Who are we, and how do we relate to each other? Luciano Floridi, one of the leading figures in contemporary philosophy, argues that the explosive developments in Information and Communication Technologies is changing the answer to these fundamental human questions. As the boundaries between life online and offline break down, and we become seamlessly connected to each other and surrounded by smart, responsive objects, we are all becoming integrated into an "infosphere". Personas we adopt in social media, for example, feed (...) into our 'real' lives so that we begin to live, as Floridi puts in, "onlife". Following those led by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud, this metaphysical shift represents nothing less than a fourth revolution. "Onlife" defines more and more of our daily activity - the way we shop, work, learn, care for our health, entertain ourselves, conduct our relationships; the way we interact with the worlds of law, finance, and politics; even the way we conduct war. In every department of life, ICTs have become environmental forces which are creating and transforming our realities. How can we ensure that we shall reap their benefits? What are the implicit risks? Are our technologies going to enable and empower us, or constrain us? Floridi argues that we must expand our ecological and ethical approach to cover both natural and man-made realities, putting the 'e' in an environmentalism that can deal successfully with the new challenges posed by our digital technologies and information society. (shrink)

Science has two fundamental ways of changing our understanding. One may be called extrovert, or about the world, and the other introvert, or about ourselves. Three scientific revolutions in the past had great impact both extrovertly and introvertly. In changing our understanding of the external world, they also modified our conception of who we are, that is, our self-understanding. The following chapter discusses the fourth revolution.

Luciano Floridi has proposed that we are on the cusp of a fourth revolution in human self-understanding. The information revolution with its prospect of digitally enhancing human beings opens the door to engineering human nature. Floridi has emphasized the importance of making this transition as ethically smooth as possible. He is quite right to worry about ethics after the fourth revolution. The coming revolution, if it unfolds as he envisions, spells the demise of traditional (...) ethical theorizing. (shrink)

The information society may be described as the fourth step of humanity’s fundamental nature and role in the universe, after Copernicus, Darwin and Freud, with Turing. This paper explores some of the salient implications of this, such as our status as information organisms (inforgs), and our future interactions with other smart, engineered artefacts with which we increasingly share our on life. environment.

This article introduces this special issue of Knowledge, Technology and Policy. It also explains why Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Technology is chosen as the topic of the special issue.

Abstract: In this article I argue that the best way to understand the information turn is in terms of a fourth revolution in the long process of reassessing humanity's fundamental nature and role in the universe. We are not immobile, at the centre of the universe (Copernicus); we are not unnaturally distinct and different from the rest of the animal world (Darwin); and we are far from being entirely transparent to ourselves (Freud). We are now slowly accepting the (...) idea that we might be informational organisms among many agents (Turing), inforgs not so dramatically different from clever, engineered artefacts, but sharing with them a global environment that is ultimately made of information, the infosphere. (shrink)

The paper reconstructs the read thread that links the information revolution, the information concept and information ethics in Floridi’s philosophy of information. In doing so, it acknowledges the grand attempt but doubts whether this attempt is up to the state of affairs concerning the actual point human history has reached. It contends that the information age is rather conceivable as a critical stage in which human evolution as a whole is at stake. The mastering of this crisis depends on (...) an appropriate shaping of Information and Communication Technologies which requires ethical considerations. In this respect, Floridi’s notion of the fourth revolution, his assumption of the management of the life cycle of information, and his ontocentric macroethics will be discussed in the light of the term “scientific-technological revolution”, the idea of a noogenesis, a new way of thinking and new weltanschauung, the concept of friction in social and physical aspects, the concept of collective intelligence and its application to the Internet and last, but not least, the vision of a Global Sustainable Information Society. (shrink)

