Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work

by Victor del Rosal

Disruption explores the impact of emerging technologies in career paths, including technologies such as 3D printing, alternative energies, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, big data, biotech, Internet of Things, nanotechnology, space exploration, super materials, robotics, and virtual reality. Written without technical jargon, Disruption guides the reader through a fascinating journey of the new world around the corner. Based on widely validated scientific facts, this book paints a picture of what the industry landscape will be like from 2020 onward. This is what readers of the draft manuscript are “One of the best primers on emerging technology available anywhere.” “A window into the work and career opportunities for the decade to come”. “It is clear to me now that traditional career paths are about to experience some serious disruption.” “A real eye opener.” “A great tool for the global STEM movement.” “A bit frightening, but inspiring nevertheless.” “I wouldn't be surprised if this book is cited as the inspiration behind some prominent techies a few years down the road.” Disruption is a must-read for entrepreneurs, business executives, parents, students, teachers, career guides, analysts, and anyone in an advisory or decision-making capacity. Get ready for Disruption.

184 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2015

Reviews

[Melanie Hill]

Victor del Rosal, is the author of “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work”. He has shown his commitment to emerging technology in education by serving as a lecturer at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland, Dublin and being founder of EmTecHub, an Irish-based company connecting emerging technology ecosystems. He aspires to serve as a bridge between Mexico and Ireland and recruits students from Mexico to study in Ireland (http://victordelrosal.com/about/, 2016). Victor del Rosal has the following academic qualifications: Masters in Management Degree (Honors) from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Dublin, Ireland, Diploma in Economics from Harvard University, and Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Monterrey Tech (Full Scholarship for Academic Excellence).
In Victor del Rosal’s book Disruption, explores the impact of the exponential growth of technology on society’s workforce. Del Rosal divided his book into three sections. Part one explores various emerging technologies, such as, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, virtual reality, and biotechnology. Part two discusses how the demands of today’s workforce will change due to these emerging technologies. Part three discusses the type of changes that we will need to make in 21st century education in order to prepare for these changes. “Just as the Internet could have been dismissed as a passing fad in the mid-1990s, there are powerful emerging technologies brewing that could easily be deemed as irrelevant to our future. However, if history has taught us something, it is that we cannot afford to discount that which we do not understand” (Del Rosal, 2015, p. x). Because technology is emerging rapidly, it is imperative that we change the way that we are educating our students immediately. Del Rosal does a great job of explaining why these changes are necessary.
In part one of Del Rosal’s book, he discusses several emerging technologies and the possible effects that the technologies may have on society. In addition to defining and making predictions about each technology, he discusses the possible challenges in the expansion of each technology. I found the chapter on autonomous vehicles very interesting. “Six million professional drivers are employed driving a truck, bus, or a delivery vehicle in the U.S. alone. Car manufacturing employs another 900,000 or so. Driving is the most popular job in the majority of American states. Widespread adoption of driverless vehicles could decimate most of these jobs by 2035” (Del Rosal, 2015, p. 24). While this may seem to be a bold predication, we can currently see sign of this transition. We are currently seeing the downfall of the taxi industry, as new ridesharing industries, such as Uber and Lyft are on the rise. The emergence of this type of ridesharing was due to the convenience of consumers being able to download an app, along with a reduction in cost. Del Rosal explains that it is a matter of time before the expansion of autonomous vehicles, creates a greater reduction in cost and an increase in convenience.
In part two of the book, Del Rosal further explains the implications that the emerging technologies will have on the workforce and the economy. He talks about how the lines between virtual and real will be blurred. “Disruption will be evident in many industries that rely on face to face interactions-which is basically every industry. We will need to reinvent ourselves for a new reality where the lines between virtual and real are blurred” (Del Rosal, 2015, p. 73). An increasing number of companies are asking their employees to work from home. As the technology expands in the virtual reality realm, this trend will continue to grow. Del Rosal explains that this trend will lead to a decline in the need for face-to-face interactions.
Lastly, part three focuses on the changes that we need to make in the 21st century education of our students. Del Rosal discusses how we need to focus on helping our students to become innovators. “Emerging education must recognize that learners in the new economy are moving towards an era of specialization, where workers and entrepreneurs will be highly rewarded for coming up with unique solutions” (Del Rosal, 2015, p. 103). As we convert from an industrial society to a technological society, those who are entering the workforce will have new demands. Routine jobs will decline as automation increases. Del Rosal explains that it will be more important to help students find a passion because their creativity will be most important.
Technological and social innovations are changing at an accelerated rate. There are major shifts in the demands of society’s workforce. Thus, there is a need to adapt to the learning styles of the 21st century student. This assessment is thoroughly discussed in Del Rosal’s book, which I highly recommend, not only educators, but to anyone interested in the future of emerging technologies.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work, author Victor del Rosal chose not to focus on one particular technology or one societal area that might be disrupted, but to write briefly on many different emerging technologies and how they might impact many types of job or industry. For each technology he gives a summary of how it’s being used now, what’s on the horizon for the near future and what the potential is farther in the future, and also what negative impact the technology is having or might have in the future.
This book was extremely interesting not only because of the predictions the author makes about emerging technology, but because it was published in 2015, five years ago, and some of the disruptions and predictions have already come to pass (or not).
Del Rosal begins by attributing the rapid rise of disruptive technologies on two things: the concept of Moore’s Law, which predicts that computing power will double every year (later 18 months), which has been largely true since 1965. Because of this, we now have devices in our pockets that are more powerful than the room-sized supercomputers of 40 years ago.
The other factor in his predictions is the availability of broadband internet, which he thinks will grow at a similar pace to Moore’s Law:
Uninterrupted Internet access will be accepted as a human right, accessible regardless of geography, location, provider, etc. Connectivity will be virtually guaranteed for everyone everywhere on Earth (del Rosal, 2015, p.5)
It’s his prediction that the internet population will reach 8 billion people in the near future.
This is an interesting prediction considering the roadblocks that have been erected by big ISPs to prevent smaller companies or municipalities from competing with them. Google Fiber launched in 2010, but still only serves a few cities, and announced that the project was on hold in 2016 (Wakabayashi, 2016). Mobile access might be the way forward, but as schools learned in the distance learning transition in 2020, many families even here in the US don’t have reliable, affordable mobile internet access.
The first chapter of Disruption focuses on artificial intelligence, which is the technology that will make many of the emerging technologies possible. Del Rosal defines three types of AI: Artificial narrow intelligence, which is a program that is devoted to only one type of work, like playing chess or driving a car; artificial general intelligence, which is software designed to match the full range of human capabilities; and artificial superintelligence, which would exceed or far exceed human capabilities in many or all functions. Del Rosal points out that Moore’s Law should apply to artificial intelligence, too, and that:
Once our devices are capable of performing at the level of human intelligence, we will quickly realize the potential which we could only dream of before (del Rosal, 2015, p. 14).
Two of the disrupting technologies that rely on AI and small computers for their existence are driving services like Uber and the promise of autonomous vehicles. In this section, del Rosal relates the decimation of the taxi industry by companies like Uber, particularly in urban areas like New York City:
At the peak of the market, around 2013, each [taxi cab] medallion was worth an estimated $1.1 million. However, mainly thanks to Uber, [they] have depreciated around 40 percent (del Rosal, 2015, p. 20).
He argues that without the introduction of the iPhone in 2010, this disruption wouldn’t have been possible.
For the future, the development of the autonomous car will have an even more disruptive effect. He points out that in 2015, Uber announced that it was going to buy 500,000 autonomous cars from Tesla – although, in 2019, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would start competing with Uber and Lyft (Clifford, 2019), so I guess that deal fell through. Del Rosal goes on to state that if there are enough autonomous cars on the road, there really wouldn’t be any reason for a person to own a car… they will be able to summon one whenever they need to. Driverless cars never need to park or take a break. He also points out some other pretty extreme consequences:
