CONCEPT
The Turning Point
Perez's term for the moment between the installation and deployment phases of a technological revolution — typically marked by financial crisis and social upheaval — where the institutional response either arrives or fails to arrive, determining whether the revolution produces broadly shared prosperity or concentrated extraction.
The turning point is the most dangerous moment in a technological revolution. The installation phase has deployed the new infrastructure and disrupted the old economy. The deployment phase, which requires institutional catch-up to distribute the gains broadly, has not yet begun. The gap between them is a period of institutional vacuum — a time when the destruction of the old arrangement has accelerated but the construction of adequate new arrangements has not. Financial crisis, political upheaval, and social catastrophe characterize this gap. Historical examples include the 1870s following the steel revolution, the 1930s following the mass-production revolution, and — arguably — the current AI transition. The question the framework forces is whether the turning point can be navigated successfully and, if so, under what institutional conditions.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Perez's framework specifies that turning points are not neutral transitions. They are