Fourth Industrial Revolution Quotes

The changes are so profound that, from the perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril.

when two people are talking, the mere presence of a phone on the table between them or in their peripheral vision changes both what they talk about and their degree of connectedness.65

This work indicates that the fourth industrial revolution is unique, driven as it is by a global network of smart (network-driven) cities, countries and regional clusters, which understand and leverage the opportunities of this revolution – top down and bottom up – acting from a holistic and integrated perspective.

It may be too soon to tell, but extrapolating from current trends indicates that mobility will play an ever more important role in society and economics in the future than today:

Shared understanding is particularly critical if we are to shape a collective future that reflects common objectives and values.

The fact that a unit of wealth is created today with much fewer workers compared to 10 or 15 years ago is possible because digital businesses have marginal costs that tend towards zero.

By any numerical measure, humanity is becoming rapidly less poor. But between half and two-thirds of people in the West have been treading water – at best – for a generation. Tens of millions of Westerners will struggle to keep their heads above the surface over the coming decades. The spread of automation, including artificial intelligence and remote intelligence, which some call the fourth industrial revolution, is still in its early stages.

My concern, however, is that decision makers are too often caught in traditional, linear (and nondisruptive) thinking or too absorbed by immediate concerns to think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.

The fourth industrial revolution, however, is not only about smart and connected machines and systems. Its scope is much wider. Occurring simultaneously are waves of further breakthroughs in areas ranging from gene sequencing to nanotechnology, from renewables to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions. In

As all these trends happen, the winners will be those who are able to participate fully in innovation-driven ecosystems by providing new ideas, business models, products and services, rather than those who can offer only low-skilled labour or ordinary capital.

On the societal front, a paradigm shift is underway in how we work and communicate, as well as how we express, inform and entertain ourselves.

The second industrial revolution has yet to be fully experienced by 17% of the world as nearly 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity.

Today, a middle-class job no longer guarantees a middle-class lifestyle, and over the past 20 years, the four traditional attributes of middle-class status (education, health, pensions and house ownership) have performed worse than inflation.

To a large extent, the millennial generation is setting consumer trends. We now live in an on-demand world where 30 billion WhatsApp messages are sent every day32 and where 87% of young people in the US say their smart phone never leaves their side and 44% use their camera function daily.33 This is a world which is much more about peer-to-peer sharing and user-generated content. It is a world of the now: a real-time world where traffic directions are instantly provided and groceries are delivered directly to your door. This “now world” requires companies to respond in real time wherever they are or their customers or clients may be.

the cost of storing information is approaching zero (storing 1GB costs an average of less than $0.03 a year today, compared to more than $10,000 20 years ago).

Extraordinary technology brings extraordinary recklessness.

The more we think about how to harness the technology revolution, the more we will examine ourselves and the underlying social models that these technologies embody and enable, and the more we will have an opportunity to shape the revolution in a manner that improves the state of the world.

Technology is not an exogenous force over which we have no control. We are not constrained by a binary choice between “accept and live with it” and “reject and live without it”. Instead, take dramatic technological change as an invitation to reflect about who we are and how we see the world. The more we think about how to harness the technology revolution, the more we will examine ourselves and the underlying social models that these technologies embody and enable, and the more we will have an opportunity to shape the revolution in a manner that improves the state of the world.

Technology is not an exogenous force over which we have no control. We are not constrained by a binary choice between “accept and live with it” and “reject and live without it”. Instead, take dramatic technological change as an invitation to reflect about who we are and how we see the world.

While there are reasons to be sceptical about the predicted technological dystopia that has prompted many high-tech plutocrats to come out in support of basic income, this may nevertheless be a strong factor in mobilizing public pressure and political action. Whether jobs are going to dry up or not, the march of the robots is undoubtedly accentuating insecurity and inequality. A basic income or social dividend system would provide at least a partial antidote to that, as more commentators now recognize.6 For example, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum and author of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, has described basic income as a ‘plausible’ response to labour market disruption.7

the second machine age”2

According to the innovation charity Nesta in the UK, the five cities that are globally best placed in terms of having the most effective policy environment to foster innovation are: New York, London, Helsinki, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

In the automotive realm, a car is now a computer on wheels, with electronics representing roughly 40% of the cost of a car.

