“Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention and the first wave of nuclear power. And this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be part of it-we mean to lead it.”
John F. Kennedy
The 4 Industrial Revolutions
Humanity’s march through the centuries has been intermittently propelled by industrial revolutions. Throughout history, people’s dependence on technology has increased exponentially, for better or for worse. People used, managed and tried to perfect technology and bring it to the next level. This gave birth to the concept of the industrial revolution. Currently we are going through the fourth industrial revolution.
The first Industrial Revolution 1765
The First Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century through the use of steam power and mechanisation of production. The socio/economic ramifications of this was that agriculture started to be replaced by industry as the backbone of the societal economy. There was a parallel massive extraction of coal, creating a new type of energy, that subsequently speeded up the manufacturing of railroads, thus accelerating the economy. Developments such as the steamship or, a century later, the steam-powered locomotive brought far-reaching changes as now humans and goods could move great distances in fewer hours.
The second Industrial Revolution 1870
The second industrial revolution engendered significant technological advancements in industries that helped the emergence of a new source of energy—electricity, gas, and oil. It was also the Henry Ford era in car production that heralded the idea of assembly line production. We also witness the nascent seeds of the communication and transport phenomenon with the telegraph and telephone, and the car and plane.
The Third Industrial Revolution 1969
History waited another 100 years before the Third Industrial Revolution ushered in nuclear energy. It also oversaw the rise of electronics, telecommunications and computers, thus opening the doors to space expeditions, research, and biotechnology through the new technologies.
The fourth Industrial Revolution
Time was impatient and didn’t wait another century for the fourth industrial revolution, one that we are currently living and experiencing, with its outer limits still undefinable. The Internet arrived around the beginning of the third millennium, welcoming us to virtual reality worlds. This fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the application of information and communication technologies to industry and is also known as “Industry 4.0”. It builds on the developments of the Third Industrial Revolution and has the power to change the way that people work. It can pull individuals into smarter networks, with the potential of more efficient working. The digitalization of manufacturing will change the way that goods are made and distributed, and how products are serviced and refined.
Societal progress and health cannot only be measured by industrial advancement, economic growth and rising GDP figures. The distribution and division of wealth and opportunities casts a cold eye on equitable standards of living. The emergence and development of digital technology over the last 20 years has had a profound effect on people and the way they live and work. As more aspects of society become dependent on digital resources, there is pressure on individuals to be able to use and interact with them. This increases the need for digital skills.
Digital divide is the term that describes the uneven distribution of information and communication technologies in society. This encompasses differences in both access and usage of computers and the Internet between, in the first instance, industrialized and developing countries (global divide), and then between various socioeconomic groups within single nation-states (social divide), and finally different kinds of users with regard to their political engagement on the Internet (democratic divide). In general, those differences are believed to reinforce social inequalities and to cause a persisting information or knowledge gap amid those people with access to and using the new media and those people without such skills and access.
A recent report in Ireland found that 42 percent of Irish people describe themselves as being ‘below average’ for digital skills, highlighting a gap in digital literacy that exists within the country. The report shows that age, social class, region and level of education is closely correlated with levels of digital skills.
As we move further and further into the fourth industrial revolution that sees, inter alia, the building of ultra-secure satellite communication system thanks to quantum technology; the use of artificial intelligence to improve animal health in farms and bringing new technologies to the market from nano-sensors to RNA sequencing – the above caveats should be taken into account. Commission President Von Der Leyen’s promise to make the 2020’s Europe’s Digital Decade, must also ensure that this Industrial, technical and now digital revolutions are inspired by people, managed by people and are ultimately for people – all people.
I leave you with the words of the Commission President: “We are putting out the investments and the strategy. But the key to our success lies in Europe’s innovators, world-class researchers – in the people who have made our continent prosper through the decades. Europe is the continent where all the industrial revolutions have started. And Europe can be the home of the next industrial revolution too. Let’s join forces to make it happen.”
Tom McGrath
