Whatever paradigm we find ourselves in sets the horizon of our vision: the ceiling of our ability.

When you are inside the paradigm, you cannot see beyond its ceiling.

It feels like a fundamental law of physics.

The ceiling is so inescapable, so implicitly obvious to everyone, so unwaveringly boring, that despite its power it is invisible.

The horizon of a paradigm is set not from outside, but from inside: the emergent dynamics and tensions of its enabling ideas and technologies.

As time goes on, competition in the industry harvests every last scrap of value, and the industry finds itself smooshed up against the invisible ceiling at the edge of the horizon.

When this situation meets a new, general purpose enabler, a new paradigm is waiting to erupt.