the lowest and flattest of these curves is that of population growth at a world mean of about 1.8 percent per annum ... . the second curve represents the mean growth rate (7.5 percent) of gross national products in the developed nations of the world and of telephones in the united states.

there are two other growth trends that are distinctly steeper that the normal and sober 7.5 percent. the first of these is the expansion of long-distance communications, in particular transatlantic traffic, at a rate of 15 percent per year, or a quadrupling every 10 years. the steepest curve, which represents the computation and data-automation field, is in the phenomenal or "boy wonder" class and represents a growth rate of the order of 15 to 25 percent per year, or a tenfold increase every 10 years. this is our cybernetic revolution. | j.w. halina, data transmission - current trends and future prospects, 1963