I had an interesting conversation with a random colleague about foreigners working in Finnish companies in the past. They are ex-Nokia (like many in this company) and was saying how working in English has helped their career enormously. But, there is far more to it than that in my opinion, as it has helped many in their careers and has actually been part of the driving force of innovation and the ability for companies to go international with their products.
Nokia is one of the success stories of the Finnish tech industry, but it is also one of the examples of how centralization can stifle innovation and reduce the willingness to take risks. The company is still generating 26 billion in revenue a year (mostly from its Networks side), so it isn't like it has disappeared, but considering where it was, it has changed markedly over the last 15 years, especially on the phone side of the equation. However, through the "collapse" of Nokia, a whole new breed of Finnish startups were able to have space and flourish, the company I work for being one of them.
The locations Nokia used to inhabit are now filled to overflowing with tech businesses in various stages of their lifecycle, which has absorbed all of the ex-Nokia workers. But more than this, it has opened spaces for other employees too, as for example, rather than one CEO, there are 100, instead of a finance department, there are 100 finance departments and instead of 5000 coders, there are 50,000 coders.
While these figures are just to illustrate what has happened, the thing with decentralizing businesses and fragmenting them is that more overlapping positions are created across them all. Not only this, as startups, they are far less efficient in many ways as they are unoptimized, as well as those that grow will add people, whilst large organizations tend to maintain their structure or reduce their headcount as they are better able to predict demand and lean processes.
But, going back to the learning of English for a moment, what this allowed was not only the development of language skills, but also the development of cultural habits and gateways out of the country, either through relationships or skill growth. This has meant that the Finnish-based startups were further along the internationalization path than previously, with people taking new positions who were already seasoned professionals with international experience. This allowed for the startups to build informed structure much faster, and it meant that the companies were able to build international offices using a blend of Finnish and local resources very quickly and with far less localization problems.
It is quite interesting to think that when I first came here, I was still getting the, "you come and steal our jobs (and women)" comments from time to time, when in actual fact, more jobs have been created and supported because of it. A country is very much a centralized entity and it is only until the centralization is chipped away at, that new potential can enter and possibility turn into reality.
This chipping away also means that of culture to some degree and because of this, a lot of people see it as a negative, even though cultural flux is a norm, even when a population is largely homogeneous. It doesn't mean that it is a comfortable process, nor that it isn't without ongoing challenges, but I think that overall, there are far more positives than negatives to the decentralization of communities of all kinds, where people group based on interests and abilities, rather than something like nationality.
Moving on from here, the growing shift into the decentralization of digital communities and businesses means that the cultures that are more capable of adapting into the change, are going to likely be among the first to adopt early and build valuable collateral to support the various networks. I think that in many ways, Finland is very well technologically poised to be part of the early processes, but what holds it back is the will to follow the legislation, rather than pushing the boundaries. What I mean by this is that many still think that the government has their best interest at heart and are the most skilled to make the decisions for everyone, which has led to a culture where many are deferring and not making significant decisions for themselves.
A lot of people rely on local stability to feel safe, which is natural, but when it gets applied to everything, people become more unable to deal with change, as change threatens their safety. This is a dangerous position, as change is of course inevitable, so if a stable culture is required for quality of life, there is going to be a life of continual suffering, as disruption happens.
Technological disruption has completely changed culture as we know it and it has affected everything, from the music we listen to, to the sports we play. What used to be "local" has been under threat from internationalization for decades, as consumer preferences have been opened up to a global menu, and people have tried and liked new things.
Blockchains and crypto is going to be an extension of this, as while the businesses have been able to expand globally using our growing skills, they will allow our skills to participate economically as more than a consumer. The disruption to technology is going to drive another change in culture, one where there can be far more economic collaboration across enduser groups, not just business to business and business to consumer. This means that peer to peer business ramps up and as a result, we will have more ability to take our local skills to the global level, without having to filter it through the interfaces of centralization.
