Management ability of complex social division of labor. Otherwise, those increasingly sophisticated machines will not be able to be manufactured.
I can't be sure if it's accurate to call it the information age, because since humans have been able to use language, the transmission of information has been the most important behavior of human beings. The importance of information has not changed in any era.
Unlike in the past, the main technological advances of the present time have occurred in the information transmission sector, mainly the super-large-scale popularization of computers, mobile phones, and the Internet. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to call this era the information age.
In the information age, although industrial production capacity is also important, it is no longer the most important, otherwise the country with the strongest industrial production capacity will be the strongest country in the world. This country will not be "stuck" by the United States at every turn, and the dissemination and production of information (including knowledge) is the commanding heights of a country's strength. Comparing the power gap between China and the United States to the gap in the content that the two countries can create on the Internet should be more accurate than any single statistical measure.
In the first 30 years, when it comes to the G-7 of the West, there is also a name called the seven major industrial countries, but when China's industrial output value is comparable to that of the top three countries, the United States, Japan and Germany, industry is no longer as important and basic as we imagined.
Looking at the Russian-Ukrainian war, if we only look at the military strength of the two countries on the premise of industrial strength, Russia must be in an overwhelming advantage in resources, and the reason for this result is that Russia has a resource advantage but no information advantage.
Because of its backwardness in information production, Russia was not only defeated on the battlefield, but also completely strangled on the battlefield. Information backwardness is fundamental backwardness, and information warfare is not only the smooth transmission of information, but also includes the production and suppression of information; without this premise, it will be difficult for any military operation to succeed.
Those who think that they will fight a naval battle to recover the treasure island, launch an attack in the morning, and issue ID cards in the afternoon can rest!