Detroit in 1990 (then a major centre of traditional industries) with Silicon Valley in 2014. In 1990, the three biggest companies in Detroit had a combined market capitalization of $36 billion, revenues of $250 billion, and 1.2 million employees. In 2014, the three biggest companies in Silicon Valley had a considerably higher market capitalization ($1.09 trillion), generated roughly the same revenues ($247 billion), but with about 10 times fewer employees (137,000).3 The fact that a unit of wealth is created today with much fewer workers compared to 10 or 15 years ago is possible because digital businesses have marginal costs that tend towards zero.

This book is organized in three chapters. The first is an overview of the fourth industrial revolution. The second presents the main transformative technologies. The third provides a deep dive into the impact of the revolution and some of the policy challenges it poses. I conclude by suggesting practical ideas and solutions on how best to adapt, shape and harness the potential of this great transformation.

creating more space for stillness in order to reflect on important decisions.

OpenAI,

The app economy provides an example of a new job ecosystem. It only began in 2008 when Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, let outside developers create applications for the iPhone. By mid-2015, the global app economy was expected to generate over $100 billion in revenues, surpassing the film industry, which has been in existence for over a century.

Labour markets, meanwhile, are becoming biased towards a limited range of technical skill sets, and globally connected digital platforms and marketplaces are granting outsized rewards to a small number of “stars”.

New technologies will dramatically change the nature of work across all industries and occupations.

As sociologist Manuel Castells, professor of communication technology and society at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, has noted: “In all moments of major technological change, people, companies, and institutions feel the depth of the change, but they are often overwhelmed by it, out of sheer ignorance of its effects”.52 Being overwhelmed due to ignorance is precisely what we should avoid, particularly when it comes to how the many diverse communities that comprise modern society form, develop and relate to one another.

Turkle refers to studies showing that, when two people are talking, the mere presence of a phone on the table between them or in their peripheral vision changes both what they talk about and their degree of connectedness.

increasing inequalities might emerge between tech-savvy individuals, who understand and control these technologies, and less knowledgeable individuals, who are passive users of a technology they do not understand.

Boundaries between sectors and professions are artificial and are proving to be increasingly counterproductive. More than ever, it is essential to dissolve these barriers by engaging the power of networks to forge effective partnerships.

As media strategist Tom Goodwin wrote in a TechCrunch article in March 2015: “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”9

is clear that neither countries nor regions can flourish if their cities (innovation ecosystems) are not being continually nourished. Cities have been the engines of economic growth, prosperity and social progress throughout history, and will be essential to the future competitiveness of nations and regions. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, ranging from mid-size cities to megacities, and the number of city dwellers worldwide keeps rising. Many factors that affect the competitiveness of countries and regions – from innovation and education to infrastructure and public administration – are under the purview of cities. The speed and breadth by which cities absorb and deploy technology, supported by agile policy frameworks, will determine their ability to compete in attracting talent. Possessing a superfast broadband, putting into place digital technologies in transportation, energy consumption, waste recycling and so on help make a city more efficient and liveable, and therefore more attractive than others. It is therefore critical that cities and countries around the world focus on ensuring access to and use of the information and communication technologies on which much of the fourth industrial revolution depends. Unfortunately, as the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2015 points out, ICT infrastructures are neither as prevalent nor diffusing as fast as many people believe. “Half of the world’s population does not have mobile phones and 450 million people still live out of reach of a mobile signal. Some 90% of the population of low-income countries and over 60% globally are not online yet. Finally, most mobile phones are of an older generation.”45

Businesses, industries and corporations will face continuous Darwinian pressures and as such, the philosophy of “always in beta” (always evolving) will become more prevalent. This suggests that the global number of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (enterprising company managers) will increase. Small and medium-sized enterprises will have the advantages of speed and the agility needed to deal with disruption and innovation.

Page 199: According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Statistics, more than 20 percent of all imports to the United States come from foreign subsidiaries or affiliates of U.S. multinational corporations. … This is why American business is so adamantly opposed to tariffs—not fear of foreign retaliation, but fear of tariffs on products from American-owned industrial plantations.

strategies which primarily focus on reducing costs will be less effective than those which are based on offering products and services in more innovative ways. As we see today, established companies are being put under extreme pressure by emerging disruptors and innovators from other industries and countries. The same could be said for countries that do not recognize the need to focus on building their innovation ecosystems accordingly.

