4th GENERATION Systems

     
Unless you know what it means, “Fourth Generation Thinking” means very little. But once you understand the concept, no other name really makes sense. It’s a branding dilemma for which we haven’t yet found a solution.

In a nutshell, our research since 1988 has suggested that, in almost all areas of human achievement, we’re either at – or rapidly approaching – what I’ve chosen to call the Fourth Generation. (This has nothing to do with the computer industry, by the way, although the concept does apply to that industry.)
The Fourth Generation is significantly different to all preceding generations.
The first three generations represent a straight-line progression in development, in which the emphasis is usually on making the process more efficient – to reduce the work, the risk, the cost, the discomfort, the time and other undesirable or unnecessary attributes.

The Fourth Generation always represents a breakthrough to the “Big Picture”… the whole concept… the accurate perspective from a different vantage point.
It usually involves a step sideways – a realisation that we’ve lost sight of our original intention, and we can’t see it clearly because of all the clutter from the earlier henerations. So we apply the Bow and Arrow Principle, which says “To hit your target with maximum speed, power and accuracy... pull back!”
So we go back to where we can see our goal clearly and, with a little lateral thinking (meaning a sideways step for a better view of the process), we make the breakthrough we need to achieve the kind of exponential growth that will take us to the realisation of that goal, faster than we could have thought possible.
Here’s a simple example:
Take the concept of moving people from one level of a building to another, in either direction. What would represent the different generations in development?

First Generation: The Ladder

This simple device was much more efficient than trying to climb by hand from one level to another. But it wasn’t particularly efficient, safe, comfortable, effortless or quick, and you couldn’t carry large loads easily. Only a limited number of people could move in one direction at a time. So, before long, when a permanent solution was required, we developed the second generation…

Second Generation: The Staircase

Much safer, more efficient (more people could move in either direction, carrying bigger loads), less work, faster and more comfortable. And larger, physically. It took up a sizeable portion of the building.
Then some bright spark concluded that we could speed up the process, make it safer, more efficient, comfortable and easier to carry loads by automating the staricase, giving us…

Third Generation: The Escalator

This was a lot more fun, too! But it required even more space and resources than an ordinary staircase, and they often broke down because of wear and tear, mechanical misfunction or power failure. Still, they simply reverted in such instances to being static staircases.
Then some lateral thinker decided to take a step sideways and look back to the roots of the process and re-assess exactly what it was we were trying to achieve. The purpose of it all was to move as many people as possible (within reason), as quickly, effortlessly, safely, comfortably and efficiently as possible, from one level of a building as possible.
Why not put the people in a small room and move the room? Thus was born…

Fourth Generation: The Elevator

No question about it – this was much better in every way. Especially when high rise buildings became common. But, like every preceding generation, although this was an exponential, quantum leap forward in achievement, the physical dimensions grew even largerin order to actually implement the concept. (What's the first part of a high rise building to go up? And it’s usually the core of the building – and up to 50% of total floor space!)
This is fairly typical of Fourth Generation solutions. They’re a breakthrough, but they’re bulky.
Blue-skying this whole concept, the Fifth Generation would logically see a reduction of the physical dimension to almost nothing, while the Sixth Generation would see the elimination of the physical dimension altogether… mind over matter?
So Fifth Generation of moving people from place to place within the same building might be a doorway with a keypad. Punch the co-ordinates, step through the portal and you enter the desired level. (Stargate, here we come!)
The Sixth Generation could be simply “wishing” yourself to whatever destination you desire. (Leaving out any thoughts about why you’d even have a building with such technology, or any security issues.) You get the picture.
So Fourth Generation Thinking is partly lateral thinking, in terms of results and human development. But it's a lot more than just lateral thinking. And in every aspect, it’s about the concept of Four Generations to the breakthrough… and four generations within each generation. It’s a pattern that’s consistent in every context, as you’ll see.