Industrial Revolution
Periods of industrial revolutions
The first industrial revolution (1750-1850)
The first industrial revolution based on the mechanization of spinning and weaving and the steam engine began in the middle of the 18th century in Britain. This revolution affected all existing industries and led to the emergence of new industries. Steam engines in the 18th century caused the work that was done by using human or animal energy to be replaced with an extraordinary leap and great changes in the fields of agriculture, mining, production, transportation and technology and as a result in economic, social and cultural conditions. be created During two centuries after the industrial revolution, the annual per capita income of the countries of the world increased six times.
The second industrial revolution – technological revolution (end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century)
During this period, the development of science by modern scientists such as Niels Bohr, Thomas Alpha Edison, Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein led to the emergence of power plants and combustion engines. This discovery led to the emergence of telephones, cars, airplanes, etc., which dramatically changed the world. In this period, the feasibility of management development through improving effectiveness and efficiency, or productivity in general, was proven. For example, the division of labor in the sense that each worker does a part of the entire work, or mass production using assembly lines, which had become customary, were able to increase productivity.
Third Industrial Revolution – Digital Revolution: 1970
The emergence of digital technologies and the Internet at the end of the 20th century led to the beginning of the digital revolution. The process of this industrial revolution was analyzed based on the British sociologist David Harvey’s view as the increasing process of time and space compression in a way that is no longer far away. The second industrial revolution made time and distance closer with the presence of cars, and the third industrial revolution made them shorter and closer with the help of computers and the Internet. Therefore, the digital age created a real time. In addition to fulfilling this aspect, the third industrial revolution also changed the pattern of relationships and communications of the contemporary society. Business methods also changed in such a way that it is no longer under the shadow of time.
Fourth Industrial Revolution – Internet of Things (current era)
The fourth industrial revolution is a way to merge the boundaries between the physical world, the digital world and biological technologies. This revolution is mainly a combination of advances based on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), genetic engineering, quantum computing and other technologies. The set of technologies of the fourth industrial revolution and digital transformation equips us to survive in today’s world. The Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, machine-human interfaces, robotics and sensor technology, 3D printing technology and cyber-physical systems that combine technologies Real and virtual provide the possibility of autonomy and communication between machines independent of humans, blockchain and… are the most important features of the last industrial revolution. In the fourth industrial revolution, humans have discovered new paradigms, when invasive technologies quickly came into play, threatening the existence of old actors. The industrial revolution has come to life with the death of giant corporations. In this generation, the size of the company does not guarantee survival, but its agility in responding to changes is the key to success.
The fourth industrial revolution
The fourth industrial revolution is a concept that represents a stage of transformation in technology, industries and social patterns in the 21st century. This revolution is characterized by rapid advances in connectivity and intelligent automation, leading to significant changes in industrial capitalism and the ways in which humans experience and know the world around them. This revolution is driven by the integration of various technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, gene editing, cloud technology, Internet of Things, virtual reality, etc. These technologies are blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds, ushering in a new age of connectivity and automation.
The fourth industrial revolution has changed global business operations and production practices since the mid-2010s. It is based on the inventions of the Third Industrial Revolution, which brought computers, electronics and the Internet. However, the fourth industrial revolution is possible beyond the previous realm with four basic types of new technologies:
1- Connection, data and computing power: includes cloud technology, internet, blockchain and sensors, which enables integrated data exchange and communication between devices and systems.
2- Analysis and Intelligence: Advanced analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence play an important role in analyzing large amounts of data and making informed decisions.
3- Human-machine interaction: virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, automation and autonomous guided vehicles are part of this category that increases the cooperation between humans and machines.
4- Advanced engineering: additive manufacturing (3D printing), renewable energies and nanoparticles help to create innovative products and processes.
To thrive in the fourth industrial revolution, companies must not only adopt these advanced technologies, but also focus on upskilling and reskilling their workforce to adapt to changing job needs. Upskilling ensures that employees learn new skills to improve their current positions, while reskilling involves retraining workers with new skills to fill different positions in the organization. This workforce transformation is necessary because new technologies are changing industries and creating new opportunities. The fourth industrial revolution has been a key topic in various economic, political and scientific debates, including in the solution for a sustainable reconstruction of the economy after the covid-19 pandemic. It represents a shift towards an era of advanced connectivity and smart technology, where borders The physical and digital worlds are increasingly blurred. The scope of the fourth industrial revolution is much wider. And at the same time, its waves are expanding to renewable energy, quantum computing and nanotechnology. And it covers all physical, digital and biological fields. The fourth industrial revolution is a concept of development in general and human development in particular, which will improve the quality of life of billions of people amazingly. The technologies of the fourth industrial revolution are based on the knowledge and previous industrial revolutions, especially on the third industrial revolution, i.e. digital technologies. Some of these technologies include artificial intelligence and robotics, neurotechnologies, biotechnologies, and virtual reality.
