Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A guide to building a better world

by Klaus Schwab, Nicholas Davis

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing everything - from the way we relate to each other, to the work we do, the way our economies work, and what it means to be human. We cannot let the brave new world that technology is currently creating simply emerge. All of us need to help shape the future we want to live in. But what do we need to know and do to achieve this?In Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab explores how people from all backgrounds and sectors can influence the way that technology transforms our world. Drawing on contributions by more than 200 of the world's leading technology, economic and sociological experts to present a practical guide for citizens, business leaders, social influencers and policy-makers this book outlines the most important dynamics of the technology revolution, highlights important stakeholders that are often overlooked in our discussion of the latest scientific breakthroughs, and explores 12 different technology areas central to the future of humanity.Emerging technologies are not predetermined forces out of our control, nor are they simple tools with known impacts and consequences. The exciting capabilities provided by artificial intelligence, distributed ledger systems and cryptocurrencies, advanced materials and biotechnologies are already transforming society. The actions we take today - and those we don't - will quickly become embedded in ever-more powerful technologies that surround us and will, very soon, become an integral part of us.By connecting the dots across a range of often-misunderstood technologies, and by exploring the practical steps that individuals, businesses and governments can take, Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution helps equip readers to shape a truly desirable future at a time of great uncertainty and change.

Genres: Business, Technology, Economics, Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories, Science, Artificial Intelligence

ebook

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Klaus Martin Schwab is a German engineer and economist best known as the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a follow up book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. Frankly I find the website and it’s many su groups much more interesting than his books. Maybe it’s because he tries to summaries all those interesting articles into a single Manual of Survival in the 4th Age...

He argues that it is important for governments, industries and individuals to think of Systems when building the structure of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It reads like a typical MBA textbook. The Revolution must have the following:

1. Benefits must be distributed fairly, and externalities managed. It must be human led.
2. System, empowerment, design and value minded.
3. Keep up with development to connect the dots; these industries scale exponentially and disrupts.
4. All technologies are political, and shape society which in turn shapes it. We must find the inherent value of them and influence its development.
5. Collaboration with multiple shareholders are essential: government, business, academia, civil societies, and the young.
6. Blockchain allows distributed authentication. Lack of inter-blockchain standard, physical goods tagging, legality are all huge problems.
7. Internet of things will enhance human interaction with things which will get better. Privacy, ownership of the data, and meaningful analysis are all concerns. The biggest impact is loss of jobs.
8. Data ethics and cyber risks are going to be critical.
9. AI and robotics will improve decision and create value, but displaced millions of jobs.
10. Advanced material and nanotechnology will improve our lives. The unforeseen impact remains to be seen.
11. 3D printing will promote re-shoring and developing countries may now never get out of poverty.
12. Biotechnology and neurotechnology will improve our health and mind, but raise ethical concerns.
13. Augmented reality and virtual reality will improve experience but may be too addictive, eventually make is lose reality a la Matrix the movie.
14. Renewable energy will become ever more important; massive disruption to fossil fuel counties will ensue and risks mitigated.
15. Geoengineering such as carbon absorption towers, sky nanoparticles, and sunlight reflectors in space may solve the warming problem but create unforeseen new problems.
16. Space technology is the last frontier and cooperation.

Ok I told you this book is as dry as the last one. But since our leaders will keep talking about this book, it’s like a compulsory subject in school...

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelmed. Seriously underwhelmed.

I'm underwhelmed because I saw all this 'disruptive technology' stuff in the early 1990s. Here we are again, but this time, we are promising attention to decentralization, equality and the ethical use of new technology, which includes neuroscience and drones.

The challenge is that so much of what is promised as innovative in the fourth industrial revolution has been around a long time. 3D printing has been around for nearly thirty years. Drones were used in the Iraq War. The first one.

What makes this book interesting is there is this awareness that once more this 'revolution' is lead by technology. Yet attention to tech without systems, including social and economic systems, will result in fewer freedoms and greater inequality. While we're all looking down at our mobile phones, Donald Trump is elected into office.

3D printing won't save us. It will make money for a few. But the cost may be for the many.