We are already accustomed to the processes involved, it is just that the economics and financials of it have been hidden away from us, as they are only feeding the centralized owners. Once we are individual owners with personal as well as collaborative value to offer and that can be tracked, all of the skills that we have become value-adding activity that can both attract and disperse value, depending on how we use it.
This means that the cultural structures we value today are likely going to change, whether we like it or not, but there are opportunities for all of us to learn, use and thrive in a messy, non-optimized and highly dynamic environment, while still holding onto many of the things we value, through decentralized groups of people, who value them too.
The interesting thing is that while people argue about what culture is and the rights and wrongs of centralized decisions, we are building platforms and technologies that will allow us to literally create our own cultures and empower them economically. While disruptive at the digital level, it is fundamentally going to change our lives as we know them as today. Since anyone will be able to build or find a home though, it really could be for everyone.
All advancement, leaves something behind. Every innovation replaces something.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Technology has affect our culture drastically I will even say more harm than good
Depends how you look at it. Far less people are starving than a decade or two ago. That is probably a good cultural change at the local level.
I guess this is the reason why blockchain technology not integrated into our daily life yet, the big corps are afraid of: they became not needed participants within many transactions. Without marketing it's a slow process to get new users in, and the PR of crypto due to the high volatility happens time to time is not the best in ppl eyes who kinda know nothing about it, just heard the news...
Corporations are afraid in many ways, as are governments. once blockchains are integrated, there will be pressure to show their books, something that they don't want made public.
Nokia used to be top quality hand phone in the year of 2000 .I dropped my nokia cell phone from 22nd floor of the building .i thought its gone but it never ..i used that phone for next 12 years .
Evolution is the part of surviving in the ecosystem .if egyptopithicus (first evolution of human) could not attempt to grow in little advance then we could not looked same like how we are today.
Technologies are quite similar ,it needs to be continual advancement .
About 20 years ago in my country, there were Nokia push-button mobile phones in many people's hands. I bet they, including me, wouldn't know that Nokia is made in Finland. I think it was known as made in Japan, China or Korea.
English has helped me in many aspects of my life. If I am now on HIVE, thanks to English.
The original town it started in is not far from where I live. They actually started making rubber boots in the beginning and have changed form over the last 100 years a lot.
Improving English skills is vital for the new internet at a global level to earn, but as adoption happens, more local opportunities open up too.
Sadly, this is reality!
It's more like the cycle of life which is from birth to death, everyday new things are innovated while the old ones are being pushed out of the market...
Even at the pace of nokia fading away they try as much as possible to create new things to keep the company alive and going!
I remember when blackberry mobile phone was created it was the talk of town, everyone desires that particular phone but where is it now?.... it's abolish..even WhatsApp is not functioning in there.... now what's popping currently is Iphone cellphone.
Like you said -- All advancement, leaves something behind. Every innovation replaces something.
Nokia phones isn't much, but the networks side of it is still going strong. It is an infrastructure business, so the enduser doesn't see it.
But, everything is continually under pressure - it is evolve, or die.
It is quite interesting to think that when I first came here, I was still getting the, "you come and steal our jobs (and women)" comments from time to time, when in actual fact, more jobs have been created and supported because of it
Locals hate change and cling to their cultural comfort. Insults are ten a penny, but eventually it is adapt or die. We attended a "Round Table" discussion on the topic of change soon after we arrived here.
Everyone at the table were locals and I introduced Papillon to them. Presented each of them with the Papillon impact stastistics.
A local friend that invited us to the discussion joined them for the barbeque and drinking session afterwards (we had left already) and he gave us this message, proudly said by one of the leaders. *They are a puppy wanting to come and piss in a Rottweilers territory. *
That was 3 years ago and since then things have changed as the "puppy" was a lion.
It is always better to come in as the underdog in my opinion. I prefer to be underestimated, the joke, rather than people overestimate what I am capable of and prepare themselves better for it :)
Exactly and I learned that lesson a long time ago.
