Laws of the World ( Special emphasis on technology )

Humans are a rare breed. They are always on the lookout for the laws that govern the various relationships. We all know the laws of the motion, laws of relativity and various other laws in the realm of science. What about various laws of our world (with emphasis on technology)? Well here is a brief review of a few of the laws:

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  Moore's Law : This is supposedly the most publicized law. Founder of Intel, the semiconductor giant, Mr Gordon Moore postulated that computing power doubles every eighteen months. This has remained true till now, but is showing signs that it may not survive the decade. 
  
  
  
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  Amara's Law : we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. 
  
  
  
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  Dunbar's Number : Tells us that we are human after all. We can atmost handle 150 active connections. That's the number of social relationships that the average person can effectively maintain before he/ she becomes overloaded. 
  
  
  
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  Hawthorne effect : More to the point of human psychology, it states that subjects in a setting will improve aspects of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied.  
  
  
  
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  Hoteling's Law : Says that it's natural and rational for businesses to make their products as similar as possible. It holds true in the internet era also. For any company that moves toward aggregating ( innovate – proliferate – aggregate) stands a good chance to reap the profits. 
  
  
  
• Jakob's Law :  "users spend most of their time on other sites", and so you must be there too.
  
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  Pareto Principle: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Originally stated for the manufacturing industry, the 80/20 principle has found to have held true across various situations.
  
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  Sarnoff's law : The value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers. Though it looks self evident, it's truthfulness holds true in the modern era when the communication has become two way ( Company to user & user to company ) 
  
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  Network Effect : When a product or service has more value the more that other people have it too. A phenomenon seen now days with facebook. The more value and more people it acquires, the more the number that want to join it. 
  
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  Principle of least effort : The simpler( and easier) the solution, the more the people will like it. People tend to use the most convenient method, in the least exacting way available. 
  
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  Gilder's law : This states that network bandwidth triples every 18 months. 
  
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  Rule 34 :  "If it exists, there is porn of it." Also Rule 35: "If no such porn exists, it will be made." 
  
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  Pommer's Law : A person's mind can be changed by reading information on the internet. The nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion. 
  
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  The law of exclamation : The more exclamation points used in an email (or other posting), the more likely it is a complete lie. This is also true for excessive capital letters. 
  
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  Metcalfe's Law : Metcalfe said the usefulness of a network improves by the square of the number of nodes on the network. i.e The Internet, like telephones, grows more valuable as more join in. 
  
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  Wriston's law : Capital (meaning both money and ideas), when freed to travel at the speed of light, "will go where it is wanted, stay where it is well-treated...." By applying Wriston's Law of capital and talent flow, one can predict the fortunes of countries and companies.  
  
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  Ogilvy's Law : If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants. 
  
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  Drucker's Law : You will achieve the greatest results in business and career if you drop the word "achievement" from your vocabulary. Replace it with "contribution" . 
  
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  Technology is not a panacea. 
  
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  Nobody believes that anything bad can happen to them, until it does. 
  
• Eternal vigilance is the price of security.