Six million professional drivers are employed driving a truck, bus, or a delivery vehicle in the U.S. alone. Car manufacturing employs another 900,000 or so. Driving is the most popular job in the majority of American states. Widespread adoption of driverless vehicles could decimate most of these jobs by 2035(del Rosal, 2015, p. 25).
Del Rosal then moves on to drones, and the interesting part of this section is not what we’ve all been hearing before about how drones will be used to deliver packages or take video and photos, but that they’re already being used to disrupt unexpected industries. He tells the story of a student in New Zealand who uses a drone to herd sheep on his sister’s farm, a use I had never heard of. Apparently, a drone is more efficient than horses or vehicles, and I imagine that an autonomous drone could eventually use AI to herd sheep by itself.
3D printing is a huge topic in education right now, and many schools have set up labs and started teaching students how to design and print things. Del Rosal points out that we’re rapidly improving 3d printers and will soon be able to print in mixed materials, at higher levels of detail, and more quickly. He identifies many industries that are going to be disrupted by 3d printing, including manufacturing, building, and even the printing of living tissue that can be used to test drugs and cosmetics without harming animals. If consumers can print a product in their homes, or even their home itself, traditional manufacturing will have to change drastically.
Del Rosal’s chapter about virtual reality is interesting. One section is about Magic Leap, which at the time was promising an augmented reality headset that generated images that were indistinguishable from reality. That hasn’t come to pass, and in fact Magic Leap disappointed when it was finally revealed (Robertson, 2018). The companies that have been successful in the space (Google and Microsoft) have now shifted to a business-oriented model, and Del Rosal’s prediction that everyone will work from home and have meetings in VR conference rooms doesn’t seem to be the direction they’re going.
In his chapter about alternative energy, Del Rosal predicts that solar energy will be competitive with fossil fuels by 2020, and indeed Scotland announced recently that it expects that it can power the entire country and possibly Northern England with renewable energy in 2020 – mostly from wind, though (Hirsh, 2019). Much of his solar focus is on Tesla and their Powerwall, which is still a product that Tesla offers and has been quietly improving over the last five years.
The most interesting chapter in the book is about blockchain, which was started as a way to store and verify Bitcoin transactions that is secure and transparent. It’s not just for Bitcoin, though; it’s essentially an online, totally secure database that anyone can access. It’s stored on a huge number of computers, and it can’t be changed without a majority of the participants. Any attempt to change a single entry corrupts that whole copy of the chain, rendering it useless. Also, every legitimate change is recorded permanently, and the record is never erased.
Del Rosal imagines that blockchain could disrupt transactions in every part of society. Financial transactions wouldn’t need a third party to be involved, since everything committed to the chain is viewable by anyone. Contracts could be stored there. Patents could become worthless if the research or design documents were stored in blockchain. Electronic voting could be much more secure if every vote was part of a blockchain, and could be counted and verified if necessary.
One aspect of blockchain that Del Rosal didn’t mention is that public, permissionless chains are secure because they’re widely distributed, but private blockchains that are created by companies to sell as a business product are not, and so there’s not guarantee of security. In 2016, Nicolai Hampton wrote in Computerworld that:
There is … no need for a ‘51 per cent’ attack on a private blockchain, as the private blockchain (most likely) already controls 100 per cent of all block creation resources. If you could attack or damage the blockchain creation tools on a private corporate server, you could effectively control 100 per cent of their network and alter transactions however you wished (Hampton, 2016).
The idea of blockchain as a product might not have been common in 2015.
The next section of Del Rosal’s book is about how these innovations will effect the workplace, and most importantly how the combination of some or all of these emerging technologies might change the way we work entirely. He predicts again that the office workplace will become decentralized, with people meeting virtually for most of the week, with possibly a day to meet in person as more of a social gathering. He states that the remaining hurdle is the “sensation of presence” that we don’t yet get from a virtual person, but he predicts that when the images are good enough, and the glasses/viewing device is unobtrusive enough, that people won’t see a reason to meet physically.
He predicts that people will eventually move away from a job to live wherever they want to, and that fewer people commuting and the previous autonomous ride-sharing cars will disrupt the car and business-travel industries to the point that they’re entirely different or just don’t exist.
Another interesting combination of these emerging technologies that Del Rosal details is what he calls augmented humanity; at some point the smartphone and its unlimited access to knowledge will become part of our bodies or brains, with us all the time. It might be implanted with a display system that projects onto our eyes or onto contacts, or a device that integrates entirely with our brains, so that if we need some information it’s just there, imported instantly from Google.
This sounds like a hundred science fiction movies, most of which ended badly, but he makes an interesting point: If some humans are enhanced in this way, how are unenhanced humans possibly going to compete for jobs or anything else? Once some people start implanting instant knowledge into their brains, everyone will have to, or be left behind. To me, that’s a disturbing thought, but at some point young people won’t even question it, the same way they don’t question putting their lives on social media now.
Next Del Rosal imagines that it’s not just enhanced humans that we’re competing with, it’s also advanced AI, even superhuman AI. Machines have been replacing humans for decades now, and he posits:
Human cognition is losing its value. It is no longer unique. This is because the supply of computing power is increasing until it becomes ubiquitous and increasingly sophisticated (Del Rosal, 2015, p. 90).
The problem with current technology, like robots, according to Del Rosal, is that it displaces jobs that require less education and less skills. In the coming years, though, with the advent of more sophisticated AI and machines, that might not be the case. In one example, he details a computer system in Spain that writes sports stories, a job previously done by an educated journalist. Paralegals, medical assistants, and pharmacy workers are more examples of jobs that could be done by AI (Del Rosal, 2015).
The last few chapters of Disruption are Del Rosal’s proposals for what we need to do to prepare for these workplace disruptions. In education, he espouses many of the techniques and philosophies of modern educational researchers:
Instead of following a cookie-cutter approach to teaching and learning we will realize that it makes more sense to follow highly personalized teaching-learning methodologies which are adapted to each learner (Del Rosal, 2015, p. 104).
He emphasizes that teaching the 4 c’s: creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking are keys to making sure our children are able to compete in what is basically an unknown future work environment, and that tech in the classroom should be used to engage those qualities. He also mentions Montessori model of school as one that fosters the 4 c’s, and mentions that many successful tech businessmen went to Montessori schools. The importance of STEM in schools is another focus.
He also proposes some ways to deal with the transition our society and the world will have to undergo to accommodate all the changes that technology brings. Once AI and machines have taken many of the jobs, what’s left for humans? In the short term, Del Rosal argues, people will have to start thinking like entrepreneurs, not like workers. Workers will have to be good problem solvers, will have to be comfortable with new technology and machines, and will have to be open to the idea of disruption. The jobs that can’t be done by machines or AI will necessarily be those that require an education and skills.
In the long term, humans will have to think about how to transition to a society in which all unskilled and some skilled labor is done by machines. Our economy won’t be driven by human labor, but people will still have needs and wants to be met. Will humanity move toward a Star-Trek-like society where money isn’t necessary because technology can provide everything? Or will we continue to pile money on the tech companies, where it just sits? It’s not a sustainable model; eventually there just won’t be any resources left for the people whose jobs disappeared.
About the Author
Victor del Rosal is the founder of Emtechub, a startup company whose mission statement is to “create opportunities for students, workers, and entrepreneurs by connecting EmTech ecosystems around the world.” He has a degree in economics from Harvard University, a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering Monterrey Tech, Monterrey, Mexico, and a Masters in Science from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Dublin, Ireland. He is also a lecturer at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland, Dublin. In 2019, he received the President’s Award for Distinguished teaching from the National College of Ireland for “student-led entrepreneurship and innovation for tech-based solutions to societal challenges (National College of Ireland, 2019).”