[Pavel Annenkov · Rating 2 out of 5]

О чем книга в целом.
Страшная сказка о том, как меняются технологии и фантазии автора по поводу того, к чему это может привести. Книга написана ужасно. Со слов автора видно, что всё сложно, но что с этим делать непонятно. Никаких конкретных предложений от Шваба нет. Только лозунги. Несвязанные факты надерганы из разных областей развития технологий, а единой картины нет. И конечно нельзя же писать таким казенным и формальным языком. Такое ощущение, что книгу писал плохой искусственный интеллект)

Главные выводы из книги.
Мы продолжаем решать проблемы XXI века методами XX и даже XIX веков. С таким подходом мы точно не найдем ответы на главные вопросы нашего времени.
Каждое усложнение технологий и окружающего мира всегда приводило к усилению неравенства. В это раз происходит так же и вряд ли что то изменится. Посмотрите, например, рост Amazon. На эту тему отлично написал Wil Durant в книге "The Lessons of History".

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

You have to admire the scholastic qualities of bureaucratic texts and the precision with which they can classify and order seemingly useless events. These are the people whose only skill is scamming those who can work and produce something useful.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a remarkably inarticulate book from someone who is nonetheless one of the leading thinkers of our time. Even if you believe that the world really is in a Fourth Industrial Revolution, you will be disappointed. Schwab mentions a number of interesting new technologies but fails to demonstrate that they belong to a single trend. He is remarkably vague about when they will begin to have an impact on our society.
What is clear is that Schwab is convinced that most will come to play an important role in the future of human society and that he is optimistic that the impact will be positive. Optimism is a good thing ceteris paribus.
"Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution" is all hype with no substance.

[May Ling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of this book, but my reasons differ. Some are not fans because they believe he's wrongly stated when the technologies were brought into existance. I'm less of a critique there as I think that's not his point. Others are upset with the formulation of his argument. Here I do have some similarities in my concerns. He's arguing that we are in the Fourth Industrial Wave of Revolution. He believes that something distinctive is happening and there is a change. This change, however is very loosely defined relative to specific machines which are more integrated into life. He then structures each paragraph as a discussion surrounding the potentiality of machines. Ultimately he argues that what must happen is greater governance and value integration in the machines themselves.

Early on in the book (I read on cell phone, so don't have page numbers) he talks about the idea that machines and systems need to go together.
"By systems, we mean the norms, rules, expectations, goals, institutions and incentives that guide our behavior every day as well as the infrastructure and flows of material and people that are fundamental to our economic and political lives." His point is that machines drive these together for progress.

This to me is a "kind of." He drops this understanding throughout the rest of the book in a meaningful way and, IMO misses the point. The machines don't drive this, they are complementary to it. I think he needs more thinking here. Relative to the work I'm doing for my research, I place systems as completely separate, define it more tightly and then talk about it relative to different types of innovation, not all of which are related to machines. I think because this book is so Industrial/machine based, the book fails to expand this point and therefore comes apart for a lot of people in its ability to argue cogently. So, right here, in the early chapters is the error in argument that then strings throughout the entire book.
For example, he then argues that the problems it that we:
1) Systems not technologies. Focus on the systems, not the technologies --- you mean, like we should focus on everything else? How so? Isn't that hte opposite of focus?
2) Empowering not determining - technology can be controlled and we need to value human decision making. We should design systems that give people more choices. hmmm... it's a little loosy goosey. I think we design stuff that solves a problem. If that's the case, how do you then force people to add choice in there if it's not a part of what matters. It's just awkward as an argument.
3) By Design, not default - The idea is that we should be thoughtful about the bigger picture with technology. I have no idea how he's thinking about this? Do you mean a corporation? I think most innovators are designing for a specific purpose. To then ask them to take the entire world into perspective is.... well, odd.
4) Value as a feature not as a bug. I have no idea where he's at? Is he thinking about a specific design issue? I mean, most design issues or innovations are to solve something and that solving is valuable.

It's just really hard to tell who he's speaking to that he's got a beef with. Is it specific innovators who are just trying to make stuff that improves stuff? And it is for this reason that by the end of the book, the conclusions are confusing?

"...Taking a stand on values and their relationship to technology is where conviction is put into action. Creating a creed for compliance with values set by an organization can be tremedously helpful. Developing a code of ethics or simply an organizational narrative, to reinforce a purposeful, values-based approach to technology can help determine the culture of a company or organization, or even an entire profession or sector."

It's not that it's totally off the board. There are many ways to think of governance of machines. For example, rules of the road are definitively one form of governance. My issue is more that it's a bit of a misleading sort of way to think about it.

We govern the cars use. We do not govern the actual creation of the innovation itself. There is no distinction here and if anything the Fourth Industrial Revolution might serve incorrectly to narrow who gets to participate and what types of innovation are allowed. So I hate it on principal.