Techno-colonialism, which I argue here to specifically mean the transfer of technology and its values and norms from one locale to another, has become a serious concern with the advancement of socially disruptive technologies1 of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), like artificial intelligence and robots. While the transfer of technology from one locale, especially economically advanced countries, to developing countries comes with economic benefits for both regions, it is important to understand that technologies are not value- neutral; they (...) come with the values, cultures, and worldviews of their designers. However, despite the nonvalue-neutrality of the technologies of the 4IR, they are still relevant for subSaharan Africa’s development. Thus, using a phenomenological approach, especially the sub-Saharan African experiences of past histories of colonialism, I prescribe cautionary measures that sub-Saharan Africans ought to take in approaching the current industrial revolution and its technologies. (shrink)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has become a global buzz word since the World Economic Forum adopted it as an annual issue in 2016. It is represented by hyper automation and hyper connectivity based on artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, and Internet of things. AI, big data, and robotics can contribute to developing hyper automation that can increase productivity and intensify industrial production. Particularly, robots using AI can make decision by themselves as human being on complicated processes. Along with (...) the hyper automation, the hyper connectivity increases not only at national, but also global level by using information and communication technologies. IoT is the core technology to create the hyper connectivity in Cyber Physical System that connects technology, nature, and human being. Accordingly, a perfect convergence between ICT and manufacturing can be completed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era and an extremely efficient flexible production system by spreading IoT in CPS will be established. Under such a condition, innovative clusters must play their traditional roles in cradles of technology innovation and commercialization. It must be difficult challenges for innovative clusters to meet their targets and to be adjusted by the changing new environment at the same time. This paper argues how the Fourth Industrial Revolution can change the global production chain and how core technologies function in industries. Furthermore, it focuses on how innovative clusters have to evolve to respond the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Last, but not least it also analyzes whether or not innovative clusters can play their roles as technology innovation hubs in the real world and CPS in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. (shrink)

Discussions on the impact and future directions of technology often proceed from an empirical point of view that seems to presume that the ebb and flow of technological developments is beyond the control of humankind, so that all that humanity can do is adjust to it. However, such an approach easily neglects several crucial normative considerations that could enhance the standing of individual human beings and whole communities as rational users of technology rather than its slaves. Besides, more often than (...) not, technological products are designed in ways that neglect the needs of persons with disabilities, thereby perpetuating their exclusion from society. Consequently, this article proposes four normative considerations to guide the initiatives of African societies in their deployment of the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, namely, inclusiveness to meet the needs of all human beings, affordability to bridge the digital divide, respect for cultural identity to guard against cultural imperialism, and an ethical orientation as the overarching guide to building a truly human society. (shrink)

Sub-Saharan Africa is characteristically confronted with poverty, hunger, disease, drought, war, climate change and inequality among other problems. However, the advent of the fourth industrial revolution presents an opportunity for Africa to solve some of these problems through technological innovations offered by information technology, internet of things, networks, robotics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and superintelligence. These have been absorbed and engrained into human lives and completely changing the way humans live. It is therefore clear that the 4IR is (...) an inescapable reality. Yet the ethical reflection on the relations that ought to exist between human beings and technology seems to be philosophically absurd. One might not expect ethical considerability to be extended beyond humans to include things that cannot directly be harmed such as technologies, although use of technologies has ethical implications on humans and the environment. I argue for the need for introspection on relations between humans and technology. By reflecting from the perspective of African ethics, I consider the positive impact of the fourth industrial revolution in Africa and seek to critically analyse the ethical issues, dilemmas and controversies associated with it. (shrink)

Francis Fukuyama postulated that there are two powerful forces at work in human history. One, he calls, ‘the logic of modern science’ and the other, ‘the struggle for recognition’. I agree with Fukuyama that human developmental progression is propelled by these twin principles. It is my position that these principles have been the drivers of geopolitics. In this paper, I argue that, in addition, knowledge production is a major factor in geopolitics and that the Euro-American worldview has occupied the place (...) of hegemony by reason of knowledge production. Africa has been denied having any form of epistemic tradition by the Euro-American world to sustain itself in the position of hegemony. In the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution, it will be antithetical for Africa to continue to adopt or consume technologies driven by Eurocentrism without projecting its contribution to the global space. Hence, using a critical hermeneutical approach, I contend that Africa needs to make a unique African contribution in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is Africa’s unique contribution that will guarantee Africa a place in geopolitics. (shrink)

This study focuses on the interdisciplinary issue of language corpora mining for the purpose of cultural analytics. The authors utilize the comparative cross -cultural approach to highlight the dynamics of “revolution” concept throughout two and a half centuries. They study concept application through the word occurrence in five languages by the means of Google Books Ngram Viewer and trace the waves of concept “popularity”. Most of the word application peaks can be corresponded to the political events called “revolutions” but (...) there is also an exception. (shrink)

