I was at first critical of Schwag’s use of the phrase ‘4th industrial revolution’. I was previously familiar with advances of technology and digitalisation being referred to as the 2nd and 3rd extensions of the industrial revolution but sceptic at the thought of it restructuring economies and politics in our society to an extent that it’s a revolution in its own…

…but by outlining the distinctly unique-to-our-era megatrends which exist, I do find it plausible that we are in the midst of big changes to industry! Industrie 4.0 is real.

By referring to the megatrends in the realms of the physical, digital and biological it is evident how many spheres and careers are being increasingly impacted. This is almost assuring as a Media student because I know many of my colleagues as well as myself will be researching these further in the year and  the future!

What intrigues me most is how governing and thinking is to be shaped by such a revolution. The questions of identity, morality and ethics being contested by advanced practices such as augumented reality and synthetic genetics – are what I find most confronting when thinking about industry 4.0 and the future. Human connection and work practices changing based on people being constantly online are  touched on in this reading and for me, are already common arguments we hear today especially in popular media. The bigger questions of ‘what it means to be human’ as highlighted by Schwag, are what I’m more interested in analysing as a media professional because this way we can ensure development is not detrimental to our society.