Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, argues that we on the brink of a technological revolution unlike anything humankind has experienced before, and describes how this revolution that is unfolding today will fundamentally alter how we live and work.
Ever-present, mobile supercomputing. Artificially-intelligent robots. Self-driving cars. Neuro-technological brain enhancements. Genetic editing. The evidence of dramatic change is all around us, and it's accelerating at exponential speed. This is what the fourth industrial revolution looks like, as dubbed by world renowned economist Klaus Schwab. And in its scale, scope, and complexity, says Schwab, the period of change we are living through today is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than any prior period of human history.
Previous industrial revolutions liberated humankind from animal power, made mass production possible and brought digital capabilities to billions of people. This Fourth Industrial Revolution is, however, fundamentally different. It is characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and governments and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.
In this book Schwab outlines the key technologies driving this revolution, discusses the major impacts on governments, businesses, civil society and individuals, and offers bold ideas for what can be done to harness it for the common good. Above all, this book aims to emphasize the way in which technology and society co-exist and take collective responsibility to ensure a better future for us all."
Synopsis
World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolution, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work.
Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.
Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wearable sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine smart factories in which global systems of manufacturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials.
The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history.
He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individuals. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frameworks that advance progress."