ITC technologies have come to comprehensively represent images and expectations of the future. Hopes of ongoing progress, economic growth, skill upgrading and possibly also democratisation are attached to new ICTs as well as fears of totalitarian control, alienation, job loss and insecurity. Currently, with the terms "Industry 4.0." and ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution”, public institutions, private institutions, and literature refer to the inchoate transformation of production of goods and services resulting from the application of a new wave of technological (...) innovations: interconnected collaborative robots; machine learning; Artificial Intelligence; 3D printers connected to digital development software; simulation of interconnected machines; integration of the information flow along the value chain; multidirectional communication between manufacturing processes and products. According to the main representations of Industry 4.0. by private and public institutions, its effects are expected to be mainly positive, for what regards productivity, economic opportunities and the future of work. The positive potentials now attributed to the new cycle of innovation evoke and expand those attributed to the previous waves of innovation linked to ITC technologies, and, even before, to the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism. However, these transformations have so far not achieved any of the promises they raised. Improvements for workers in terms of work conditions, work performance and work relationships cannot be determined by any technical innovation in itself, being technological innovation always socially shaped. (shrink)

This thesis aims to clarify the intrinsic characteristics of ‘image’ of everything for the image in the society of the fourth industrial revolution by the phenomenological dimention based on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, and to clarify the value of image, the intrinsic characteristics of ‘painting-image’, ‘photo-image’ and ‘film-image’. It will reveal that ‘thing-image’, ‘artifact-image’, ‘digital image’, ‘robot-image’ become the images for society of humanities by these clarifications. The image of everything is ‘appearance-image’ to reveal itself, ‘expression-image’ from the phenomenological, ontic (...) point of view, and ‘image-being’ as ‘being as image and being image’ from the phenomenological, ontological point of view. The augmented reality-image is the image of fusion of virtual image+real image+body-subject image. Things-images in the world of Internet of Things(IoT) become things-images of digital communication. Painting-image, photo-image, film-image are text-images. The painting to paint a correspondence of perceptive phenomena and natural affairs themselves means the painting of the image to fuse the diverse images on horizon-image of natural affairs themselves by the multilateral, intentional vision. The sense of the intentional photo-image, the meaning of being of body-subject, and the facticity and singularity of object itself of photo shoot reveal the intrinsic characteristics of photo-image. The film-images in film manifest the intrinsic characteristics of the connective flesh between them mutually. Finally, it is necessary that the value of the intrinsic characteristics of image in the society of the fourth industrial revolution becomes the value for the righteous personality. (shrink)

South African missiology has seen a shift in its praxis since the late 20th century. David J. Bosch made a crucial contribution in this regard. The shift includes mission as a contextualised praxis and agency. In mission studies, agency has become necessary in postcolonial mission, primarily because of the loss of identity of the oppressed in colonised countries. Through contextual theologies of liberation, African theology, Black Theology of Liberation and postcolonial studies, theologians were able to reflect on the human dignity (...) of the colonised. However, there are still significant efforts needed in this quest, and therefore, the praxis cycle used in missiology is useful to also assess effects on the oppressed and marginalised through the emerging context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In the task of doing mission in the world differently, the questions that missiologists ask are important. The emergence of the 4IR aims to merge the biological with the technological and will bring more challenges to mission work in Africa. This will bring upon us the responsibility to reflect on the notion of human agency, the theologies espoused in such a time and missiologists’ contextual lenses and strategies employed. These should have to be carefully considered especially in a post-apartheid context. The researcher will, therefore, use the commonly used praxis cycle in missiological research to explore through a Socratic (questioning) approach what the implications will be for missiologists and mission agents in the quest of transforming church and the post-apartheid society.Contribution: Though there has emerged a few theological contributions from missiology, there has not been a missiological contribution on the 4IR. The author therefore uses one of the theological methods in the discipline to put on the table the imperative questions that those doing missiological research should pose in the context of the 4IR. (shrink)

Recent developments in sociological theorizing about revolution are surveyed, critiqued, and evaluated in terms of an emerging new paradigm. The first section assesses the strengths and weaknesses of 1970s theorizing by Tilly, Paige, and Skocpol. A second section takes up themes of state and crisis from 1980s work deepening this tradition. A third section identifies and discusses recent work in new areas critical of the structuralists, on agency, social structure, and culture. Finally, the shape of a new paradigm based (...) on conjunctural modeling of economic, political, and cultural processes is suggested with a discussion of Walton and of very recent work by Farhi, Foran, and Goldstone. (shrink)

