Digital transformation and its effects on Industry & Humanity

Episode 1: The 4th (r)evolution

What is digital transformation?

The world as we know it is under great pressure by recent technological developments.

This asks for new truths, new laws, new metaphysics and a whole new way of

doing business.

The paradigm shift from the old ways into the new is what we call Digital Transformation.

It’s not a revolution, but an evolution with revolutionary consequences for both business and society.

What not?

Let’s look at some history

FirstIndustrial Revolution

SecondIndustrial Revolution

ThirdIndustrial Revolution

FourthIndustrial Revolution

Today

Time

1800 1900 2000

The industrial (r)evolutions

The first Industrial Revolution brought us mechanical production by means of water and steam power.

This is the 4th industrial (r)evolution

The second gave us mass production through electrical power.

This is the 4th industrial (r)evolution

The third Industrial Revolution was the digital revolution, wherein production was further automated through the use of electronic and IT systems.

We changed from mechanical and electronic technology to digital technology.

Today, we are at the threshold of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

This 4th revolution is characterized by a series of new technologies that introduce a world where cyber physical systems transform traditional

production & lifestyle.

This is the 4th industrial (r)evolution

“We are witnessing profound shifts across all industries, marked by the emergence of new business models, the disruption

of incumbents and the reshaping of production, consumption, transportation and delivery systems” Klaus Schwab

This industrial (r)evolution is challenging ideas about what it

means to be human.

And in comes the 4th human revolution.

The human revolution went something like this:

The first human revolution took place when Copernicus discovered earth was not the center of the universe. The sun and planets did not revolve around us

anymore and we found ourselves being kicked out of the middle of the galaxy.

The second revolution was when Charles Darwin showed us we were not all that different from the animals. Humans were no superior creature, put on

earth by some super brain. It was all just coincidence, luck and some survival techniques in the mix. We might as well never have existed.

With Freud the 3rd revolution kicked in. He made us aware that we could

never have full control over ourselves or even gain full knowledge of our passions and thoughts. Control and transparency were lost.

3 defeats in a row…

After the 3rd human revolution we could still hold on to the view that our special place in the universe might not be a matter of astronomy, biology

or self control, but of superior thinking abilities.

We were still a lot smarter than all other creatures on earth, which was a comforting thought.

This famous quote shows it pretty clear: “I think, therefor I am.” R. Descartes Our intelligence defined us and set us apart from everything non-human.

What happened next?

We entered the fourth human revolution the moment we got our ass kicked at chess by a

computer.

This may seem futile but many losses followed after this and nowadays computers are far more capable of processing and interpreting certain streams of information than us humans.

We lost our intelligence monopoly..

Self learning algorithms are a fact

&

we lost our intelligence monopoly…

They outsmarted us.

What are the consequences of this 4th (r)evolution?

One of them is that recently we were placed out of the loop by technology for certain processes. For a big number of interactions, calculations or decisions, the

human factor is no longer needed or is no longer qualified.

This will have its effect on the way we look at work.

Historically interactions evolved a little like this:

Human to MachineHuman to human Machine to Machine

Other consequences manifest themselves in the domain of work, privacy, ownership and many more.

More about that in the next episodes!

So what sets us apart then…

What makes us human?

New questions are asked;

What will our jobs look like when a huge part of the existing ones will be taken over by AI?

How do we combine the need to express ourselves online and set our selves apart from

others with our need for privacy?

When information can be copy-pasted in the blink of an eye, how can we look at ownership and private property and what will the status of usage become?

More following soon