TUTORIAL WEEK 4

TH
4 INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
REVOLUTION
WEEK 4
YOUR BEST QUOTE THAT REFLECTS
YOUR APPROACH… “IT’S ONE SMALL
STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR
MANKIND.”
- NEIL ARMSTRONG
 A. INTRODUCTION

• Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World

Economic Forum, defines the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a digital
revolution
• This Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by a range of new
technologies that are;
✔ fusing the physical,
✔ digital and biological worlds,
✔ impacting all disciplines,
✔ economies and industries,
✔ and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human
✔ He is convinced that humans are at the beginning of a revolution that
is fundamentally changing the way we live, work and relate to one
another.
B. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

1. Fusing technologies
Nearly every new development in any field now leverages digital
capability
advanced robots exist due to new approaches made to artificial
intelligence dependent on digital systems and processing power.
As the next generation of robots emerges as an element of the Internet of
Things, there will be an increasing emphasis on human-machine
collaboration
The biological and digital worlds are also overlapping in the form of
sensors used to monitor personal health and behaviour, and to
understand and influence brain activity.
 2. INNOVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY

The impact of the IR4 on productivity has not yet become fully apparent because
it is increasing efficiency in ways that cannot be accurately measured by
traditional means.
Many new goods and services are non-rival, meaning that they can be repeated
again and again without generating more costs; they may also have zero marginal
cost to begin with, or they may use digital platforms to lower prices in highly
competitive markets
Many of the technologies and processes being created to help better manage
negative forces like the environmental impact of climate change have not yet
been widely implemented - we are still at the beginning of the IR4
3. AGILE TECHNOLOGY GOVERNANCE

IR4 technologies can be harnessed by governments to govern better, become more

accessible, and increase transparency and trust.
e.g the use of technologies like the Internet of Things in Barcelona to better monitor
waste collection and conserve the electricity used for lamp posts
However, technology can also create governance challenges, as advances in some cases
threaten the social contract between government and the citizenry.
The increased use of online social media, for example, has created situations where
electorates are being manipulated and misinformed (e.g Cambridge Analytica)
Governments will be forced to change their approach when it comes to the creation and
enforcement of regulation, and to create new instruments to cope with the spread of new
technologies
– becoming more agile
- Increased efficiency and effectiveness of consultation, improved transparency, and more
flexibility on the part of regulators will be required.
4. DISRUPTION

As business models are disrupted, employment is being profoundly impacted. The

result will be significant job creation and job displacement, in addition to both
heightened labour productivity and widening gaps between the skills that
employers need, and those that potential employees have
mismatches may emerge not just between the current supply of, and demand for,
contemporary skills but also between those contemporary skills and those that will
be required in the future
Mismatches and gaps in education systems are hindering the effective
redeployment of underutilized, latent talent.
Workers need to be repurposed, across industries and with an eye to the skills
required for the fastest-growing fields.
5. BUSINESS DISRUPTION

In some ways, COVID-19 may have accelerated changes as part of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution. During the early part of the global outbreak, for example, the
share price of video conferencing service Zoom more than doubled, as its number of
users increased from 10 million to more than 200 million.
Places where connectivity has lagged are catching up; an estimated 4.1 billion
people around the world were using the internet as of the end of 2019, or more than
double the number reported just a decade earlier, according to the International
Telecommunication Union.
Businesses must also develop new ways to serve customers digitally that go
beyond communication
6. INEQUALITY

Worsening inequality and negative impacts on social stability are the greatest
potential risks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. While new technologies improve
employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, the new global technology platforms
could cause inequality and social fragmentation.
According to the 2017 edition of the Global Wealth Report published by Credit
Suisse, total global wealth increased 27% over the course of the prior decade, and
slightly more than half of all of the household wealth in the world was owned by
just 1% of the global population (when the current millennium had begun, 45.5% of
total global wealth was owned by the top 1%, according to the report)
Inequality within most countries is getting worse, even in places that have enjoyed
rapid economic growth across income groups and corresponding declines in
poverty.
7. ETHICS AND IDENTITY

COVID 19 has magnified existing challenges related to inequality, dysfunctional

leadership and healthcare systems, and the dangers of spreading disinformation
online
As knowledge progresses and new discoveries are made, related moral and ethical
considerations are critical if people are to be able to adequately respond to
phenomena like life extension, so-called designer babies, and memory extraction.
As the IR4 deepens our individual and collective relationships with technology, it
may negatively affect social skills - like the ability to empathize
As face-to-face conversation is now replaced by online interaction, people might
struggle to listen, make eye contact, or accurately read body language
8. SECURITY AND CONFLICT
New technologies are making the battlefield both local and global. Groups such as the
Islamic State may physically operate in defined areas, but can recruit fighters from
hundreds of different countries, largely through social media
Future conflict might include an online dimension, as combatants disrupt, confuse, and
destroy communications and decision-making capabilities. Autonomous warfare involving
the deployment of military robots and artificial intelligence-powered weaponry will play a
transformative role
Criminal gangs are already using off-the-shelf drones to spy on and attack rivals.
neurotechnologies that can interact with a human brain are currently being employed to
solve medical problems, in the future they could have military uses.
A computer system attached to brain tissue could enable a paralysed patient to control a
robotic limb, and it could also be used to direct a bionic soldier
Another possible scenario: brain devices for treating Alzheimer’s could be strategically
implanted in soldiers in order to erase memories, or create new ones.