We’ve Been Here Before: The Original World Wide Web - Maritime Networks and Digital Highways

Last news cycle? It’s now old news! Today information is instantly available worldwide. It creates unstoppable news cycles, stock trades, and rumor mills - with the risk that much of what news you’re getting is not accurate. It provides global access to information, knowledge and collective intelligence that needs readers to use judgement about the veracity of what they’re reading. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the speed of diffusion but humanity “was here before.” In the 15th and 16th centuries, maritime “technology” dramatically increased the speed of global communication and suddenly information that took years to travel between continents, arrived in mere months. Knowledge, previously confined to regional centers, found new global pathways and in the process changed economies and influenced cultures.

We think of undersea cables as an incredible invention that carries the bits and bytes of the internet (and modern communications). Similarly, the caravel, carrack, and compass were the pre-modern world inventions. So, what are the lessons we learned from these maritime innovations? Sail on, or rather - read on!

The OG - Original Global Network

Let’s travel back to somewhere between 1400 and 1600 CE. It is the era of shipbuilding and navigation technologies. Portuguese innovations - caravel and carrack - allowed brave explorers to cross oceans, chart bustling trade routes and make a mark on global power dynamics. Portolan charts (navigational charts) made it eas(ier) to avoid the perilous areas of the oceans, while magnetic compass, astrolabe (a kind of basic analog computer used for celestial navigation), and quadrant brought accuracy to navigation.

In "The Sea and Civilization," historian Lincoln Paine describes maritime technology as "the first global network, connecting previously isolated economic systems into a single world market." Within a century the original global network of interconnected shipping routes linked Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. And things got faster from there. Production hubs in China and India could suddenly sell directly to European markets. Silver from American mines flowed to Asia. Information, ideas, and innovations spread faster than ever before. Research shows that between 1400 and 1700 trade volumes increased tenfold and prices for Asian spices in European markets fell by up to 70% - all because of more efficient transportation. The global economy was booming. Foundational technology (maritime innovation) triggered a new cycle of reinvention. Some industries were born and died (The Silk Road, animal caravan transport) and others formed and survived (insurance and finance, colonial agriculture). Some occupations got displaced (middlemen traders, feudal lords) and others invented (mapmakers, bankers and insurance agents).

The Original Platform

Similar to how today's digital platforms have created new business models, maritime technology enabled entirely new organizational forms. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded in 1602 and it became what we might call the first "tech unicorn.” It used new technology to create a whole new business model:

Created standardized processes that could scale across global operations
Implemented the world's first modern stock exchange to raise capital
Set-up a complex logistics networks across multiple continents
Developed sophisticated accounting and management systems
Maintained a hybrid workforce of employees and contractors (no, not the 3-days-in-the-office kind)
New ways of compensating employees with a small stipend and a “share” of the profits.

Foundational technology (maritime innovation) triggered a new cycle of reinvention across multiple elements - business models, organizational structures, skill development programs, financial systems, legal frameworks, and ultimately social institutions. This pattern of cascading effects on interconnected systems is very similar to what we're experiencing with AI today. Just as maritime technology required new ways of organizing work, AI demands new structures and processes that traditional management textbooks don’t teach.

Workforce Transformation

The maritime revolution created entirely new job categories and transformed existing ones. Documents from the period show the emergence of specialized (hybrid?) roles that hadn't previously existed:

Navigators who mastered complex mathematical calculations
Cartographers who combined art and science to create maps
Global merchants who understood multiple markets and cultures
Insurance underwriters who could assess and price risk
Naval architects who applied scientific principles to ship design

What's interesting is how traditional roles have adapted. Local traders had to requalify and learn new skills to operate globally. Ship captains got promoted from sailors to managers of complex operations. Craftsmen had to upskill to new production methods and materials. Guilds and training institutions responded to these changes. Maritime schools mushroomed across Europe, teaching navigation, cartography, and commerce. The Spanish Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) created standardized training and certification for navigators – perhaps the world's first technical certification program (maritime bootcamps of the time). Very similar to today’s organizations like Google, Microsoft, and AWS that now offer AI certification programs. The key difference? Today's transformation is happening much faster.

Lessons for the Digital Age

The maritime revolution provides a few lessons for navigating (pun intended) our AI transformation:

1. Strategic ecosystems matter. Building superior ships is important. But just as important are the navigation schools, financing mechanisms, legal frameworks, and insurance markets. The most successful maritime powers – Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and later England - created entire ecosystems of support. Similarly, successful AI implementation requires more than just good technology; it needs supportive ecosystems of training, governance, and infrastructure.

2. Balanced policy to manage disruption and opportunity. Thriving maritime nations balanced protection of traditional industries with innovation incentives. The English Navigation Acts protected domestic shipping while encouraging new ventures. The Dutch created financial and legal innovations that managed risk while enabling new business models. Today's organizations need similar balanced approaches to AI policy.

3. Systematic skills development. Maritime powers systematically developed needed skills through formal institutions and apprenticeship programs. Prince Henry "the Navigator" established schools for seamanship and navigation in Portugal. The Dutch created comprehensive apprenticeship systems that provided both - practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Such a systematic approach is required today too with structured workforce development programs for AI skills.

Measuring Transformation: Metrics Across Millennia

Quantifying the impact of technological revolutions is challenging, but both historical and modern metrics show similar patterns:

Then:

Trade volume increases (10x growth in Portugal's Asian trade, 1500-1600)
Price changes for goods (70% reduction in spice prices in European markets)
Urban growth rates in port cities (Amsterdam grew 400% in the 16th century)
Wage premiums for specialists (navigators earned 3-4x typical artisan wages)

Now:

Productivity increases from AI implementation (23% average improvement according to McKinsey's 2023 report)
Skill premium for AI specialists (35-50% above traditional technical roles according to PwC AI Jobs Barometer)
Increased specialization in AI-centric job roles (AI specialists, prompt engineers)
Organizational adaptation rates (varying by industry and company)

The most striking fact about these parallels is the fact that technological revolutions typically deliver their greatest benefits not to early adopters but to systematic adapters – organizations that thoughtfully integrate new technologies with human capabilities.

Ancient Insights for Future Challenges

Perhaps the most valuable insight from the maritime transformation era is that technology alone is never enough. The Portuguese developed superior ships and navigation techniques first, but the Dutch ultimately dominated global trade by better developing human capabilities and organizational structures.

This should hopefully reassure today's HR leaders that our role in technological transformation remains important. For now. Successful organizations won't be the ones that simply deploy the most advanced AI tools but the ones that best develop the human capabilities to use those tools effectively.

This is a post in our year-long series "We've Been Here Before." Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly insights about historical transformations and their lessons for the AI age.