4 Industrial Revolution
We live in an age of technology. Technology surrounds us, consumes us, defines us. We use technology in almost every facet of our daily lives.
From the days of discovering fire and weapons to make hunting easier during the dawn of humanity to creating super computers and robots. In the 21st century humanity has always been inclined to innovate and produce better and better technology. Technology makes life simpler and more efficient.
Historians argue there were three periods of history that fundamentally changed the way humans lived. The First was the invention of farming which allowed humans to grow their own food instead of relying on hunting and gathering in turn a human settled down and formed communities which formed the basis of civilization.
Fast forward 10,000 years and there were two industrial revolutions within the same century, the first beginning in Britain around 1760, and spreading throughout western Europe and the united states in the early 1800s.
The first industrial revolution was marked by the creation of factories and machinery to complete tasks. Technologies such as the steamboat and many other innovations transformed the way people traveled, traded and produced things. People moved away from their farms into cities, where the economy was centered around working in factories. Divisions of labor formed in capitalism as we know it arose.
The second industrial revolution started around 1870 and lasted until the early 1900s. During this time period, the use of electricity became widespread, acid railroads, and the telegraph, among other technologies. Some of these inventions may seem ancient, but they revolutionized the way in which society operated and how people lived.
Fast forward to the 21st century. The third industrial revolution was the most recent transformation that changed the way we live. We are currently living in the midst of it. The third industrial revolution was marked by the invention of the internet and the usage of electronic devices, thus, leading to inventions such as computers,smartphones, and other high-tech devices that have fundamentally changed how the world operates, how we store information, and how we communicate with each other.
This has led to an interconnected world, where we are no longer bound by distance.We can send a message to people to the other side of the world by the simple push of a button. We have unlimited information at our fingertips. Thanks to this recent wave of technology, the population of the world that skyrocketed, and many people have been able to achieve a quality of life that would be physically impossible to achieve just a century ago.
Many experts predict humanity is on the brink of another technological revolution, calling it the fourth industrial revolution. This next technological revolution may be more revolutionary than all the previous ones combined.
Technology is like an avalanche. At first, it starts out gradually but then it expands, until there's no stopping it took humans hundreds of thousands of years to discover farming, then another 10 000 years for the first two industrial revolutions to occur, but just 100 years from there for the third industrial revolution. The more technology progresses, the faster it keeps progressing.
Imagine trying to explain what the internet is to even the smartest person in the world living 200 years ago. it would literally be impossible. The same can be likely said about the future, no one alive today can even begin to imagine or comprehend what future technologies will exist in the future.
Despite this, experts have made some predictions in the technologies and societal structures they think will start to emerge during the fourth industrial revolution.
According to the World Economic Forum, the fourth industrial revolution will be characterized by the advent of “cyber-physical systems”, meaning humans and machines will merge. I know this sounds crazy, but many of these technologies are already being developed. Some of these technologies may consist of genetic engineering.
The early stages of these technologies are already here. Every great technological leap forward has improved the lives of humanity.
