Page 45 - Communications Satellites Global Change Agents

1. SATELLITES AS WORLDWIDE CHANGE AGENTS 21

To Fuller, the satellite, electronic computers, the transistor, and parallel inven-
tions are destiny.
Such basic knowledge, he argued, can unlock capabilities and possibilities that
are a basic departure from simple extrapolations that represent the trajectories of
past civilizations. Figure 1.4 shows how satellite systems are continuously able to
do more with proportionately fewer resources. As noted earlier, the satellites of
the near-term future, although they require only 10 to 20 times more resources to
deploy, are as much as 10,000 times more capable than the earliest satellites. The
marvel of these new satellites is that they can work with user terminals that are
ever smaller in size and cheaper in cost. Thus, these new microterminals can soon
become almost universally available anywhere at anytime. This type of dramatic
technical innovation helps to generate and sustain a global revolution in world-
wide TV, communications services, and expanded access to the Internet.

THE NEW SATELLITE APPLICATIONS ON THE HORIZON

What do Buckminster Fuller, James Naisbitt, and others mean when they refer to
satellites and other telecommunications technologies as giving rise to a global
revolution? Ultimately they are referring to a change that impacts us all and can
be seen in just about everything. The implications reverberate everywhere—to
business, education, health care, entertainment, public safety, and even armed
conflict. There is today global trade at the level of tens of trillions of dollars (U.S.)
that only 30 years ago was measured in billions of dollars. Even discounting infla-
tion, this is a huge increase.

FIG. 1.4. Changing nature of Satcoms.