"The Eternal Upgrade: How Innovation Keeps Repeating Itself, Just in New Clothes

Information and Data, today & yesterday, same ole, same ole ?

Sitting here this morning, prepping for tomorrow’s episode of Igniting American Manufacturing, I’ve got cybersecurity on the brain. I’ve been leafing through Mark Mills’ The Cloud Revolution as a reference for the show, but then something hit me: I’m reading the same story, just told a hundred years apart. Innovation may change its clothes, but the underlying theme stays the same.Last week, I was deep into John Gertner’s The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, and the parallels between these two works are impossible to miss. Both Mills and Gertner explore how communication technology, whether it’s a vacuum tube, transistor, or cloud, drives the next industrial leap.

The more I think about it, the clearer it becomes: The timeline of American innovation is one continuous string of upgrades, from the end of World War I all the way to today’s data-driven economy.

Here’s the gist: At the end of WWI, the world stood on the edge of something big—technological change on a massive scale. The vacuum tube, invented just before the war, was the first domino to fall. This little tube powered early radios, helped with long-distance communication, and laid the foundation for what would become modern computing. If we were to chart a direct line of innovation, the vacuum tube would be patient zero. Skip forward a few decades to Bell Labs, the magic factory where they weren’t just solving problems—they were creating entirely new industries.

“.......the magic factory where they weren’t just solving problems......"

Their biggest trick? The invention of the transistor in 1947. If the vacuum tube was patient zero, the transistor was the game-changer, paving the way for computers to shrink from room-sized behemoths to something that could sit on your desk. Without the transistor, the age of microchips—basically the backbone of every modern gadget—would never have happened.

“....the transistor, the age of microchips—basically the backbone of every modern gadget......."

Fast forward again, and here comes the internet, bringing the world together faster than Bell Labs’ founders could have ever imagined. What started as a quirky academic network became the glue that holds our digital lives together. Now, thanks to microchips that can handle more data than an entire city’s worth of vacuum tubes, we’ve moved into the era of cloud computing, where everything you need is just a click and a server farm away.

That brings us to the present: The age of information, where data doesn’t just flow—it floods. More than 95% of that data flows under the ocean, through a web of submarine cables we don’t think twice about until something goes wrong. These cables, stretching thousands of miles beneath the sea, are the unsung heroes of the modern economy, and ironically, one of the biggest cybersecurity risks out there.

"More than 95% of that data flows under the ocean, through a web of submarine cables......"

Here’s where tomorrow’s show gets interesting: As we revel in all this technological glory, we’re also facing a whole new world of threats. The same innovation that lets us send cat videos across the globe in seconds also opens the door to sabotage, surveillance, and the ever-present specter of cyberattacks.

A century ago, Bell Labs was hard at work on secure communications for the military. Today, we’re still working to secure those very same networks—only now, we’re dealing with threats on a global scale.What struck me this morning is that the battle hasn’t changed much. A hundred years ago, we were figuring out how to send signals across vast distances without them getting garbled or stolen. Today, we’re doing the same thing, only now it’s all digital. The tools may be different, but the challenge is the same: communication is the backbone of progress, but it’s also our Achilles’ heel.

"Today, we’re still working to secure those very same networks—only now, we’re dealing with threats on a global scale"

Tomorrow’s show will dive into these themes: How American innovation, from the vacuum tube to the cloud, has always been a story of better, faster communication. But now, with data moving at the speed of light and threats multiplying just as quickly, we need to put as much focus on securing our networks as we do on building them. Bell Labs built the future, but it’s up to us to keep it safe. If we don’t, we might find ourselves tangled in our own technological war.

POST-SHOW UPDATE: The segment with Col. Chris Budihas (Ret.) went exactly as anticipated. Chris delivered his trademark engaging style, weaving in insights that kept the conversation dynamic. He broke down the DoD's evolving role in cybersecurity, shedding light on the strategies being deployed to combat emerging threats and secure critical infrastructure. His ability to translate complex defense concepts into relatable terms underscored the importance of a strong national cybersecurity posture. The discussion touched on the intersection of public and private sector collaboration, offering a glimpse into the initiatives shaping the future of defense technology.

Stay tuned for Chris’s interview !

Rory Francis