Finally, what I gathered is that this book is written for big think tanks that wax philosophy about how technology should affect all of society. There might be very small nuggets to pull for an extremely large corporation. But even the I'm not sure that these thing are truly helpful. and also, I think they lead toward a narrowing of how you go about innovating, not a broadening or an improvement. The book comes to a conclusion, which the author doesn't appear to really appreciate is fear based. We must control or guide that which is happening. That's totally what you do if you are afraid that others just don't "know better." Dude... they are inventors creating AI, I think that's the l east of your concerns and certainly there's no panel that should tell them whats what.

I think it's a tough sell, but it turns out that the masses really like it, so 3 stars.

[Terrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost a couple IQ points reading this garbage

[Joel Everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is partly about current and future trends and partly about Mr. Schwab's social and political vision for the future. For anybody interested in technology trends this book is important; forewarned is forearmed and this book, despite its rambling nature at times, does a good job of laying out trends.

My Schwab elicits a lot of strong reactions from people, but this book should be viewed on its own - at least in regard to fundamental trends. Going through it I found a two-fold layer. 1.) Here are the trends and technologies in developments. This is followed by 2.) Here is how I, Klaus Schwab, and other like-minded individuals and groups would like to see these trends utilized; this is especially the case when talking about governmental and regulatory framework.

Although I personally don't subscribe to the views of Mr. Schwab, in that I favor bottom-up approaches that preserve individual liberty, the trend is the trend and what was predicted in 2018 and codified in "Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" is already coming to pass in 2022.

This book will be of interest to investors, business minded individuals, and those just wanting to know the mindset of Mr Schwab and the World Economic Forum.

[Josh Mirabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painted the potential of emerging technologies in an inspirational light while highlighting the importance of intentionality in technology design and application. Informative, well-organized, and hopeful.

[Turk Warut · Rating 5 out of 5]

หนังสือแนววิชาการ มีศัพท์เฉพาะทางเยอะ เพราะตีพิมพ์จาก World Economic Forum ลองอ่านแบบไม่ต้องเข้าใจความคำศัพท์อะไรเยอะ แค่จับประเด็นหลัก ก็จะเข้าใจมุมมองและสิ่งใหม่ที่กำลังเกิดในอนาคตอันใกล้นี้ครับ

[Sakib Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great messages but very slow

[Alec Messino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting peek at the 12 technologies emerging in this “fourth revolution” and how the markets for each have been evolving (space technologies, bioengineering, neuroscience, AI, etc). Only resentment is that instead of diving deeper into the technologies themselves, the author chose to outline to values surrounding each.

[Jim Lavis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m shocked!

This book is so poorly written, and the content and logic of his arguments are too general and not relevant to this subject matter. What a shame. I disliked it so much I took it back to the store and got my money back.

[Neil Johnstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got the through Amazon Library so hadn't read the more popular original. I found the book very interesting and all the talk of new industries and the importance of educating up the next generation. Because it covers so many aspects AI, VR, AR, Cyber Risks, Quantum Computing, Geoegineering Multi-stakeholders, International Consensus of Space Travel etc. Some are a bit light but usually give authors or papers that focus on those issues. The Fourth Industrial is a truly fascinating concept and will be interesting to see it develop.
The only part that made me not be able to give it 5 stars was the nonsense of diversity and getting every in the world getting the same opportunities, which is just complete bollocks. He complains that the first industrial revolution forced women in the home and then when they got into the workforce it was very difficult and challenging. Failing to mention the men that were killing themselves to make society more and more safe and comfortable, it's so pathetic. Also the nonsense of we need more women in STEM, if they don't want to be there it isn't going help. Then making sure technologies don't discriminate against the BAME communities, if I want to read hogwash I just read the BBC website. So that was annoying but only a small part, thankfully.
But would recommend and it make we want to reread Brave New World, haha.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was repetitive overall, so it was dry and hard to get through. I agree on the surface with much of what he says in this book. It is mind-boggling to think about the rapid advances in technology, and thus the upcoming uses of technology. It was fascinating (and scary). I agree that we need to come together to decide how we are going to use this new tech, how we will regulate it, how we will protect people as individuals from misuse/abuse, and also encourage use of technology equitably across countries and within smaller communities. The thing that I don't agree with is his implication that we will reach this utopian level of global cooperation so we are all on the same page. I don't believe it is possible (I guess I'm a pessimist) that we can reach that level of cooperation on a global level, nor do I believe it is ethical that Klaus Schwab's values should be imposed on every country on the planet. How do we know that his way is the best way? As long as communication is open, leaders are open-minded, and the major players who control our planet are willing to compromise and understand that other countries have values different from western values, then I think we could get somewhere with his ideas. But it's completely unrealistic to believe everyone is going to agree on how all of this will be accomplished.

