 5, 2019

https://t.co/pPT5ct5yaw cross-checked and error corrected with Wikipedia. Contrasting with technology lifespans which are only on a 200 year scale. pic.twitter.com/dOaxcOHg7I

— Horace Dediu (@asymco) March 5, 2019

To read details, click on a tweet and blow up its chart. For a couple of benchmarks, USA is eight from the bottom in the top (civilizations) chart and iPhone (well, smartphone) is seven from the top in the bottom (technologies) chart.

My take: Nothing lasts forever, but things last shorter now.

See also:

• Horace Dediu’s unified theory of Apple (audio)
• Benedict Evans has seen the future and it’s an S curve (video)