The Industrial Revolution
To start by defining Technology as the application of scientific knowledge to the practical goals of human life, The term "industrial revolution" generally signifies a swift transformation in technological innovation, resulting in the emergence of new technologies, tools, machines, and processes that significantly impacted various aspects of human life. It brought substantial advancements, revolutionizing employment, production, and resource utilization. The term "industrial revolution" also refers to a period in the mid-18th century in Britain, which had significant innovations and discoveries that marked a crucial shift in terms of traditional production methods prospering industrial and urban societies.
The Industrial Revolution. Where are we now?
The invention of the steam engine, and the introduction of The Mechanization concept for the first time for industrial purposes and production, was the spark that launched the first industrial revolution in Britain in the mid-eighteenth century. It contributed to the creation of a new productive era accompanied by major improvements in production processes. This era was mainly focusing on the concepts of mechanization, factories, and industrial capitalism.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, increasing signs of a new “second” industrial revolution began to emerge when Henry Ford perfected the moving assembly line and started the era of mass production. This period, like its predecessors, witnessed rapid industrial developments, accompanied by the expansion of the geographical spread of the first industrial revolution that began in Britain, mainly throughout Western Europe and the United States. This period was characterized by industry’s utilization of many natural and industrial resources that had not been used until then: Lighter metals, rare materials, new alloys, and synthetic materials, especially plastics. The world also witnessed the widespread use of iron and steel, the construction of railways, ships, steam trains, and airplanes, as well as the widespread implementation of mechanization into manufacturing and the invention of internal combustion engines. Additionally, people experienced the development of means of communication, in particular the telegraph, telephone, and radio, with the beginning of the use of new sources of energy such as oil and electricity. All the mentioned advancements were accompanied by major administrative developments that witnessed the use of modern organizational methods to manage businesses.
By the mid-fifties, the world entered the third industrial revolution, the “digital revolution,” which reached its peak in the late nineties of the last century. This period witnessed great inventions, the most important of which were semiconductors, computers and microprocessors, transistors, energy sources, especially renewable ones, wired and wireless communications, and the widespread of the Internet globally accompanied by the concept of e-commerce and its extensive use by individuals and corporates. In the world of industry, two types of major inventions emerged, the first was microcontrollers together with PLCs, and the second one was robotics. These two types of disruptive technologies have helped usher in a new era of high-level automation.
Today, most people wonder where we stand now, many of them see Industry 4.0 as the fourth industrial revolution that the world is witnessing. Industry 4.0 started at the beginning of the third millennium with the common thing that the entire world uses almost every day, the Internet. As we are experiencing major and accelerating developments that will undoubtedly bring systematic changes to various aspects of human life, it can be said that our world has witnessed an important turning point since the introduction of the internet, which is a point of great importance as the comprehensive effects of its emerging technologies may seem much more important. Today, work is being done to greatly expand our ability to edit the basic units of life through genetic sequencing while artificial intelligence technologies are developing rapidly towards increasing operations and developing skills in every industrial or service sector. At the same time, interrupting Neurotechnology is taking steps that humanity has never reached before in how to use the brain and influence it to reach what may seem to be the last frontier of human biology. As for the “blockchain” technologies used in implementing complex participatory transactions, the most important applications of which are currently considered to be cryptocurrencies, they are working to redefine the borders between the digital and physical worlds.
This revolution we are witnessing today will be guided by the choices made now, as the world will owe much of the changes it will witness to how we think about and invest in these new technologies, as Klaus Schwab points out in his book, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution.” “We are at the beginning of a revolution that will fundamentally change the way we live, work, and communicate with each other.” Its speed, scope, and unprecedented impact are unlike anything humanity has ever experienced before.