Challenges and opportunities
Like previous revolutions, the fourth industrial revolution has the capacity to increase global income levels and improve the quality of life of people all over the world. So far, those who have benefited the most from this revolution are the consumers who have the facilities and the ability to access the digital world; Technology has created new products and services that have increased the efficiency and consequently the usefulness of our personal lives. Requesting a taxi, buying travel tickets, buying goods, paying, listening to music, watching movies or playing video games, all these things can now be done from anywhere. In the future, technological innovation will lead to a miracle of supply and demand that will have long-term benefits in efficiency and productivity. Transportation and communication costs will decrease, the effectiveness of international logistics and supply chains will increase, and the cost of trade will decrease: all of these events will open up new markets and stimulate economic growth. At the same time, as Erik Brynielsen and Andrew McAfee have pointed out, this revolution could lead to greater inequality, especially given its potential to disrupt labor markets. As automation replaces labor throughout the economy, the replacement of workers with machines may worsen the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor. On the other hand, it is not unlikely that replacing workers with technology will, in aggregate, lead to a net increase in safe and productive work. It is now impossible to predict what scenarios are likely to play out, and history suggests that the end result is likely to be a combination of the two. Although in the future, talent more than capital will be a key factor for production. This will lead to the emergence of a labor market that will be increasingly divided into “low-skilled/low-income” and “high-skilled/high-income” sectors, which in turn will fuel social tensions.
In addition to being one of the main economic concerns, inequality is the biggest social concern related to the fourth industrial revolution. The biggest beneficiaries of innovation are likely to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital—innovators, shareholders, and investors: a phenomenon that explains the widening wealth gap between the capital-dependent versus the labor-dependent. Therefore, technology is one of the main reasons why the income of a large part of people in high-income countries has remained constant or even decreased: the demand for high-skilled workers has increased, while the demand for less educated and less skilled workers has decreased. The result is a job market that has a lot of demand on both sides, but is empty in the middle. This explains why so many workers are frustrated and worried that their and their children’s real incomes will not increase. It also helps explain why middle classes around the world are increasingly experiencing a pervasive sense of discontent and injustice. A winner-takes-all economy that gives only limited access to the middle class is a guide to destroying democracy. Also, the spread of digital technologies and the dynamics of sharing information thanks to social media may increase the disconnection. More than 30% of the world’s population now use social networks to communicate, learn, and share information. In the ideal world, these interactions provide an opportunity for understanding and solidarity between cultures. But at the same time, they may create and spread unrealistic expectations about what the main factors of individual or group success are, and also provide opportunities for the spread of extreme ideas and beliefs.
Impact on business
One of the constant themes in my conversations with global executives and senior business executives is that the speed of innovation and the intensity of chaos are difficult to understand and predict, and that these drivers are a constant source of surprise for the most informed and even the most well-connected. Indeed, across all industries, there is ample evidence that the technologies driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have a significant impact on businesses. On the supply side, many industries are witnessing the arrival of new technologies that create entirely new ways to meet current needs and disrupt the current order of industry value chains. Disruption also comes from agile and innovative competitors who, thanks to access to global digital infrastructures for research, development, marketing, sales, and distribution, and by relying on improving quality, increasing speed, or lowering the price of their value proposition, can overtake established competitors faster than before. hit Dramatic changes are also occurring on the demand side, as increased transparency, consumer participation, and new patterns of consumer behavior (expanded by access to data and mobile networks) are forcing companies to change the way they design, market, and deliver their products and services. to correct
One of the key trends is the development of technology-based infrastructure that combines supply and demand to disrupt current industry structures, such as what we see in the “sharing” or “on-demand” economy. These technological infrastructures, simplified to be used by smartphones, integrate people, assets and data, thus creating entirely new ways of consuming goods and services in the process. At the same time, they remove obstacles for individuals and organizations to create wealth and transform the personal and professional environments of employees. These new infrastructure businesses are rapidly proliferating into many new services, from laundry to shopping, from housework to parking, and from messaging to travel.
Overall, the fourth industrial revolution has four main impacts on business: on customer expectations, on product improvement, on collaborative innovation, and on organizational structures. Customers, whether they are consumers or organizations, are more and more at the center of the economy, which aims to improve customer service. Additionally, physical products and services can now be enhanced with digital capabilities that add value to these products and services. New technologies are making assets more durable and flexible, and data and analytics are transforming how they are maintained. As a result, the world of customer expectations, data-driven services, and asset performance through analytics requires new ways to collaborate, especially given the pace of innovation and disruption. Finally, the emergence of global infrastructure and other new business models means that talent, culture and organizational structures need to be rethought. Overall, the inevitable shift from simple digitization (the third industrial revolution) to innovation based on the combination of technologies (the fourth industrial revolution) is forcing companies to rethink their business practices. But the bottom line is the same: business leaders and senior executives must recognize their changing environment, challenge the assumptions of operational teams, and innovate tirelessly.
