The Fourth Industrial Revolution is ahead of us, it’s just a matter of time…
You might consider the paragraph below as a non-sense fiction happening in a child’s mind, but it’s nearly almost what the very close future will look like, where every physical product will have a digital twin communicating to each other to ensure the well-being of their Human owner.
It’s 6 p.m, 15th March, 2025. You Just finished your daily work, while walking out you get a notification from your smart glasses informing you that your smart car is already waiting for you downstairs to take you home. On your way home, your car speaks to you to inform you that the shower began heating it’s water and it will be ready for you soon when you reach home. You get to your house, the door welcomes you and opens automatically for you, the lights turns itself on and dinner is being cooked by your robot “ ChiefBot”.
Many people in my community that are not updated with what’s happening in technology now will tell me that these are foggy memories from my day-dreaming or some kind of illusions that came from the fact of over-watching sci-fiction movies. But, this is really what the fourth industrial revolution means for me. Moreover, researches from Google, Facebook, MIT and other world leading tech companies share the same vision with me.
The Third Industrial Revolution Blessed us with personal computers, the World Wide Web, the mobile phone and the incredible information technologies that has transformed our life but it is not only that, it gave us also and most importantly the 4th Industrial Revolution that I consider as the baby of Industry 3.0.
The threats of industry 4.0 has become a topic of heated debate these days. Even though 4th industrial revolution will bring many great things for humanity throughout the undeniable benefits of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Internet of Things, many of the world technology leaders have stated there worries and fears of these machines and robots that could go beyond humanity’s important interest.
Furthermore, Elon Musk has launched with other world’s brightest minds Open AI a nonprofit organization for the purpose of making sure that Artificial Intelligence is built to benefit humanity and the organization believes it’s “important to have a leading link research institution which can prioritize a good outcome for all over its own self interest”
Another significant problem that we will face is Security, with all this Big Data that is necessary for Industry 4.0 to work makes creating secure networks a though task, which also makes the use of Internet of Things increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. Indeed, Cyber security will become a top priority for Technology companies.
One thing is for certain, it is really hard to predict how much a human-level AI could benefit society, as it is also hard to imagine how it could damage if it is incorrectly. In my opinion, humans will remain a central importance and I believe we should worry more about what would happen if these sophisticated robots will be used in deadly military applications or by people with extreme ideas.
Yet despite these risks and threats these machines are for humanity, we should not forget the efficiency and enjoyment of life that will open up in many domains like Health, education, sciences, transportation…
One of the main characteristics of the 4th Industrial Revolution is it’s limitless impact on the whole world, it will be sooner or later global. As a student from Morocco, one of the developing countries in MENA Region, I consider my country as one of the ones that will join the 4th industrial revolution later than any other developed country and basically it will be just consuming country of the technologies that will emerge with Industry 4.0, because firstly, of it’s struggle with the basic human needs as human rights, freedom, equity and education. Secondly, the third of Moroccan population is illiterate, which means we still have a long road ahead of us to defeat Digital illiteracy. Thirdly, yet also the labour field is far behind from the technological trends of today’s market.
Despite all these negative factors that deprive Morocco from Joining Industry 4.0 there is still hope to catch up the train of the 4th Industrial Revolution, if the government invests in Research & Development, also teaching in universities basic technologies that lead to Industry 4.0 like Internet of Things, Data Analysis, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence..Indeed, when the poor will have access to technology to create opportunities for themselves and to develop their nations then it will play a role in the Fourth Industrial Innovation.
Finally, about a week ago, when I went to visit my family for the holidays, I noticed something that I usually see in sci-fiction films, it was my little 6 years old twin sisters sitting each one next to the other holding their iPads, talking to SIRI as if it was a human being, they would ask questions like what’s your name ? where do you live ? are you beautiful ? and as SIRI kept responding to them, they continued talking with their virtual friend.
At that time I felt like, we’re losing some of human values ( When my twin sisters instead of talking to each other, they talked to SIRI ) and that’s one of my biggest worries about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, will the human to human connection will be as strong as it was before ? Will the humanity lose some of it’s values ? these questions are necessary throughout the process of analysis of the fourth industrial revolution from an ethics view.