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book examines the Fourth Industrial Revolution in light of disruptive technologies. They challenge established modes of perceiving, calculating, organizing, acting, and delivering. They also represent fundamentally new methods for corporations and citizens to create value. The author believes that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is totally within our control and that we are still in its early phases. He assumes that societal norms and legislation regulating emergent technologies are being defined and codified. As the book’s author emphasizes, everyone can and should have a voice in how new technologies influence them. The book equips readers to engage in strategic discussions about new technologies inside and beyond their communities, companies, and institutions, allowing them to actively influence the world in accordance with shared human values. The book may be thought-provoking for thinkers, philosophers, technologists, politicians, as well as industry leaders, and managers.

[Нестор · Rating 4 out of 5]

Неплохое расширение первой книги автора. Оптимизма побольше, конкретики поменьше, стратегический характер книги поглубже.

Пожалуй, стоит читать стратегам и не стоит читать ожидающим пошаговые рекомендации как жить в мире Индустрии 4.0 и четвёртой промышленной революции, хотя некая попытка дать такие авторами и сделана.

Работа с источниками авторами проведена на традиционно высоком уровне.

Особо впечатлил этический анализ проблематики новых технологий. Он в подобной литературе встречается не так часто, как должен был бы.

Также книга содержит ряд идей, которые очень быстро можно реализовать для себя, своего окружения и предприятия.

Рекомендую.

[Evgenii Chernyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Автор - основатель всемирного экономического форума в Давосе. Он рассказывает про те технологии, которые сейчас производят революцию во всех сферах человеческой жизнедеятельности. Это такие вещи, как блокчейн, квантовые вычисления, интернет вещей, искусственный интеллект и роботизация, 3d печать, био и нейротехнологии, VR и AR, геоинженерия и многое другое (не всё перечислил).
Но будучи экономистом и основателем всемирного форума, автор основной упор делает на коллективную ответственность человечества за то, как все эти технологии и инновации будут использоваться в будущем. Поэтому мне было очень интересно читать. Ведь я никогда даже не смотрел на все эти вещи с такой точки зрения.

[José Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um livro estratégico sobre a chamada quarta revolução industrial. Faz uma análise muito interessante e sistêmica sobre os impactos sociais, econômicos e ambientais das principais tecnologias habilitadoras da 4RI. Algumas tecnologias já estão disponíveis e avançando, outras estão ainda na infância. Tem muita informação, gráficos comparativos e uma vastíssima lista bibliográfica. Vale a leitura, se você se interessa por tecnologia. Em tempo, eu não li o livro anterior do Karl Schwab, A quarta revolução industrial (e acho que não perdi nada)

[Simão Neves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um grande livro que descreve de forma sucinta o futuro que já é uma parte do passado, já muito presente e bastante reflexão.
No entanto as bases são muito simples:
- "É costume dizer-se que a electricidade não foi inventada para criar uma vela melhor".
e
- "A criatividade nasce da variedade. O maior inimigo da criatividade é a rotina".

A ler, assinalar e guardar bem perto.

[Guthrie C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any citizen or societal leader who cares about employing emerging technologies to make the world a truly improved place for future generations. The book provides a great analytical foundation, practical summaries of key tech, and an action plan for all.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many things is a repetitive content from the previous book by the same author. I would said this book explained anything in I4 from ethics, technologies, and what should be our response in I4, but the explanation only in the surface.

[Morris Adato · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book makes a detailed case for technology that is already here and extends to the logical impact on society. My book Witness to Innovation/Stories from the analog back roads to the digital highway in a way is a precursor.

[Luigi Benetton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stuff. The book predicts the upheaval many of us have already experienced. It helps that the author sums up each chapter with a few key takeaways - not something I’m used to in “think piece” books.

[Tiaan Fourie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd book, oddly written. Some of the technology is interesting but the author seems to believe humanity should aim for a utopia. This should always be worrying. Especially if someone has as much power as the author does in world politics.

[Todd Cheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author is usually better. I was not impressed and I lacked good passages to quote of enjoy.

[anna b · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more technical than the previous one and to be fair, I didn't have the attention span for it.

[Neil Doherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

slooow intro, won’t buy.

[Tomás Matias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good overview of several areas that the Fourth Industrial Revolution with take place.
Even cited it in my Master's Thesis.

[Ken Hamner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would consider this a “must read” for everyone, including students and most professionals.