The Fourth Industrial Revolution
What does the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) aim for? What are the main principles and the goals? What involves the development of Fourth Industrial Revolution at social impact level?
In the post-pandemic, the Fourth Industrial (digital) Revolution has accelerated for at least 10 years, this means that we are closer and closer to the eternal promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that is; get the so-called Hard Artificial Intelligence (Technological Singularity), which is the very concept of a semi-autonomous artificial intelligence.
Technological tools have been developed, but in order to achieve, what?, To benefit whom?, to increase what?, To develop wealth?, To increase the wealth of nations? To consolidate social fabric? To limit the clash of civilizations? To impart social justice? To make access to social welfare inclusive?
Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, dataScience, the internet of things (IoT) and other new technologies (on industry 4.0) should allow us to get to the very best possibly existing world, since we are already, on worst possible world.
Let’s go back to history, history of technology and history of industrial revolutions:
The First Industrial Revolution was triggered by social changes that were experienced mainly in Great Britain. The need to clean up the city, to improve the living conditions of the English, to advance towards industrialization and mechanization of the industry, generated changes in the technological-social convergence.
The results of scientific progress that had been developed by the Academy of Sciences, where Newton was president, now saw an application within the context of industries.
Hence, this process of industrial-social change spread to Europe in the years 1820 to 1840. Later the ideas of the industrial revolution reached America, mainly the United States. Steam engines, mining and the railways were the greatest exponents of urban development. Hence, Latin America began the enabling of the First Industrial Revolution.
In the second period of industrial development, inventions generated by electricity, oil and gas, allowed the development of industrialization.
(A cultural breviary, in the slang of the “history of technology”, there are different approaches, one of them, the approach of the history of energy is considered by many historians, as the elementary basis of the development of the human project)
However, only through the addition of communication tools (telephone, radio, telegraph) and some more efficient transport mechanisms (plane, automobile, railways, ships, etc.) was a first approach to regional communities achieved. However, the greatest impact of the second industrial revolution was economic, by accelerating the development of means of production which, in turn, increased economic development and growth, and which, in turn, had a positive impact on political systems, achieving with this for the first time that politicians will promote the industrial development of nations.
At this point we begin to see some unforeseen factors in the acceleration of industrial development, such as pollution, the exploitation and enslavement of some human beings, the terrible humane treatment of the industrialists towards the workers, the massive hunting of animals, mining. Accelerated and the use of hydrocarbon fuels. This accelerated growth, unplanned and little responsible for taking advantage of industrial development, will degenerate into problems that will be accentuated at the beginning of the XXI century.
In the early years of the 21st century, some pioneers promoted the development and empowerment of the concept known as “Third Industrial Revolution”, as a way of addressing major problems that began to emerge from the mid-20th century, such as the great world wars, the exploitation and acceleration of the results of scientific progress that emerged in the 1950s.
Being concise, the big problems that began to arise from taking advantage of the engine of progress were:
- The nuclear threat still in force;
- Social inequality fueled in part by materialism;
- The massive consumption of natural resources that in 2016 exceeded the average capacity generated by the planet for human use;
- The large amounts of pollution and the impact of industrial toxic emissions on the air quality of cities;
- The centralization of social fabrics in urban, economic and political centers that have impeded equitable economic development in developing countries.
Part of the great proposals revolved around:
1. Transition towards 100% renewable energies.
2. Smart and semi-sustainable buildings with capacity for electric autonomy.
3. Hydrogen production as an alternative energy and generation of sustainable storage batteries.
4. Smart grids in convergence with Internet that derive from the internet of energy.
5. Connected vehicles, hybrid and based on the use of hydrogen cells.
Now, there’s a promise. A vision onto the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in order to achieve several models:
Industry 4.0
Services 4.0
Education 4.0 (Learning 4.0)
Which have their own views and objectives, although, the main principles of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are:
1. Interconnection as: the ability of the machines, deices, sensors and people to connect and communicate each other, through the internet of things or the internet of people.
2. Transparency of information as: provide clear, concise and trusty data based on the feedback of sensors that enable some models of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in order to make decisions.
3. Technical Assistance as: reach the easiest ways for cyberphysical systems to make (controlled) decisions and problem-solving, and allowing humans to be safe in risks tasks.
4. Decentralized decisions as: Enabled cyberphysical systems to make decisions on their own, and to perform their tasks autonomously. Allowing the specialization of humans, in making-decisions.
What do we require now? We required:
Contact me at efrain.carreon@transgenia.org, in order to collaborate. :)