Productivity is the most important determinant of long-term growth and rising living standards so its absence, if maintained throughout the forth industrial revolution, means that we will have less of each.

As media strategist Tom Goodwin wrote in a TechCrunch article in March 2015: "Uber, the world's largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world's most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world's largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a self-employment economy based on creativity - gig workers, freelancers, Apps, investments and entrepreneurship. It is now much easier to start your own thing than any other time in history. Don’t focus on the threats; focus on the opportunities! There's more to sell than just labour.

4IR is marked by emerging technological breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, AI, blockchain, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles.

Health without progress is potential unused, whereas progress without health is potential abused.

Around the world, the ground appears to be shifting beneath our feet as we hurtle through a period of unnerving change, marked by disturbing weather patterns, xenophobic protectionism, mass migration, failed states, science denial, cyberterrorism, a loss of faith in institutions and many other factors.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is therefore not a prediction of the future but a call to action. It is a vision for developing, diffusing, and governing technologies in ways that foster a more empowering, collaborative, and sustainable foundation for social and economic development, built around shared values of the common good, human dignity, and intergenerational stewardship. Realizing this vision will be the core challenge and great responsibility of the next 50 years.

interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.

Shaping the fourth industrial revolution to ensure that it is empowering and human-centered, rather than divisive and dehumanizing, is not a task for any single stakeholder or sector or for any one region, industry or culture. The fundamental and global nature of this revolution means it will affect and be influenced by all countries, economies, sectors and people. It is, therefore, critical that we invest attention and energy in multistakeholder cooperation across academic, social, political, national and industry boundaries. These interactions and collaborations are needed to create positive, common and hope-filled narratives, enabling individuals and groups from all parts of the world to participate in, and benefit from, the ongoing transformations.

The fourth industrial revolution, however, is not only about smart and connected machines and systems. Its scope is much wider. Occurring simultaneously are waves of further breakthroughs in areas ranging from gene sequencing to nanotechnology, from renewables to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions. In this revolution, emerging technologies and broad-based innovation are diffusing much faster and more widely than in previous ones, which continue to unfold in some parts of the world. This second industrial revolution has yet to be fully experienced by 17% of world, as nearly 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity. This is also true for the third industrial revolution, with more than half of the world’s population, 4 billion people, most of whom live in the developing world, lacking internet access. The spindle (the hallmark of the first industrial revolution) took almost 120 years to spread outside of Europe. By contrast, the internet permeated across the globe in less than a decade.

I am convinced that the fourth industrial revolution will be every bit as powerful, impactful and historically important as the previous three. However, I have two primary concerns about factors that may limit the potential of the fourth industrial revolution to be effectively and cohesively realized. First, I feel that the required levels of leadership and understanding of the changes under way, across all sectors, are low when contrasted with the need to rethink our economic, social and political systems to respond to the fourth industrial revolution. As a result, both at the national and global levels, the requisite institutional framework to govern the diffusion of innovation and mitigate the disruption is inadequate at best and, at worst, absent altogether. Second, the world lacks a consistent, positive and common narrative that outlines the opportunities and challenges of the fourth industrial revolution, a narrative that is essential if we are to empower a diverse set of individuals and communities and avoid a popular backlash against the fundamental changes under way.

Professional activities are dissected into precise assignments and discrete projects and then thrown into a virtual cloud of aspiring workers located anywhere in the world.

Now, faced with a combination of increased complexity and hyper-specialization, we are at a point where the desire for purposeful engagement is becoming a major issue.

It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a demand for new competencies and the need for upskilling, un-learning, re-learning and re-training has never been more severe than now.

The issues surrounding technological advancements cannot be left only to tech experts, governments or business executives to address. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here and is completely transforming the way we live and work. These unprecedented technologies require youths from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to join the conversation and become part of the revolution!

Четвертая промышленная революция изменяет не только то, что мы делаем, но и то, кем мы являемся. На нас, индивидуумов, это окажет многоплановое влияние, скажется на нашей идентичности и различных гранях ее проявления: на наши представления о неприкосновенности частной жизни, о собственности, характер потребительского поведения, то, сколько времени мы посвящаем работе и отдыху, как мы развиваем свою карьеру и совершенствуем наши навыки.

