Module 5 post- Red Queens

In this module we reviewed two of the six forces that drives the emergence of a technology. The two forces are increasing returns and red queens. Increasing returns is when two technologies emerge at around the same time and one drives the other to extinction. Red queens is when there is a competition between technologies and one is left behind. In an earlier module we discussed science fiction as a force that drives emerging technology and I bought a DVD from a video rental store that is closing its entire chain in this state. I see this as being the red queen effect because there is video on demand servers such as netflix, cable and home disk operators that offer video on demand.

The implications of this can be traced back to the video tape having an effect on how we view movies at home to the DVD making the video tape obsolete to video on demand having an affect on DVD rentals and causing video stores to go out of business. We no longer have to drive to a video rental store because we can now have them delivered to our homes or order them into our living rooms. Movies are being released to the viewing public from theaters much quicker now and many individuals are able to wait a couple of months for the release of movies; ticket sales are decreasing but the price of tickets are on the increase. There is much to take into consideration when we look at how society is and will be impacted by emerging technologies. " Look around you and you will see the "Red Queen Effect" is happening in many places: it's part of the business landscape, new technology development and arms races" (von Oech 2007).

References
Thornburg, D. (2009). Emerging and Future Technologies; Laureate Education Inc.
von Oech, R. (2007). Created Think; The Red Queen Effect, retrieved from; http://blogcreativethink.com/2007/03theredqueene.html