During the last quarter of a century, Iran has undergone fundamental changes. The revolution was supported by a heterogeneous coalition of social forces, but it led to a war with Iraq and the stabilization of an Islamic regime. Since the end of the 1980s, four different types of new social actors have emerged in Iran: post-Islamist intellectuals; feminists; students as a nonrevolutionary, reformist and democratically minded group; and ethnic movements. These actors mostly (with the exception of some intellectuals) belong (...) to a generation which did not take part in the revolution; their aspirations and demands are totally different from those most characteristic of the revolutionary phase. The election of President Khatami in 1997 was a result of these changes. Since then, a stalemate has prevailed: the society is post-Islamist, whereas the decisive power centres are controlled by Islamist conservatives. (shrink)

The society in which we currently live and operate is globally the Fourth Industrial Revolution and locally our environment or community. Although we are still in a lag period between the 3IR and 4IR, the 4IR already has a global disruptive effect, with artificial intelligence being gradually implemented, with fluid contexts, and where nobody agrees on anything. Deep learning, unlearning and relearning must take place on a daily basis. The question could well be asked if there is any (...) place for the Bible and Christianity in this new vibrant global community.All theology is contextual. Although theology deals with what is most absolute in reality, citing Mellert, it is also relative in that there is never a final or last answer to most religious questions. The handbook and norm for our theology and religion is still the Bible – a compendium of books written approximately 2000 years ago with no new information added to it ever since. The challenge of the church is to make that information contextual in this ‘disruptive’ era and to bring the gospel in a new and fresh way to everybody without compromising the basic truths and normativity of the Bible.This article argues that the Bible should still take centre stage in the academic training of our theological students, in our preaching of the gospel on a daily basis, in our engagement with people in need and in the transformation of our societies in general. As the centre of Jesus’ preaching on earth was the kingdom of God, he also acted as the perfect example of how to establish the kingdom of God and the flourishing life on earth.Contribution: This is a more practical article and puts the notion of the significance of the Bible within the environment of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As this is a disruptive era, it requires from us to also present the word of God in a ‘disruptive’ way. We will have to present the ‘old’ word of God in a brand-new way so as to make sure that the people of this era will grasp it. (shrink)

Post-school education in South Africa mostly takes place within an industrial-age factory environment as has been done for the past 50 years or longer. This is the case despite the fact that the world is on the brink of, or already part of, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, called by some an ‘emerging new world order’. Educating students today like we did it half a century ago has now become education to a ‘quickly vanishing world’. Although one may argue (...) that the content of Theology will not be much affected by the 4IR, it is proposed that the way in which that content is communicated and educated should change drastically. Doing this will prepare our students to become relevant preachers or theologians in the current postmodern society. The proposed model in this article is called an outside-in model – contrasted to the current inside-out model of education – in which our students should be taught to develop a sense of deep learning, to effectively learn and work in and with groups, to use their mobile devices and social media within the environment of education and to discuss new ways of gathering God’s people.The question that each educator should ask themselves nowadays is: Am I really preparing my students for the future that they are facing?Contribution: A new way of teaching Theology in the 4IR is imperative for our students. This article suggests how it could be done. Although this entails willpower and persuading the mostly ‘old’ lecturers in Theology to engage with real technology, it is all about the student, because many of these students will become the lecturers of tomorrow. Our faculties or departments of Theology are therefore urged to fit themselves into the new mould and to train our future theologians in a 4IR way. (shrink)

This article argues that there is no such phenomenon as a Fourth Industrial Revolution. It derives a framework for the analysis of any industrial revolution from a careful historical account of the archetypal First Industrial Revolution. The suggested criteria for any socioeconomic transformation to be considered an industrial revolution are that it must encompass a technological revolution; a transformation of the labour process; a fundamental change in workplace relations; new forms of community and social (...) relationships; and global socio-economic transformations. These transformations indeed characterise the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. The aggregate of technical innovations in the latter is carefully examined, because this is a crucial part of determining whether we can meaningfully claim that a Fourth Industrial Revolution is underway. The article demonstrates that we cannot. (shrink)