The second is the stressor to come – the much-heralded fourth industrial revolution where, according to some reports, up to 60 per cent of all jobs will become automated, and work as we know it will disappear. In the past, technological innovation was framed with optimism for huge improvements in standards of living, today the prevalent narrative seems one of fear and dystopia.

Hoping that the current knowledge producing education system, will enable us to respond to the demands of the fourth industrial revolution and the digital transformation, instead of engineering an innovation producing education system (education 4.0), is no different from going to Canaan with a road map to Egypt.

The fourth industrial revolution is to the 3rd industrial revolution what the 2nd industrial revolution was to the 1st industrial revolution.

Evolution & Electronics (The Sonnet) I know electronic circuitry like the back of my hand, Yet it's the human mind that fascinates me most immensely. Fascination in electronics lies in new design possibility, Whereas the mind is the breeding ground of all possibility. Our engineering is puny compared to that of Mother Nature, Each day a new mystery unfolds in the vast organic kingdom. Our puny electronics work based on cold 'n rigid computation, Evolution of life in nature is predicated on plastic mutation. That's why we must never disregard nature blinded by arrogance, We may have conquered nature's mercy but we're still subordinate. The moment a lifeform starts to vilify the womb whence it came, With a single blow creator nature can flatten all our obstinance. Foster humility and wisdom, before going nuts about technology. Don't end up yet another fancy stain upon the honor of humanity.

15 Toasts to the stranger, to faith, to happiness, to collateral damage, to escapes, to borders, to Them, to fear, to risk, to rebellion, to romance, to dignity, to the self, to education, to the story that changed my life, to the end of work, to beauty, to conflict, to tinkering, to the truth, to America, to local, to the fellow traveler, to origins, to the right problem, to the disrupted, to the fourth industrial revolution, to courage, to borders, to risk, and, yes, to vulnerability.

The fourth industrial revolution is not fueling disruption that is causing businesses and nations to go back to the drawing boards, its actually disrupting the boards and making them obsolete. For the first time in human history we do not need to go back to the drawing boards in face of disruptive and transformational change.

Humanitarian Industrialization Fourth industrial revolution my eye! We haven't yet recovered from the disparities produced by the first, second and third industrial revolutions. Morons keep peddling cold and pompous dreams devoid of humanity, and morons keep consuming them like good little backboneless vermin. Grow a backbone already! We always look at the glorious aspects of industrialization and overlook all those countless lives that are ruined by it. But it's okay! As long as we are not struck by a catastrophe ourselves, our sleep of moronity never breaks - so long as our comfort is unchallenged, and enhanced rather, it's okay if millions keep falling through the cracks. So long as you can afford a smartphone that runs smooth like butter, it doesn't matter if it is produced by modern day slave labors who can't even afford the basic essentials of living. With all the revenue the tech companies earn by charging you a thousand dollar for a hundred dollar smartphone, they can't even pay decent wages to the people working their butt off to manufacture their assets - because apparently, it is more important for the people at the top to afford private jets and trips to space, than the factory workers to afford healthcare, housing and a couple of square meals a day. And this you call industrialization - well done - you just figured out the secret to glory without being bothered by something so boring as basic humanity. I say to you here and now, listen well - stop abusing revolutionary scientific discoveries in the making of a cold, mechanistic, disparity infested world - use science and technology to wipe out the disparities, not cause them. Break free from your modern savagery of inhuman industrialization, and focus your mind on humanitarian industrialization.

Education has always played a critical role at every stage of the industrial revolution, a role that always changed as industrial revolutions change, from the first, second, and third industrial revolutions. Now is another time for the education system to not only change but transform in response to the demands of the 4th industrial revolution before us.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution comes with digital technologies and platforms, that are now ready for leverage in the way we interact with other people, enterprises, products and services. Technologies like Virtual Reality.

The new technology age, if shaped in a responsive and responsible way, could catalyse a new cultural renaissance that will enable us to feel part of something much larger than ourselves – a true global civilization. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to robotize humanity, and thus compromise our traditional sources of meaning – work, community, family, identity. Or we can use the Fourth Industrial Revolution to 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 that the latter is what happens.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is creating a demand for new skills and new competencies.