Influence on governments
As the physical, digital, and biological worlds merge, new infrastructures and technologies increasingly enable citizens to engage with governments, make their voices heard, align their efforts, and even neutralize the surveillance of government officials. At the same time, governments are gaining new technological powers to monitor people more than ever before, relying on widespread surveillance systems and the ability to control digital infrastructure. Overall, governments are facing more pressure to change their current approach to policymaking and public participation; Because thanks to new sources of competition, as well as the redistribution and decentralization of power that new technologies make possible, the central role of governments in implementing policies is diminished.
In short, it is the ability of government systems and government officials to adapt that determines their survival. Governments will survive if they can embrace a world of chaotic change and bring their structures to a level of transparency and efficiency that allows them to maintain their competitive advantage. If they cannot transform, they will face increasing problems. This will be the case more than anywhere else in the legislative realm. Current policy-making and decision-making systems evolved in line with the second industrial revolution, when decision-makers had more time to examine a specific issue and prepare appropriate responses or legal frameworks related to it. The whole process was designed in a linear and mechanical way and had a strict “top-down” view. But such a view is no longer logical. Due to the increasing speed of changes and the widespread effects of the fourth industrial revolution, the legislators have faced an unprecedented challenge and in most cases they have failed to adapt to the changes.
But how can legislators protect the interests of consumers and the general public while continuing to support innovation and technological advancements? By adopting “agile” governance, such as the private sector increasingly demonstrating agile responses to software development and business operations. This means that legislators must constantly adapt to a rapidly changing and new environment and adapt themselves in order to properly understand what they are legislating for. To do this, governments and legislative bodies must work closely with businesses and civil society. Also, the fourth industrial revolution will have a tremendous impact on the nature of national and international security, that is, on both the possibility and the type of conflicts. The history of wars and international security is the history of technological innovations; Today is no exception to this path. New conflicts between governments have a more “multiple” nature; That is, they combine conventional battlefield techniques with elements previously attributed to non-state actors. The distinction between war and peace, belligerent and non-belligerent, and even violence and non-violence (as in cyber wars) has become increasingly blurred. As this process stabilizes and new technologies such as automated and biological weapons become easier to use, smaller individuals and groups increasingly join states capable of causing mass harm. This new vulnerability raises new concerns. But at the same time, advances in technologies may reduce the scale or impact of violence (for example, through the development of new protection methods, or more precise targeting).
Impact on people
Finally, the fourth industrial revolution will change not only what we do, but also who we are. This revolution affects our identity and everything related to it: our perception of privacy, ownership, consumption patterns, work and leisure time, how to progress in a career, develop skills, meet people, and how to strengthen relationships. This revolution has already affected our health and led to the “quantified” human, and it may lead to human development sooner than we think. Such a list has no end, because human imagination is endless. Our relationship with our smartphone is a concrete example. Constant communication may rob us of one of life’s most important assets: time to pause, reflect, and engage in meaningful conversations. One of the most important challenges people face with new information technologies is privacy. We intuitively know why this is so important, but tracking and sharing information about ourselves is also a critical aspect of the new connection. Controversies about underlying issues such as the impact of “losing control over our data” on our personal lives will intensify in the coming years. In the same way, the revolutions in the fields of biotechnology and artificial intelligence – which by breaking the current thresholds of life expectancy, health, cognition, and capabilities – have given a new meaning to humans, encourage us to redefine our moral boundaries and ethics.
Impact on the future
Neither technology nor the resulting chaos are external forces over which humans have no control. We are all responsible for guiding this evolution through the decisions we make every day as citizens, consumers, and investors. Therefore, we should appreciate this opportunity and power at our disposal and guide the fourth industrial revolution towards a future that reflects our common goals and values. But to do this, we need to provide a comprehensive and shared global perspective of how technology affects our lives and changes our economic, social, cultural and human environments. We have never had a more promising and at the same time more dangerous time in human history than today. But today’s decision-makers are also stuck in the traditional and linear way of thinking, or they are too involved in many crises that call their attention; As a result, they do not have enough strategic thoughts about the forces of order, chaos and innovation shaping our future.
Now that we understand what is meant by the fourth industrial revolution and what effects it will have in general, we must say, but everything depends on people and values! We must shape a future that is in line with the interests of all of us, that is, put people first and empower them. The fourth industrial revolution, in its most pessimistic and inhumane state, may really be capable of “robotizing” humanity and thus depriving us of feelings and emotions. But this revolution, as a supplement to the best features of human nature – i.e. creativity, empathy and care, can bring humanity to a collective and moral consciousness based on the feeling of our common destiny. It is up to all of us to make sure that the second scenario comes true.