References
del Rosal, V. (2015a). Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work. Dublin, Ireland: Emtechhub.
Hampton, N. (2016, September 6). Understanding the blockchain hype: Why much of it is nothing more than snake oil and spin. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/201609061...
National College of Ireland. (2019, November 6). President’s Award Winners 2019. Retrieved from https://www.ncirl.ie

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary and Autor's Qualifications:
What will the landscape of work and industries look like in the next several decades? How will emerging technologies of today shape this future? How will Moore’s Law, exponential growth, apply? These and other questions are what Victor Del Rosal sets out to explore as he paints a picture in his book Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work. Del Rosal has a Masters in Science and background as an industrial engineer. He is a huge supporter of STEM learning, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship. Out of this passion, he founded Emtechub Ireland a place specifically for young students to pursue and further their learning with emerging technology. Prior to Emtechub, he honed his skills in several different industries and worked in different capacities from co-founding and acting CEO of the Prince of Wale’s Youth Business Initiative in Mexico to lecturer at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland, Dublin. He has had many career paths within business and computer technology fields.
This three part book is not lengthy, and in some respect has parts that read like science fiction, which Del Rosal himself points out, but he is also quick to note that this is not science fiction, but our future and it’s not that long in coming. It is packed with a lot of information that could even leave the reader a bit worried. In the Part I, Del Rosal profiles nine emerging technologies that are poised to be major disruptors in the future of work and everyday life: Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, flying drones, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality, biotechnology, alternative energies, and Blockchain. Pulling from research, interviews from various experts across different fields and futurists, Del Rosal explains each technology and how he sees it affecting and playing out in the future. It appears that he too is a futurist himself in his thinking since the bulk of his references come from people of like mind.
For instance, in his discussion of AI, the technology is broken down even more specifically into three types of intelligences that help the reader understand AI better These are Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). At the date this book was published, 2015, he stated true AGI had not been achieved. True AGI is basically a computer's ability to match human intelligence in areas such as abstract thinking and reasoning to solve problems and the ability to learn from one source and apply to a completely different one. As of today, 2017, true AGI still has not been reached. There seems to be plenty of money being thrown into research and developing AGI. There are those who believe that AI can be pushed even further into ASI that could potentially become a threat to humankind. Del Rosal specifically names people like Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk who view the “potential threat” of ASI as a real thing that must be addressed. While it may be possible to push the boundaries of machine learning and artificial intelligence, I disagree with the experts who think one day AI would be equal to that of a human. I believe there is a component that humans possess and it cannot be replicated in any computer or machine. That is the presence of a soul.
Part II goes into further discussion of how these emerging technologies will displace people in a variety of industries and work as well as how these technologies could affect humans physically. This sections did not leave me feeling very excited about some these ideas.
To elaborate, “Augmented Humanity” was one of the subsections I found particularly disturbing. Using nanotechnology to enhance human capabilities. An example made by Gerd Leonhard, Futurist, is that we are experiencing such exponential growth and power with all these technologies, humans won’t be able to compete unless they have some kind of wearable device, implant or physical or mental augmentation. Another futurist, Ray Kurzweil, stated that we are going to augment ourselves to the point that our brains are connected to the internet. I supposed there are people out there who think this would be very exciting and empowering. I am not one of those people. I think there is a point when you can take something too far and wiring the physical brain to the cloud is one of those. With the exponential growth of technology, do we really understand the long term effects putting such devices in our bodies could have?
Part III focuses on the role of education, shifts in economy and warnings about turning a blind eye to the changes.
In education, some of the changes Del Rosal posits are ideas that are already ingraining themselves in the fabric of education. Things like the 4C’s and passion-based learning as well as entrepreneurship. Del Rosal has come up with a term that reflects what he thinks we all should be and what we should be preparing our students for, “student-worker-preneur” In other words, we should all be prepared to be lifelong learners, or students, a worker, or someone with the ability to work under and with others, and entrepreneur, someone with the ability to create and start their own business. Given the changes in the landscape of industries and the technologies that could threaten many professions, students of today do need to know how to think differently and be prepared for careers that would require more specialized skills and knowledge.

Critique:
Del Rosal’s intent in writing this book was to shed light on the emerging technologies poised to make our lives better and easier, yet in the same token could potentially bring rise to major unemployment and economic crisis. He warns that some of these technologies pose social consequences and that solutions should be looked at now and not wait until it’s too late because as he states it will be here before we know it. Additionally, education needs to prepare students for this future that will “require a higher degree of cognitive complexity”
All in all, the book poses some valid possibilities coming down the pike very soon. Some of the predictions I am not so sure about because there is still the human factor. There are still many people out there who will not go along with the ideas or changes. The vast majority of our country and I would suspect worldwide do not think or believe in the same way as some of these scientists especially with regards to augmenting the human in ways that were described. I suspect it will not be an easy transition for some of these merging technologies.