Don't fight the Fourth Industrial Revolution, embrace it and become part of the revolution!

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution continue to evolve, the winners will be those who are able to quickly adapt to change, upskill themselves and fully participate in entrepreneurship and innovation-driven ecosystems, providing new business models and ideas rather than those who can only bring certificates to the table or only offer low-skilled labor.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is not about new Apps or new technologies. It is about a new era, new ways of thinking and new ways of doing business.

Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted provides answers that translate far-future thinking into insights and strategies to stay relevant and unlock opportunities in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

You cannot stop the Fourth Industrial Revolution but you can influence its direction and impact in your life.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution does bring a sense of gloom and doom but don’t focus on the threats; focus on the opportunities!

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is ushering in a new economic era, exposing new sources of value and growth. New opportunities, businesses and markets can be created as a result of this new economy.

Fourth Industrial Revolution has democratized entrepreneurship. The old entrepreneurial model was capital intensive – premises, equipment, brick and mortar stuff. But now there’s opportunity for businesses that can even be run from a smart phone or Internet cafe. Some businesses can be set up in a day or two and with minimum risk and capital. As I mentioned in Part One of my book, titled, Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted. “You can do more today with your life having just an internet connection; and that’s an opportunity our parents and grandparents never had.

As in previous industrial revolutions, regulation will play a decisive role in the adaptation and diffusion of new technologies. However, governments will be forced to change their approach when it comes to the creation, revision and enforcement of regulation. In the “old world,” decision makers had enough time to study a specific issue and then create the necessary response or appropriate regulatory framework.

blockchain technology records financial transactions made with digital currencies such as Bitcoin, it will in the future serve as a registrar for things as different as birth and death certificates, titles of ownership, marriage licenses, educational degrees, insurance claims, medical procedures and votes

Source: Deep Shift – Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact, Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software and Society, World Economic Forum, September 2015.

the deluge of information available today, the velocity of disruption and the acceleration of innovation are hard to comprehend or anticipate. They constitute a source of constant surprise. In such a context, it is a leader’s ability to continually learn, adapt and challenge his or her own conceptual and operating models of success that will distinguish the next generation of successful business leaders. Therefore, the first imperative of the business impact made by the fourth industrial revolution is the urgent need to look at oneself as a business leader and at one’s own organization. Is there evidence of the organization and leadership capacity to learn and change? Is there a track record of prototyping and investment decision-making at a fast pace? Does the culture accept innovation and failure?

Emerging operating models also mean that talent and culture have to be rethought in light of new skill requirements and the need to attract and retain the right sort of human capital. As data become central to both decision-making and operating models across industries, workforces require new skills, while processes need to be upgraded (for example, to take advantage of the availability of real-time information) and cultures need to evolve. As I mentioned, companies need to adapt to the concept of “talentism”. This is one of the most important, emerging drivers of competitiveness. In a world where talent is the dominant form of strategic advantage, the nature of organizational structures will have to be rethought. Flexible hierarchies, new ways of measuring and rewarding performance, new strategies for attracting and retaining skilled talent will all become key for organizational success. A capacity for agility will be as much about employee motivation and communication as it will be about setting business priorities and managing physical assets. My

In all moments of major technological change, people, companies, and institutions feel the depth of the change, but they are often overwhelmed by it, out of sheer ignorance of its effects”.52 Being overwhelmed due to ignorance is precisely what we should avoid, particularly when it comes to how the many diverse communities that comprise modern society form, develop and relate to one another.

Back in 1971, Herbert Simon, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, warned that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” This is much worse today, in particular for decision-makers who tend to be overloaded with too much “stuff” – overwhelmed and on overdrive, in a state of constant stress.

In practical terms, this means that leaders cannot afford to think in silos. Their approach to problems, issues and challenges must be holistic, flexible and adaptive, continuously integrating many diverse interests and opinions. Emotional intelligence – the heart As a complement to, not a substitute for, contextual intelligence, emotional intelligence is an increasingly essential attribute in the fourth industrial revolution.

