Upon completing the reading for this week there were several details that I was left perplexing over. Who are we? Where are we? but most importantly where are we going? Technology as a transport system and convenience tool has been rampant and rapidly growing for several years but as humans we have, whether we felt it or not had some form of control over it. As a result of this reading this may not be the case in the not so distant future. Schwab comments on the various ways that technology is evolving and the completely unimaginable tasks it can preform from 3D printing to even assigning treatment for cancer sufferers. It is with out a doubt that the human race particularly the new generations depend deeply on the speed and convenience of the heights of the technological and digital realms.

However, have we thought of how we as humans, not machines are going to evolve with it. His comments on these new technologies, are supported with a an in depth caution, that we need to continue to be the consumers and actually not become consumed. Schwab’s particular comments on the effect that the cloud and the digital world have on our jobs interested me the most. It made me feel almost insecure that we will soon essentially relinquish our employee rights for ease of access and be happy to willingly do so.

Overall, the comments that Schwab makes about the impending industrial revolution are not cynical in anyway but rather cautionary to the way we as humans interact with it. That we should not lose our sense of self and humanity at the whim of the now traditional computer.

 

• Extracts from Klaus Schwab, 2016, The Fourth Industrial Revolution (World Economic Forum), pp.14-26, 47-50, 67-73, 91-104.