[Thomas Metcalf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back when the world wide web became a global phenomenon for commercial traffic back in the early to mid 1990’s very few educators or scientists would have been able to predict the effect it would have some twenty years later to the way everyone goes about their regular day activities. The way we communicate, the methods we do business, how we travel have all changed because of the invention of the internet. This innovation has been such a disrupting force that some many more emerging technologies have appeared since then that rely solely on the use of the internet. These emerging technologies are the subject of Victor Rosal’s book titled “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work”.
With the birth of the internet, Victor Del Rosal points out “that it could easily been deemed as irrelevant to our future.” but in fact compared to the recent IT revolution that has changed the economy in such a little time, the internet revolution will look like a simple warm up in comparison to future innovations. Today’s smartphone technology as Del Rosal (2015) points out “ Are devices which are as powerful as the military-grade supercomputers of the late 1980s and early 1990s.” (p. 3) have taken the use of the internet and allowed us to access content wherever and whenever, yet Del Rosal suggests “by 2025 your smartphone will be about 30 times more powerful than your existing one. What could you do today if you had the power of 30 smartphones crammed into a single device?”(p. 3). Along with the a more powerful personal smartphone will be the reduction in costs allowing more and more people to be able to afford and access this computing power. Del Rosal goes on to suggest that along with a reduction in technology costs and a more widespread use will come faster and more reliable internet as a human right regardless of geography or provider. Both of these predictions by Del Rosal will lead to increased amounts of artificial intelligence that can predict our mood to autonomous vehicles that will abolish city traffic and gridlock, powerful flying drones that can assist our daily commute or deliver content to remote locations along with complex 3D printers that produce anything we need in our own home to devices in our home and office that will communicate to one another and predict a change in business patterns.
Two of the biggest disruptions outlined in Del Rosal’s book that are worth a mention is the Internet of Things and Virtual and Augmented Reality. Del Rosal explains Internet of Things as “the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment. This allows everyday objects to have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data.” (p.42). For example customers can achieve a higher level of service by providing how to get the most out of a product and interactivity such as a fridge knowing how healthy the food is and how it can improve your diet. Along with personal diet information another example is a road bridge that could communicate to a smart car if it needs to slow down due to decreased visibility or ice on the road.
Augmented reality is also going to provide a huge jump and shift in the way we communicate to each other. Del Rosal explains that “Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.” (p. 51). This will allow full time employees to live virtually anywhere in the world further and further away from corporate headquarters instead of the city their job is located. This will be made possible Del Rosal predicts “executives will be able to live in small towns anywhere in the world, experiencing the quality of life they want.” (p. 76). The only requirement will be that collaboration has to take place within the same time zone plus or minus two hours. This would possibly abolish the $1 trillion global business travel industry. Del Rosal goes on to state “Imagine a world where you simply cannot compete or even keep up without some kind of wearable augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) device, or without an implant, or other mental or physical augmentations.” This world might be closer to us than anticipated.” (p. 86-88).
With all these changes to the world in which we live in there would be the expectation that human life is enhanced and improved, yet with such drastic changes can come major disruptions that cause global waves of change. For example, Del Rosal mentions in his book the effects that autonomous cars would have on multiple industries. Del Rosal (2015) points out that “Six million professional drivers are employed driving a truck, bus, or a delivery vehicle in the U.S. alone. Car manufacturing employs another 900,000 or so. Driving is the most popular job in the majority of American states. Widespread adoption of driverless vehicles could decimate most of these jobs by 2035.” (p. 25) Along with the gigantic change in the automotive manufacturing industry Del Rosal also predicts “there will be a diminishing need for traffic cops (unless “robot” drivers start to misbehave). Traffic wardens, parking attendants, and other jobs associated with human driving will be progressively phased out of existence. The parking industry is worth $100 billion in annual revenue. However that is just the tip of the iceberg.” (pp. 25-26). With such huge disruptions there will be a be a backlash so large that governments will face pressure to ban autonomous driving. Along with autonomous vehicles there will the constant issue of privacy and security with all disruptive technologies. These include as Del Rosal suggests “flying drones have become an issue of airspace security as they can interfere with passenger aircraft.” (p. 31), and privacy issues associated with smart products as Del Rosal highlights that “If privacy isn’t dead yet, then billions-upon-billions of chips, sensors, and wearables will seal the deal,” (p. 46).
In conclusion Victor Del Rosal’s “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work” is an in depth look at various disruptive technologies that are on the verge of making dramatic changes to the future of our lives, especially in the workplace and ease to which we will be able to do business without having to travel to work, leave our house or even have to type an email. Del Rosal suggests “Every industry will face some level of disruption due to this key technological achievement. Industries such as education, retail, health, and many others will be disrupted. Perhaps the most impacted at the beginning may be transportation and business travel.” (p. 75).
Victor Del Rosal’s book outlines how technology will make our lives easier, more enjoyable and allow more time for pleasure, interests and things we are passionate about. Victor Del Rosal points out that “When robots are everywhere, what will humans be good for? The answer is that, if under the logic that automation will take away a big chunk of the drudgery, the work humans don’t enjoy doing, it will leave us with more time to explore what we want to explore.” (p. 110). These technologies will allow for automation in so many ways from the mundane task of driving to work, or grocery shopping, or simple work tasks that artificial intelligence can complete allowing humans to spend more time to build a passion and a love for a subject and this in turn will allow for imagination, creativity, curiosity and critical thinking. As Del Rosal suggests “The answer then hinges around being unique and irreplaceable.” (p. 123).
This future can only happen if the students of today’s generation are the guiding light to make this change. Del Rosal suggests students need to focus on being unique, being problem solvers, being leaders and entrepreneurs. Del Rosal quotes Neil deGrasse Tyson when he states “Once you have an innovation culture, even those who are not scientists or engineers, poets, actors, journalists, they, as communities, embrace the meaning of what it is to be scientifically literate. They embrace the concept of an innovation culture. They vote in ways that promote it. They don't fight science and they don't fight technology.” (pp. 119-120).
This will be achieved by being able to actively engage in self-taught education that helps develop real world competencies through Massively Open Online Courses, or full university courses made available online.
Victor Del Rosal is an Industrial Engineer and a STEM advocate aiming to inspire young students to pursue emerging technology career paths, and is currently the European Lead for Red Global MX that works with a network of Mexican professionals around the world that are actively engaged in development projects related to science and education. Victor was the Founder and Managing Director of Emtechub in 2013, an Irish Government backed initiative hub for emerging technologies including 3D printing, alternative energies, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, big data and the internet of things. Emtechub is an initiative offering teenage school students the opportunity to play with emerging technologies and guide them towards higher education. Victor has also recently published various articles on emerging technologies including the breakthrough in Solar Paint, and lab grown meat that is healthier and cheaper. Victor has a Masters in Science from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Dublin, Ireland and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech in Mexico. Victor also lectures at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland, Dublin.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work
Natalie Montoya
EDUT-522: Emerging Learning Technologies
July 1, 2016
Robert Hayden, M.A. Ed
Concordia University Irvine
School of Education