Voltaire, the French philosopher and writer of the Enlightenment era who lived for many years just a few miles away from where I am writing this book, once said: “Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”74

cooperation is “the only thing that will redeem mankind.

To delve deeper into these concepts, one great resource for learning about the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and AI is the book The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab.

Chapter Summary The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a new chapter in human development, driven by the increasing availability and interaction of a set of extraordinary technologies, building on three previous technological revolutions. This revolution is only in its early stages, which provides humankind with the opportunity and responsibility to shape not just the design of new technologies, but also more agile forms of governance and positive values that will fundamentally change how we live, work and relate to one another. Emerging technologies could provide tremendous benefits to industry and society, but experience from previous industrial revolutions reminds us that to fully realize them, the world must meet three pressing challenges. To attain a prosperous future, we must: Ensure that the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are distributed fairly Manage the externalities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in terms of the risks and harm that it causes Ensure that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is human-led and human-centred As leaders grapple with the uncertainty brought about by rapid technological change, adaptation does not require predicting the future. Far more critical is developing a mindset that considers system-level effects, the impact on individuals, which remains future oriented and is aligned with common values across diverse stakeholder groups. So, for the future, the four important principles to keep in mind when thinking about how technologies can create impact are: Systems, not technologies Empowering, not determining By design, not by default Values as a feature, not a bug The regulation, norms and structures for a range of powerful emerging technologies are being developed and implemented today around the world. The time for action is therefore now, and it is up to all citizens to work together to shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The need to revive civic education in our modern democracies is of the utmost importance to our future ability to preserve our democratic institutions and civil society. It is critical to preserving the equality of fundamental rights of all people. It is critical to developing the capacity for effective action to address the many complex social, political, economic, and environmental challenges arrayed before us. It is critical if we are going to successfully navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution and ensure it truly results in positive disruptions that work in the interests of the people by democratizing social, financial, and political edifices -- rather than simply intensifying the concentration of wealth, power, and influence.

The key to successfully navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution is more than simply learning new skills. It is knowing yourself and the unique value you have to offer any potential customer or employer.

To paraphrase Madeleine Albright, we face the task of understanding and governing 21st-century technologies with a 20th-century mindset and 19th-century institutions.

One way in which the Fourth Industrial Revolution could exacerbate inequality is via monopoly power: already, for example, Google controls almost 90% of the global market share of search advertising, Facebook controls 77% of mobile social traffic and Amazon has almost 75% of the e-book market.

Since the first Industrial Revolution, the average real income per person in OECD economies has increased around 2,900%.

While inequality between countries has reduced considerably since the 1970s due to the rapid development of emerging market nations, inequality within countries is rising.

the integration of materials with blockchain technologies could aid in the implementation of a global database for trusted materials sourcing and recycling provenance records.

The complex human brain is a fascinating domain. A skull has around 1.4 kilograms of cells, including over 80 billion neurons connected in over 100 trillion ways. If each of the 7.4 billion people living on earth knew everyone else, understanding their social relationships would be simplistic compared to understanding the pattern-making potential of the human brain.

In all moments of major technological change, people, companies, and institutions feel the depth of the change, but they are often overwhelmed by it, out of sheer ignorance of its effects.

we are at the threshold of a radical systemic change that requires human beings to adapt continuously. As a result, we may witness an increasing degree of polarization in the world, marked by those who embrace change versus those who resist it.

The tools we’ve relied on for decades to manipulate and interact with computers – the mouse and keyboard – will quickly fade with next-generation technology. Interface will move towards the fidelity of the real world, as simple as the sound of your voice and a blink of your eyes.

while AI is busy improving itself, robotics’ industry spending is set to exceed $135 billion in 2019, nearly double its 2015 figure.[132] Not only will vehicles lose their drivers, the vehicles themselves are likely to be built by robots, especially since the automotive industry is the number one buyer of automated robots

The impact of AI and robotics on labour markets is expected to grow, both in developing and developed regions. In the United States, estimates range from 10% to nearly 50% of US jobs at risk of computerization.[135],[136] In China, Foxconn replaced 60,000 workers in factories with robots over the course of two years.[137] Automation could undermine industrialization in developing countries by undercutting their labour cost advantage: production once offshored by developed countries is now being reshored.[138