The Great Realisation or the 4th Industrial Revolution. Who will win?

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    We all remember the cute little robotic Kitten, Doraemon from our childhood memories. Right? The 21st Century robotic cat. But can you recall, from which age did it came from? If not, don’t worry! Let me help you. It came from an age of immense technological advancement called the robotic age or the robotic civilisation of the 21st Century. Everything and anything was done by robots and human has become immensely dependent on them to do so as well. So what? Well, to be more precise, let’s on to the part where this has anything to do with us. No, that was not a nostalgia of childhood but an imagination, once which we all enjoyed in our childhood, soon to be a reality. What? Yes! With the onset of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

    • The 4th Industrial Revolution:

    First, let’s get familiar with the term of 4th Industrial Revolution. What is the 4th Industrial Revolution? According to the World Economic Forum, the 4th Industrial Revolution is the digital revolution. Okay, let’s dig a bit deeper! Ready? The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

     Already, artificial intelligence is all around us, from self-driving cars and drones to virtual assistants and software that translate or invest. Impressive progress has been made in AI in recent years, driven by exponential increases in computing power and by the availability of vast amounts of data, from software used to discover new drugs to algorithms used to predict our cultural interests. Digital fabrication technologies, meanwhile, are interacting with the biological world daily. Engineers, designers, and architects are combining computational design, additive manufacturing, materials engineering, and synthetic biology to pioneer a symbiosis between microorganisms, our bodies, the products we consume, and even the buildings we inhabit.

    Just imagine the innumerous possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing. With this, the robotic civilisation is on to us, and it won’t be a faraway dream to have your personal Doraemon!

    • The Great Realisation and the hindsight 2020:

    The very thought of such technological advances is chilling, right? And with ongoing Pandemic, the progress in this area is going in a far more unprecedented rate. Just like a rocket at full speed. Why? Because inflation is rising, unemployment is rising and we cannot go out of our houses. So, the only messiah in these troubling times is the technology that can help to save us from the Great Economic Depression 2.0. But have you ever wondered that if such technological advances were to be a success, then the job market will increasingly be segregated into “low-skill/low-pay” and “high-skill/high-pay” segments, which in turn will lead to an increase in social tensions? Not to mention the plunder and pollution more than ever one can imagine. So, what to do? Well, simple! Go back to your roots. That’s right, your roots.

    The globe is already plundered by the human with much destruction and poverty that it might not be an exaggeration to say that the sins of us, human has already passed its brim and is overflowing. Any more than this will call forth apocalypse of much crime, deceit and disease. Even the pandemic of COVID-19, as said by many philosophers might be a verdict by nature to the humankind for its sins. So, taking this punishment to heart, let not commit the same mistake twice. Let’s return to our roots. Start supporting sustainable businesses, encourage handcrafted businesses and organization. Did you know that the reason why fast fashion is so cheap is because you’re paying a different kind of cost, the cost of unethical labour. Cheap clothes mean cheap labour. If you are interested, Google the breakdown of margins from the factory to consumer. Goes something like this: If a shirt can be sold for $5, and the brand is also making a profit, it means that the brand is buying that shirt for $2 from the factory. For the factory to also make a profit it means they are paying the worker $1 to make that shirt or less. So we are looking at paying people cents per hour for labour. This is beyond unethical. there’s also a huge environmental cost, with cheap dyes and conditions poisoning our planet. This is the problem. 

    We have to think about buying less but buying quality. Those $5 T-shirts are designed to fall apart anyway, continuing a model of consumption. We have to change our consumer habits to change labour laws! Of course, some people cannot afford a $40 T-shirt. Many don’t have money for expensive clothes. But now is the time for education, because education will put pressure on the system to change from the inside out. I’m not talking about people who don’t have the ability right now. I’m talking about those who do, being a part of the change for everyone else. Some people can afford to make better choices but choose not to because the addiction to new clothes and consumer habits is built into marketing models. And to think that we think, we love these fast fashion brands of ZARA, MANGO and H & M etc. That is what must change. After all, let’s not forget that even a small spark can lit a blazing fire if given just a wind. So, let’s support this spark by being the wind to them.

    • The takeaway:

    In the end, it all comes down to people and values. We need to shape a future that works for all of us by putting people first and empowering them. In its most pessimistic, dehumanized form, the Fourth Industrial Revolution may indeed have the potential to “robotize” humanity and thus to deprive us of our heart and soul. But as a complement to the best parts of human nature—creativity, empathy, stewardship—it can also lift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on a shared sense of destiny. It is incumbent on us all to make sure the latter prevails.

    However, to do this, we must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural, and human environments. There has never been a time of greater promise, or one of greater potential peril. Today’s decision-makers, however, are too often trapped in traditional, linear thinking, or too absorbed by the multiple crises demanding their attention, to think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.