Disruption: Emerging Technologies
In the book, Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work, Victor del Rosal takes a look at how emerging technologies will affect the global economy. He delves into what current disruptions are occurring in the world and the impact that it is having on the local job markets and economies. Victor proposes in his book that the exponential growth of emerging technologies will create a scenario in which the foundation of the workforce will become completely automated. These changes will have lasting and potentially devastating alterations to our current capitalistic economic system.
Summary
Victor del Rosal has divided his book into three parts to explore the different stages of disruptive technologies. In the first part, he looks at current technologies that are setting the stage for disruption in the workplace to take place. In the second part, he discusses how these emerging technologies will affect the current workforce structure and gives specific examples. The third section explores what nations must do now to prepare for this inevitable situation.
Emerging Technologies: Enablers of Disruption
This section begins with Victor del Rosal describing past technologies and explaining how far they have come in a short period of time. He discusses the mid 1990's when email was a new technology and the top speed of a modem was 56 kilobytes per second. (del Rosal, 2015) At this time, the World Wide Web was something just being whispered about and cell phones were for making phone calls. All of these technologies would make great leaps and bounds in mainstreamed usage within a decade and have major impacts on how technology is used today. Victor contends that the growth in computing power is staggering and will have an impact on how we will interact with our technology and devices. He asserts that something people use every day like our smart phones will morph into a device that we will use more like a desktop computer. Victor believes, "Your personal device will be even more interconnected with other devices, eliminating the need for an inbuilt smart phone screen. Instead, you will be able to project visuals onto virtually anything."(del Rosal, 2015, Loc. 249)
He continues throughout the section to discuss current disruptive technologies. He writes about AI, autonomous vehicles, drones, 3D printing, Internet of Things, VR & AR, biotechnology, alternate energies, and Blockchain. He believes that each and every one of these technologies has the potential to disrupt current practices. This will ultimately lead to lower costs of technologies and usher in an era of transparency in companies. (del, Rosal, 2015)
The Future of Work: Shifts Driven by Emerging Technologies
In this section, Victor del Rosal describes how various technologies will change the way in which we perform or jobs and the types of jobs that will be available. He posits that virtual reality and augmented reality will reinvent how employees conduct business. People will no longer need to travel to the office for meetings; they will simply participate in virtual meetings. This means that people will no longer need to live close to work and can choose any remote spot on the earth, as long as they can get a reliable internet connection. Victor also proposes that automation of many tasks will replace much of our blue collar workforce. He warns that some of the white collar jobs are in jeopardy as well. Automation will require people to become lifelong learners because the job that they have early in their career will most likely be automated or phased out.
Victor feels that with the maturation of so many technologies at the same time, the potential for change and growth in any corporation or industry is insurmountable. He concludes that these advancing technological platforms will be the building blocks for an increasing number of innovations to develop. (del Rosal, 2015) One aspect to these potential advances would be the augmentation the human condition. In augmentation, people would be connected in a way that seamlessly interact with technology and thus give them unlimited potential. Victors refers to this as the "age of amplified cognition". (del Rosal, 2015, Loc. 1099) People would then have access to everything on the internet at astonishing rates and without going to any device.
Getting Ready for Disruption: Preparing for Exponential Technological Changes
Victor del Rosal warns that the whole world, especially industrialized nations, need to prepare now for the exponential changes in technology. One way to prepare is a change in our educational systems. Our old approach to education needs an overhaul, in which he believes, learners must become more specialized in their education and that employees will be rewarded for problem solving and realizing unique solutions. (del Rosal, 2015) The shift in education should be focused on inspiring passion, curiosity, imagination, and critical thinking. In addition, other notable skills would include communication and collaboration. Victor acknowledges gone are the days of needing to memorize information or have unskilled manpower for the workforce. Victor contends that with this shift in the workforce, many employees will shortly be out of a job. He advises that industrialized countries should start preparing for these changes now. If the blue collar and white collar jobs are eliminated due to automation, there will be few left who will have money to purchase the goods produced. This will lead to the collapse of many economies. Victor suggests a couple of things to help with this transition. First he offers the idea of a guaranteed basic income. People will be paid a livable income in which covers the cost of things such as housing, rent, and other basic necessities. (del Rosal, 2015) This will help stabilize the purchasing power of the working class and hopefully avoid the collapse of the economy. Next he advises that people should become lifelong learners to make their skills relevant to the current workforce. People who are problems solvers and can come up with unique ideas have the best chance for survival in the future job market. Planning for the future will be of vital importance for the survival of our current economy.
Critique
Victor del Rosal has made some interesting points in regard to emerging technology and the future of employment. It is difficult to imagine a world with so much automation, but in the 1990's, I couldn't have imagined a world with access to any piece of information at my fingertips. A person who is not in the industry of technology doesn't think about how quickly technology is emerging and the applications it will have in the future. Victor did an exceptional job at sharing examples of technologies that have already transformed the way in which we conduct business from just a decade ago. He opened my mind to the possibilities of future technologies and how it will affect our nation's job market. As an educator, he also taught me the importance of producing students that can imagine and create as well as think critically to problem solve. These skills will be important for my students if they want to be successful in the future.
Victor presumes many of these disruptions will take place within the next decade. I don't agree with his timeframe. Even though there are many emerging technologies that are posed to disrupt our current economic system, the majority of people are slow to adopt such changes and a reliable infrastructure for all the necessary computing needs to be in place as well. For example, he has stated that soon people would be using VR and AR to hold regular meetings with employees and clients. Currently, people meet via the internet for meetings, but the connections and equipment needed isn't as reliable as meeting face to face. I believe that as the reliability of such connections improves we will see more use of these types of technologies, but I think it will take longer than del Rosal believes. I have the same issues with his projection of automation in the blue collar and white collar job market. I know that many people, including myself, buy products from online sources such as Amazon, but every time I go to Target or Wal-Mart the parking lot is full. I think it will take some very disruptive technologies to be invented to keep those people from shopping at the store. Any technology that will reduce the price of items will be a tipping point for the switch to complete online shopping.
I agree with Victor that our government and current systems need to make preparations for these changes in our economy, otherwise we will fall on very hard times. If many lower level jobs are eliminated the buying power of the majority of people will be eliminated as well. Our current economy is dependent on the lower and middle classes having income to purchase products. Also, in the field of education preparations need to be made to ensure our students will be successful in life. The focus will be on STEM majors in which students will use innovative problem solving skills through collaboration to communicate ideas to others.
Qualifications
Victor del Rosal received a bachelor's in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech, Monterrey, Mexico. Also, he has a Masters in Science UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, Ireland. He has another Masters from Harvard University in Economics. Victor is the founder of Emtechub, which is an initiative backed by the Irish government to entice teenage students to explore emerging technologies. Victor is the co-founder and CEO of the Prince of Whale's Youth Business initiative in Mexico City. Lastly, he is the managing director of W8 Training and Consulting firm in the USA and Mexico and is a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C.
References

Rosal, V. D. (2015). Disruption: Emerging technologies and the future of work. Dublin: Emtech.

