TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

• Author: Flowers, Betty Sue

A Review of Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Klaus Schwab and Nicholas Davis

(World Economic Forum 2018), 287 pages.

Two years ago, Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, published The Fourth Industrial Revolution to make the case that we are now at the threshold of a new era of unprecedented change brought about by embedding connected digital technologies in our societies. Unlike the relatively gradual changes in society that occurred as a result of the First Industrial Revolution and the Second Industrial Revolution (electricity and the internal combustion engine), the speed of this transformation offers challenges and opportunities that will transform almost every aspect of our world. Schwab disagrees with observers who argue that this phenomenon is simply a continuation of the Third Industrial Revolution (computers and information technology). For Schwab, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a new phenomenon posing an unprecedented challenge for the human future.

Now, two years later, Schwab seems to have won the argument. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is commonly discussed as a highly important challenge at global gatherings, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the World Energy Council and in government meetings around the world. The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with governments, companies, civil societies, and experts, is setting up a global network of Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with locations so far in the US, Japan, India, and China. Now in this second book on the subject, Schwab is offering a response to the key challenge he posed in his first book: how do we shape this fourth industrial revolution "in line with common human values"?

Not surprisingly, Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution does not answer this question but is designed, instead, "to empower you to engage in strategic dialogues" on the issue. In this it succeeds, not because it offers any new wisdom on how we can align technology with common human values (assuming there are such things) but because it offers a well-structured overview, written by experts in the field, of the new technologies themselves.

When we think of the Internet of Things, for example, we might think of commanding Alexa or Siri to set the thermostat. But what we really need to be thinking about are the disrupted business models and the privacy and security issues that arise...