When we started Papillon in 2002, a guy was very upset when people of other colors were allowed to come into their holy property. It was a church property and we did the skills training in the hall.
Eventually it got so bad that the congregation was moved out and amalgamated with another church.
Well this son of satan that trains terrorists and people of other colors bought that property and it became the Papillon headquarters.
That guy stormed our gate when the sale went through and he shouted at me in my face that Papillon will not stay open for 3 moths.
5 years later that same holy moly came to Papillon for free basic computer training and I allowed him in.
They know not what they do and we cannot hold it against them as it was teachings of the previous generations.
Luckily I was raised in a multicultural city suburb and had a league of nations as friends. Some still to this day.
It is interesting what happens to people over time and their upbringing obviously has a lot to do with their positioning. Some never explore far enough to understand that what they know, isn't all that can be known.
Agreed and also fear of the unknown.
Such is life.
This is what technological advancement does for us. It creates new opportunities, and if someone is not keeping up with the pace is shown the door.
I have used 4 nokia phones my first phone as well as my last phone close to 12 years. I have used Nokia 1100 to Nokia Windows Phone to Nokia Android Phone. But now changed to Samsung because Nokia is not advancing anymore.
All of my first phones were Nokias, but I moved away in about 2005 and tried other things, mostly for the same reasons as you. I was training a slice of their R&D team at one point and was underwhelmed.
In South Africa, foreigners are beaten and killed by the locals because they feel that these foreigners are stealing their jobs and making it uncomfortable for when to compete. That Mindset that a job should be for people from a particular geographical settings can be baffling
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
In the past and still today, it is a way for populists to get support. Get the angry and suffering people to hate on a group of people they can blame for their misery - whether it is true or not.
If that's the case I wonder what they will do to all the robots that will replace ALL labor.
I don't even think a job or a woman can be stolen but I digress.
I think it's pretty normal for people to be scared of change but in the end for something to advance there would definitely be a change somewhere.
No, they can't be stolen, but opinion doesn't have to make sense :)
Getting used to change is a core part of building resilience to adverse conditions out of our control. It takes practice.
Takes a whole lot of practice and not everyone can deal with the idea of change. There is always a fear of comes with.
You are absolutely right about decentralized technology that is going to be part and parcel almost world culture.
Yeah. As it starts to integrate into our daily lives, our daily lives will integrate with it too. It is culturally affective.
Of course, it is as you are saying.
Just as you have said, change is inevitable, and no one can do without it, the world is a changing world, and new things Happens to push the old ones away, anything that looks so good today may seem bad or ugly tommorow, I think Nokia has already made their impact which the are still benefiting from up till today, such is life, new things must always evade as times goes on and the old ones would not be counted anymore, Just as a child who is still between the infancy age, love nothing more than milk, if milk is what, the mother offer, it will be very very happy and would stop crying at some point.
Decentralized has not just come to stay, but I assume, it was part of us.
Yes, it is in many ways. All of us are essentially evolved to move into our own things, find our own path - but we have also been engineered to tether ourselves to our past. Genetics itself is kind of like a blockchain of where we have come from :)
Wow! This so real, I agree with you 🥰
This was the cherry you need on the pie. Old things lay foundations for new and better things to arise. We only hope is for the future betterment. Nothing detrimental. Hopefully cryptocurrency will send us there
I think the combination of crypto and blockchain will open up a whole new world of innovative possibility that we can't imagine fully yet. It will be fantastic to see what happens when there are millions of coders working on tens of thousands of projects with new tools in their hands.
Congratulations @tarazkp! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
This is reality.
Every innovation replace something.
My name is Ibrahim, I'm a German living in Belarus. I would be glad if you visit my profile, I'm trying to write a blog about my medical study in belarus.
Congratulations @tarazkp! Your post has been a top performer on the Hive blockchain and you have been rewarded with the following badge:
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz: