What is revolution?

What is industrial revolution?

What is 4th industrial revolution?

Blurred barriers between digital, biological and physical world e.g. augmented reality. People are
sitting close but still communicating through the digital mediums.

Contrary to popular belief, this industrial revolution has less to do with industries than most people
think. Machines were single purpose and told exactly how and what they have to do previously. We will be
surrounded by a sea of sensors. Some companies are even planning to launch intelligent wallpapers.

Robots are being taught about emotions. AI Chatbots have been designed to become personal
friends to whom you can share your daily problems and get closure.

We are entering an internet of things where data is being gathered from us continuously through
various devices. The impact of this is unprecedented. It means whatever happens, almost everyone will be
affected. So, there is immense potential to attain widespread prosperity and wellbeing during this era.

History

First industrial revolution was very beneficial for the development but also brought some harms
such as usage of fossil fuels has put us near the brink of major environmental changes.
Impact (Pros and cons)

o Economic
o Health: Better collection of data, its analysis and better treatments
o A Global Electric Grid (Sun always shines on some part of the world, Why not use it?)
o Education and training would have to be redefined. Is there any need of university when all
the knowledge is opensource and easily available everywhere in the world. Technology can
be incorporated to produce quicker results. The newer generations would have to be made
digital literate.
o There will be no such thing as privacy.
o Further divide as not everyone might have access to this technology.
o We might find alternative ways for sustainable energy and fighting environment pollution
o Already now, due to the last industrial revolution
o Genetic modification means being able to produce people who are incredible
mathematicians, scientists, artists, leaders, etc. Taking the element of uncertainty out of our
lives. It is like playing God and would be highly unethical to control any aspect of another
human’s life.
o One problem is that AI learns form humans. As a result, it may manifest some human flaws
or biases as well. In Feb, 2018, the facial recognition software of Microsoft and IBM worked
very well to distinguish between white faces but gave significantly more error when dealing
with people of color. Similarly, Microsoft’s AI bot named Tay was trained on dataset of
tweets. It started spewing out hateful and racist comments. It was quickly shutdown.
Governments are planning to make autonomous battleships and drones. The results can be
grim for humans if such AI is given control of weaponry.

How to prepare?
Development, progress as well as anarchy, chaos ….. These are the words which come to mind when we
speak of a revolution. Indeed, a revolution can be detrimental for some but beneficent for the others. We
are at the brink of the 4th industrial revolution so the time is ripe to get our priorities straight and clearly
define our pathway to get maximum benefit. Due to phenomena such as water shortage and environmental
changes, our time on Earth is at a crucial stage and we can not afford to err. Past industrial revolutions are
nothing as compared to the fourth. We are on our way to ‘hack’ the code of the universe and influence
reality. Genome editing, nanotechnology are some example. We are vastly enhancing the mastery of living
and non-living things by using cyberspace.

This revolution can result in people losing their jobs, rights and even lives if adequate measures are not
taken to prepare for it. We need to define a set of rules and regulations to govern this revolution, ethical
foundations. (Ordinarily, revolutions do not have any governing force behind them). Even now, many parts
of the world are left behind and feel left out. If only the wealthy get this, they will use it to consolidate their
power. If tracks are not laid down carefully for the revolution, it may widen the gap between people of the
world. We have to shape the change in such a way that a large part of humanity is not left behind. We also
have to learn to use our technological capabilities responsibly.

The 4th revolution is still in the vision stage. It will consist of autocratic devices working in harmony with one
another and optimizing itself and therefore, the whole process.

There are different attitudes towards technology from different parts of the world. Developing countries are
enthusiastically embracing it while some of the western world is concerned with A.I. taking over.

Dark side of the 4th industrial Revolution

There are always some unintended consequences of revolutions. Putin said that the country which lead in
A.I. will rule the world.

A British A.I. company called Deepmind is working at the forefront of A.I. A researcher and one of its
cofounders, Shane Legg, commented that he believes that human race will become extinct and technology
will play a huge role in it.

A.I. has already beaten humans in Go, a Chinese strategic game. It is designed on the principle of self-
learning called reinforcement learning in which it plays against itself to get better.

Mickinsey published an article in 2016 stating that 45% of the paid jobs could be automated using
technology of that time. Machines can be operated automatically in predictable environments. Similarly,
data collection and processing can also be automated. Technologies could have impact on 60% on banking
jobs. Big companies do not require huge number of employees to function. Instagram only had 13
employees but 30 million users when it was acquired by Facebook. Computers and machines do not get
tired. They do not need vacation or rest and perform at the same rate. So, they are perfect for monotonous
jobs in companies.
 4th Industrial Revolution

Development, progress and innovation as well as anarchy, chaos and unrest. These are some
of the conditions which come to mind when a person thinks about a revolution. Indeed, a revolution is
characterized by all of these. The world is at the brink of the fourth industrial revolution. This
revolution is expected to be unlike any of the previous three industrial revolutions because of its
massive impact factor. Whatever, good or bad, happens as a result of this, it will affect most of the life
on Earth. Therefore, the time is ripe to set our priorities straight and lay down a pathway to maximize
the benefits and weed out the harms. A single nation or organization is not equipped to solely make
decisions regarding something which affects everyone. The conditions of the whole world need to be
taken into account.
The 4th industrial revolution is aimed at merging physical, digital and biological world. It is a
vision for now. It will consist of autocratic devices working in harmony with one another and
optimizing themselves and therefore, the whole process. This industrial revolution will not have as
much to do with industries as it may seem. We will be surrounded by a sea of sensors which
continuously collect data and lead to improvement in algorithms. The researchers and scientists are on
their way to hack the code of the universe and influence reality. We are designing another space where
the laws of the physical world do not apply, for example cyber space. Genome editing and
nanotechnology are some of the processes and technologies being developed.
Already we are starting to morph reality. Augmented reality is one of the technologies which
comes to mind when I think about the merging of digital and physical world. An A.R. game, Pokemon
Go, took the world by storm. Chatbots are being taught to understand human emotions. These have
been deployed to help people cope with anxiety and depression by consoling them. Artificial
intelligence used to be very data hungry but recent progress in reinforcement learning has removed
this need. Now a robot can improve by competing against itself.
Nothing is either good or bad. It is the thinking which makes it so. All the previous industrial
revolutions have had some unforeseen and unintended consequences. This one may be no different.
With data being collected from us, our privacy will be compromised. This will take away the right of
freedom of thought and speech. If the data falls in the wrong hands, it can be very detrimental. Gene
editing will enable humans to produce desired traits in babies thus removing the element of uncertainty.
It would be like playing God and highly unethical.
There have been speculations regarding Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) harming humanity.
Vladimir Putin has stated that in the future, whoever leads in A.I. will rule the world. A British A.I.
company called ‘Deepmind’ is working at the forefront of A.I. A researcher and one of its cofounders,
Shane Legg, commented that he believes that human race will become extinct and technology will
play a huge role in it. Elon Musk also believes that A.I. will lead to downfall of human race. Some
countries have designed autonomous battleships and drones. So now, the decision for a human life
may be taken by a computer.
Another problem with A.I. is that it learns form humans. As a result, it may manifest some
human flaws or biases as well. In February 2018, the facial recognition software of Microsoft and IBM
worked very well to distinguish between white faces but gave significantly more error when dealing
with people of color. Similarly, Microsoft’s AI bot named Tay was trained on dataset of tweets. It
started spewing out hateful and racist comments. It was quickly shutdown. One can imagine if such a
biased program is given control over weaponry, what chaos could erupt. We need a plan of attack.
In order to avoid A.I. taking over or unnatural control over human lives, some rules and
regulations need to be devised by taking all the stakeholders into confidence. As the youth will be
affected the most, they need to be included in the decision-making process. There can be some central
regulatory authority for this purpose. The privacy laws have caught a lot of attention in the past few
months. These need to be strictly enforced.
The education structure required to survive in the new world needs to be redefined. Industries
no longer hire people based on qualification but lay more stress on the skillset. As a result of internet
and MOOCs, everyone has access to free quality education from the top institutions of the world.
University education is becoming irrelevant.
The 4th revolution is also threatening to massively change the job market and shrink it a little
as well. Mickinsey published an article in 2016 stating that 45% of the paid jobs could be automated
using technology of that time. Machines can be operated automatically in predictable environments.
Similarly, data collection and processing can also be automated. Technologies could have impact on
60% on banking jobs. Big companies do not require huge number of employees to function anymore.
Instagram only had 13 employees but 30 million users when it was acquired by Facebook. Computers
and machines do not get tired. They do not need vacation or rest and perform at the same rate. So, they
are perfect for monotonous jobs in companies. So, the next generation need to be aware of this
paradigm shift and gain skillset to adapt accordingly.
A large part of the world does not have access to the latest technology. If only the wealthy are
able to benefit from the 4th industrial revolution technology, they will use it to consolidate their power.
This will further divide the people. This revolution is aimed at uniting so the whole world needs to be
equipped to reap its benefits. To repair the damages that we have caused on earth, we need to work on
alternative environment friendly energy sources.
The 4th industrial revolution is not fiction anymore. It will impact almost everyone. With such
a wide sphere of influence, it needs to be regulated to avoid serious harms. There is the threat of A.I.
taking over, scarcity of jobs and divide among nations and social classes. On the bright side, there is
an opportunity to remove monotony from our lives, enter a world of our own design and cure genetic
diseases by gene editing. To prepare for this revolution, the existing educational and economic
structure needs to be reformed and equality must be ensured.