[Don Rutti]

In the book Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work author Victor del Rosal writes an informative description of today’s and tomorrow’s technologies and the its impact on on society, the workforce, economy and education. Del Rosal served as a business analyst and consultant for various organizations located in Ireland, Wales, Mexico and the United States. A few of these organizations he managed as well. He is the founder of Emtechub, which focuses on the implementation of emerging technology into careers, and President of MexNet, the Irish chapter of Red Global MX. Del Rosal received two Bachelor’s degrees: one in Economics from Harvard and the other in Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech (Monterrey Mexico), along with a Masters in Science from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School (Dublin, Ireland). His experience and education qualifies him as an authority on the subject of emerging technology and its implications.
The book can be separated into three parts: emerging technologies, the impacts to the economy and its workforce, and how to prepare for the disruption. The first part of the book explains how technology is growing at an exponential level. This growth is referred to as “Moore’s Law”, named after co-founder of Intel Gordon Moore, who first observed in the sixties that computing power was doubling every eighteen months. The author makes a powerful analogy of the growth of technology by comparing it to filling Lake Michigan up with water. If you were to add water to an emptied Lake Michigan starting with one ounce, then adding double the amount every eighteen months, you would only have a few inches of water after 70 years. But within another fifteen years, continuing the same method of doubling, the lake would be filled to capacity. Today we are living in that last fifteen years. Del Rosal paints an impressive picture of how technology is hurdling forward.
The author continues to describe the emerging technology and what we can expect to see in the future. He covers such technologies as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, drones, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, biotechnology and alternative energies. Del Rosal does well at documenting what we can expect to see from these technologies in the future and how many will displace the previous. For example, soon autonomous cars will be very common and extremely safe, that cars without the autonomous feature will be eventually phased out. Alternate energy technologies such as Powerwall by Tesla are working to solve the energy crisis by moving away and phasing out fossil fuels. Powerwall stores energy from the sun (solar) in a lithium ion battery that can then be used to power an entire household. Though this technology has been around for awhile, it is much more effective at capturing and storing energy. This and other alternative energies such as wind, tidal, geothermal and biomass will bring death to our reliance on fossil fuels, according to the author. The author makes a bold claim that soon “the world will no longer depend on oil.” Indeed, the day is coming when our world will be using a lot less oil, however, I do not believe that we will stop using it altogether. There is way too much infrastructure that would need replacing in order for the world to completely embrace alternate energy. Therefore, I do not see oil consumption disappearing anytime soon, at least not in this generation.
The second portion of the book discusses how emerging technology is going to impact jobs and ultimately the economy. Del Rosal paints a bitter-sweet reality. On one hand technology makes life much more convenient and opens doors to things never thought possible, but on the other hand, jobs are disappearing or are being taken over by machines. For example, the author states “two pieces of technology will revolutionize farming in the twenty-first century: self-driving tractors and drones.” Between these two pieces of technology the farmer can run his/her entire operation. Though the farmers will be needed, the farmhands will not. Del Rosal affirms that the movement towards full automation will start in developed countries such as the United States. Employees, in general, make significantly more in developed countries than developing countries. Therefore, the money companies will be saving due to automation will be much greater in developed countries. As technology moves forward exponentially more and more jobs will be lost, especially those jobs requiring general or basic skills. At the other side, higher skilled, more educated individuals will have a much greater chance at finding employment. This is because of advances in AI and robotics will require workers that are higher educated and have specialized skills. Though the author does not directly state this, I believe he is implying a great divide between the upper and lower classes, and perhaps a disappearance of the middle.
At this point in the book, the future seems bleak for the working class. But towards the end of the book the author tries to cast some hope by suggesting ways to prepare for the change. A major part of this last section discusses how education needs to change to support what the author calls “the era of specialization.” Del Rosal goes on to explain how education has been designed to replicate workers for an “Industrial economy,” so that they could be “interchangeable pieces of well-oiled machinery.” Schools in the past have focused on the four R’s: reading, writing, and arithmetic, but tomorrow’s workforce should be well versed in the four C’s: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. To help prepare the workforce, the shift must start in education. Schools can no longer take the cookie-cutter approach but must make education highly personalized and adapted to each learner so that individuals can develop the particular specialized skill that peaks their interest. This also means that students need to memorize less, and problem solve more. The day of creative thinking is here, and those who can consistently problem solve in novel situations will outshine the rest. Not only will individuals with higher education be better candidates for future job markets, but those with an optimal mix of hard and soft skills, such as technical and interpersonal competencies, will have greater chances of getting hired.
Because of the backbreaking speed of technology development, our culture must embrace the lifestyle of being a lifelong learner. Concepts such as Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) allow anyone to learn an online trade. As the author affirms, self-education is and will continue to be commoditized. This means individuals in the workforce must motivate themselves toward learning goals and self-regulate their own skillset. Due to the fact that a number of highly disruptive technologies will be here in a relatively short time, focusing education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) will give individuals some competitive advantage.
The author’s only solid advice in preparing for emerging technology is to prepare our workforce. I do agree with him about this, but he drops hints throughout the book that the disruption is going to totally change the workforce as we know it, and that change is going to hit quick. Del Rosal makes it sound that if someone has a low-skilled job such as secretarial, that the person is doomed. Though I do believe technology will be the end to many jobs, there will always be at least some low-skilled jobs around. There will always be those who prefer the qualities and character that come along with having human help. Technology may be moving at lightning speeds, but that does not mean society and the workforce are going to change at the same pace. However, I do agree with del Rosal in that preparation starts in education. As an educator I live in an exciting time: the dawn of emerging technologies and the future of work. I have an opportunity to play a significant role in teaching this upcoming generation about technology and helping them to get ready for tomorrow’s workforce. After reading this book I feel more strengthened in my resolve.

[Amy Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book, “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work” by Victor Del Rosal. Victor Del Rosal is a highly qualified author in the area of emerging technology and the future of work. He holds many degrees including a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech, a Masters in Science (Honors) from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and a Diploma in Economics from Harvard University. Victor Del Rosal also has a great deal of work experience in the technology field. His experience includes a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, the Head of Business Analysis at the Supply Chain Center of Excellence, Director of Strategy at CloudStrong Ltd., and a lecturer at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland. In addition to this, he also is the founder of Emtechub, emerging technology education startup.

“Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work” is divided into three sections: Emerging Technologies, The Future of Work, and Getting Ready for Disruption. I found the first section that discussed emerging technologies very interesting and written in a manner that was easy for me to understand. Some of the topics discussed in the first section include artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, 3d printing, and virtual and augmented reality. I found the section on the ubiquitous internet especially fascinating. Del Rosal (2015) predicts that, “the Internet will be everywhere it will become ubiquitous, just as electricity is today.” (p. 5) Considering the digital divide that schools and society currently contend with, it would be ideal if there was universal access to the internet so that everyone, everywhere could benefit from instant access to information, jobs, services, gaming, and all other benefits of the Internet.

The second section of the book was alarming because it explores Del Rosal’s prediction of how most jobs will become automated which will disrupt the workforce and create a large population of unemployed people. The people most affected by this change are those who are not as educated; especially in the STEM fields. The author discusses his ominous prediction that, “vast amounts of manufacturing, maintenance, and other lower-skill jobs will give way to robots.” (p. 97) As an educator, mother, and citizen it greatly concerns me that there will be a large population of people who are unemployed or unable to sustain an adequate standard of living. We need to begin to explore changes in education and training to ensure any negative outcomes from emerging technologies are lessened.

The last section began well enough by discussing how teachers don’t need to have students memorize facts as they all pretty much have access to Google and the web. Rather, the author advocates for teaching students to be thinkers, creative, innovators, and to be able to collaborate well. I thought it was quite important when the author focused on learning to use technology in general rather than a certain program or app because technology is changing too rapidly. The part that lost me was when he began to discuss his views of how society needs to provide a guaranteed basic income for people who don’t work and to allow the non workers to spend time being creative and volunteering. His ideas became political and almost a platform to press his social beliefs onto his readers. Del Rosal wrote, “One of the models that is currently being explored is Guaranteed Basic Income. It is the proposal of a guaranteed baseline of income that covers the cost of living, including housing, rent, and the basic necessities.” (p. 133) Regardless of the social commentary, most of the book was inspiring, interesting, informative, and stuck to the topic of emerging technology and how work in the future will be affected.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to be informed on how far we have come in technological advances of the last few decades. Victor Del Rosal reminded me that I am in fact older than Google, an odd thing considering how the phrase "Google it" is passed around as though it has always been there. Del Rosal lays out the changes in simple language and provides the necessary definitions to understand the predicted technologies of tomorrow. Further, he provides examples from all fields that have an impact on how we learn, consume, conduct business, and achieve daily tasks. Teachers can gather a broad understanding of the expected functioning of society in coming decades which informs the jobs our students will take on. Someone once said, "Teachers are preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist". While I can't recall the author of the statement, Del Rosal illustrates the same thinking as he points out the traditional jobs which will be taken over by Artificial Intelligences or streamlined into other roles. The author concludes the book with key ways to prepare for a life that relies on technology for almost every task. I would recommend this title to educators, parents, and community members seeking to understand the shifts our students face.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work," Victor Del Rosal explores the vast array of new technologies that will not only transform the way we interact with technology but how those new technologies will impact the way we work. Rosal sheds light on ten new technologies that could have an impact on the way live, interact, and use technology. He also explores the intended and the potential unintended consequence of those technologies. Finally, he explores how, we, as a society need to prepare future generation for the shift he suggests and what skills will be the most vital.

Rosal begins by exploring the exponential growth of computing power. He predicts that computing power will “be 30 times more powerful in 2025” (p. 3) then it was in 2015. This assertion is based on Moore’s Law that predicts that computing power doubles every 18 months. This principle has held up since 1965. With the new computation power technology will become faster and more powerful. By 2025 or smartphone will have 30 times more power then they had in 2015. This will open us to more possibilities. Artificial Intelligence will shift from service that SIRI provides to a digital artificial assist only seen in the movies (see JARVIS in Iron Man). Virtual and Augmented Reality technology will become more assessable as the technology become smaller, faster, and less expensive. 3-D printing will become more commonplace. Building prototypes will take an hour instead of weeks, months, even years. It could revolutionize the way we buy things. One would be able to go to a kiosk and have a custom item created to fit their needs. The medical field could use a “CT Scan or an MRI to develop custom orthopedic implants and prosthetics.” (p. 37) Biotechnology will change the way we look at disease and health. “Scientists have found a way to easily and affordably cut and paste DNA segments.” (p. 57) This will potentially allow science to alter DNA to rid bodies of disease. 3-D printing technology will also allow the medical field to create replacement organs and body parts based on a individuals genetics. This would potentially eliminate the needs of donors.

Rosal goes on to discuss the disruptions caused by these new advancements. Virtual Reality will transform the way we work and do business. “The incentives to keep workers at home (through VR and AR) will outweigh the costs of providing staff with full-time offices, facilities, and all associated costs.” (p. 57) The potential biggest disruption would be with transportation and business travel. Imagine if we could take 25% of the cars on the road, if not more. Artificial intelligence will lead to Augmented Reality. “In the near future, we will see that an unassisted, or un-augmented worker, will simply not be able to operate anywhere near the level of her augmented peer.” (p. 83) This augmentation could come in different forms from an implant to a contact lens the provides information to a person in real time. Although this technology will increase our comforts and productivity, there are potentially devastating consequences to our workforce. An Oxford study in 2013 predicts that 47 percent of jobs will see an adverse effect to its workforce. Many of the jobs would be lost to an increase in automation. Construction workers, bakers, farmhands, paralegals pharmacists, and airport security all have a greater than 84% chance to become automated according to the study. Imagine 47% of our workforce being unemployed in coming years. A shift in how will look at work will need to take place.

The next generation will have to change how they prepare to enter the workforce. Rosal suggests that there will be a to shift how we prepare students for this future. “The most valuable will be that which is able to cultivate the uniqueness of each learner, including an optimal mix of hard and soft skills, that is, technical and interpersonal competencies.” (p. 106) What employers will look for in employees is the “abilities like problem-solving, entrepreneurship, creativity, communication and collaboration skills,” (p. 125) These skills will set students apart from their peers and have the highest impact in their potential to succeed.

Victor del Rosal received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Monterrey Tech in Monterrey Mexico, a Diploma in Economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Masters in Science (Honors) from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, Ireland. Rosal is also the founder of Emtechub, an emerging technology education startup. He is currently the Head of Business Analysis as the Supply Chain Center of Excellence, in Dublin, Ireland. Rosal is also one of the co-founders and CEO of the Prince of Wales’s Youth Business initiative in Mexico City. He is currently a lecturer at the School of Computing of National College of Ireland, Dublin and the Author of, “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work.”

[DC Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intuitive and refreshing outlook on the future of technology and how our world intertwines with it. It was a required text for one of my college courses but I would surely still read it and be as equally intrigued, inspired, and informed if it was not. Highly recommended for those pursuing an insight on the bright future we have and the disruptive technologies that will pave the way.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victor del Rosal is the Founder of Emtechub, which is an emerging technologies education startup company. He holds several degrees from colleges across the globe in Economics, Science, and Industrial and Systems Engineering. Rosal also collaborates with several technologies consulting agencies in Europe and the Americas.

Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work was published in 2015 primarily from the curiosity of the author. He explores disruptive technology that has the potential to completely re-revolutionize several industries much like the iPhone did upon its debut. Rosal states “I wanted to know where technology is heading in the next ten years or so because among other things, I have a young daughter who will certainly start asking all sorts of questions--she already is” (p. xix).

Victor del Rosal provides readers with a fascinating and easy read without being convoluted with technical jargon. The book is structured in three easily digestible parts.

Part I describes ten emerging technologies, their history and potential impact in our world. Rosal covers a variety of disruptors in this section including 3D printing, and Internet of things biotech, the blockchain, and autonomous vehicles. “As a connectivity backbone, we will need super-fast and reliable Internet that simply works. Uninterrupted Internet access will be accepted as a human right, accessible regardless of geography, location, provider, etc. Connectivity will be virtually guaranteed for everyone everywhere on Earth” (p. 5). Part I was thrilling to read as I had not heard of most of the technologies described and learned about capabilities I didn’t even know were possible now, let alone ten years from now.

Part II primarily focuses on the future of work and predicted shifts in industries stemming from the technologies outlined in Part I. Rosal claims “the implications for the future of work are significant. When [virtual reality and augmented reality] take off, the incentives to keep workers at home will outweigh the costs of providing staff with full-time offices, facilities, and all the associated costs. It simply will not make business sense to have everyone physically working at the same place when circa 90 percent of office functions can be achieved in a virtual environment” (p. 73). As technology capabilities expand and become more intelligent, I had no idea we would be looking at the potential loss or restructuring of jobs not only in business but also in construction, bakeries, journalism, farming, surgery, pharmaceuticals and airport security (p.94-97).

Part III of the book looks at the implications of adjusting our lives for the disruption of our futures. Rosal examines the possibilities of preparing learners in an era of constant disruption. What will the purpose and format of education be? Will it be more focused on the skills of that period: imagination, creativity, entrepreneurship, critical thinking, curiosity, passion, and grit? (p. 103-116). It appears as though the next ten years will be a transitioning period into a futuristic world where traditional ideas of “work” will drastically transform to be less labor intensive, include more leisure time with a guaranteed basic income where human roles in “work” are specialized and unique to particular projects.

Victor del Rosal closes the book with his final thoughts where the primary purpose of the book is captured in the following excerpt: “We enter an era with many challenges related to the future of work, especially for those with limited access to education. However, it is also an era of optimism, of increasing possibility to achieve greater equality and access to wealth and justice” (p. 143). Overall, Disruption was an intriguing read with various viewpoints, possibilities and questions to consider in regards to disruptive technology. I would highly recommend this book to anyone curious about or studying emerging technologies looking to learn even more.

[Debbie Sprowls]

I found the book quite helpful and informative. Great information.

[Kaitlin Borden · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I came across Victor Del Rosal’s book, “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Work” it immediately stood out to me. The ideas presented in this book are incredibly important not just to the future of work but to the future of the human race and where we plan to go as a civilization. As Del Rosal puts it, “This is a book about technology but more importantly, this is a book about us- to help understand the role of humans in an increasingly technological society.

It is through Del Rosal’s layout of his book and through the ideas he touches on that he is able to grab his reader’s attention from the very beginning and carry it till the end. Throughout his book, Del Rosal divides his thoughts and finding into three sections. The first, “Emerging Technologies: Enablers of Disruption” discusses the disruptive technologies on the horizon. The first “disruptive technology” was the one and only, internet. When the internet came into play, it disrupted our entire world from shipping products to dating and so on. Within this first chapter, Del Rosal discusses nine different disruptive technologies that are more than likely going to have as much of an impact on our world as the internet did back in the mid-1990s.

In the second part of the book, Del Rosal shifts his attention towards the future technologies and their impact on work in the section, “The Future of Work: Shifts Driven by Emerging Technologies.” From virtual reality to augmented humanity, Del Rosal provides a sophisticated and balanced look at the future of our workforce with the future power of technology. Although we have virtual reality today, Del Rosal predicts that very soon, we will have technology that will allow us to have augmented and virtual reality, AR and VR respectively, which is so life-like it will be nearly impossible to tell the difference. Del Rosal states when AR and VR truly come into play, “….the incentives to keep workers at home will outweigh the costs of providing staff with full-time offices, facilities, and all the associated costs” (p. 73).

The third and final section of the book, “Getting Ready for Disruption: Preparing for Exponential Technological Change”, provides the reader with Del Rosal’s opinion about how we should be preparing for what’s to come. The most important idea, I feel, which was presented in this section of the book dealt with the future of our workforce and how we should be looking forward. In terms of education, in the future it will not necessarily be about where you went to school or what you studied. Companies will be more focused on what experiences and ideas someone can bring to the table. “…instead of graduation professionals, with the same (commoditized) skills, the most valuable education will be that which is able to cultivate the uniqueness of each learner, including an optimal mix of hard and soft skills, that is, technical and interpersonal competencies” (p. 106). As an educator, I want to take this idea of what the future will require of its graduates and take it into my classroom. I want to provide a learning experience for my students that will allow them to gain a beginning taste of the hard and soft skills they will be required to hold once out in the workforce.

One of the reason’s I appreciated and enjoyed reading this book so much was not only because it was about a topic that was so interesting and relevant, it is also because it is put together in such a way that the author’s opinions and prejudices are well explained and supported. At the beginning of each chapter, as well as the subsequent subsections, Del Rosal discusses the history behind the chapter’s topic. Del Rosal then moves onto the explanation of the technology and how he believes it is going to change our world for the better. He doesn’t stop there however, and this is where I feel his book gains a lot of credit. At the end of every chapter, Del Rosal provides his readers with negative and damaging effects the technology being discussed could cause. For example, in the book, Del Rosal discusses the automation of driverless cars. While having the world use driverless automobiles would provide more time, safety and freedom for most, it would also have damaging effects. Car insurance, a $198 million industry, would be basically decimated as the need for insurance for every person in the world would drop. In addition to this, the autonomation of vehicles will also affect the trucking industry and the large number of “…ancillary services including service stations, motels and more catering to the needs of drivers” (p.26).

Author Victor Del Rosal is an Industrial Engineer and Masters in Science, founder of Emteclub and the Emtechleaders Global Initiative. As a reader of his book, I feel Del Rosal is absolutely qualified to provide an outlook on the future of emerging technologies. He does not try to push his opinion on his readers and he uses facts and insights from those in the industries he discusses to support the ideas he passes on. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn more about the future of technologies and their impact on the workforce without feeling compelled or coerced into one person’s opinion or view.