Table of contents -- Foreword by klaus schwab -- Author biographies -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction - by armand doucet & jelmer evers -- education in a time of unprecedented change by michael soskil -- education today: a collection of snapshots by elisa guerra -- - overcoming equity gaps in and through education by michael soskil -- Teach me: the learner profile by armand doucet -- the power of learning by nadia lopez -- contextualizing personalization in education by armand doucet -- (...) Evolution of technology in the classroom by koen timmers -- flip the system: the networked activist teacher by jelmer evers -- Conclusion- by armand doucet & jelmer evers -- Epilogue by andreas schleicher. (shrink)

The very claim of the historical instance of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is increasingly being subjected to critical interrogation from a variety of cultural and ideological perspectives. From an Afrocentric theory of history, this questioning of the ontology of the 4IR is sharpened by Africa’s experience of the claimed progressive mutation of global industrial progress from the “first” to this “fourth” revolution. Africa experienced the first industrial revolution as a European revolution in the exploitation (...) of her natural and human resources, as well as the despoliation of her cultural-epistemic sovereignty. The challenge to fully engage in the theorisation of this 4IR, given the overwhelming and inexorable effects of its digital technologies on the personhood, sociality and geopolitical state of Africa has exposed the critical need for a set of rigorous Africanist analytical tools and epistemological approaches capable of guiding Africa’s appropriation of this techno-social revolution. This essay introduces the collection of research papers that have been selected for their endeavour to meet this challenge. It is highlighted that all of them move from a unique approach that asserts that technological progress is historical-cultural and socially embedded. Some of them address the question of the historico-ontological status of the 4IR innovatively with original African methodological tools, while others demonstrate how an African epistemology can be applied to issues such a digital virtual communities and robotics. This contribution to the bourgeoning field of African Philosophy of Technology is admired as work in progress. (shrink)

Introduction. The fourth industrial revolution significantly changes the structure of economic relations and transforms the importance of factors in the development of territories. The purpose of the article is to identify the most significant factors in the regional development of the Ural macro region in the context of the fourth industrial revolution and to determine the directions of impacts to ensure the competitiveness and long-term growth of territories. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is based (...) on a set of scientific approaches to economic growth, concepts of regional and institutional economics. Research methods include regional, comparative and econometric factor analysis. Scientific novelty of the study. A method for identifying the significance of factors in the development of regions is proposed and the key factors for developing the subjects of the Ural macro region in the context of the fourth industrial revolution are established. The study contributes to the scientific debate on the meaning and management of institutional development factors. Results. The author presents the results of diagnosing the regulatory environment and geographic factors of the subjects of the Ural macro region. An econometric analysis of their impact on economic development has been carried out. The statistical significance for developing the volume of mining and the quality of the legal environment in the regions has been established. Informal institutions (the authors explain the phenomenon by weak differentiation of cultural characteristics and business practices of regions due to their historical connectivity) and transport and geographical location (due to a decrease in spatial influence and an increase in the role of digital technologies in production chains in Industry 4.0). Conclusions. In the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, it was possible to ensure higher values of GRP per capita due to a favorable regulatory environment. In general, in the Russian regions in the second decade of the 21st century, the raw material orientation remains (among the studied objects, the economies of the Orenburg region and Udmurtia are the most extractive). To ensure the country’s long-term development, it is necessary to create a favorable business climate: improving the legal environment in the areas outlined in the study, increasing the level of trust and reducing the level of corruption. (shrink)

This paper proposes an ntu’ologically analytical questioning of the contentious Fourth Industrial Revolution phenomenon, as it suggests that an industrial revolution ought to be appreciated in causation or causality terms. The cause of an industrial revolution is required to comprise ‘adequacy quality causing interactions’ among entities of specific ntu categories. These interactions bring into being nine basic ntu’ological adequacy qualities or industrial revolution criteria. For that reason, nine selected modes of interaction, called in this paper, (...) ntu’ological interactions forms, guide the analytical questioning of the possible existence of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. The aforementioned nine criteria are incontestable in respect of the First, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. This paper, however, takes the agnostic position that: the Fourth Industrial Revolution may exist, but we cannot prove this with theoretical reason. (shrink)

Prevalent narratives of agricultural innovation predict that we are once again on the cusp of a global agricultural revolution. According to these narratives, this so-called fourth agricultural revolution, or agriculture 4.0, is set to transform current agricultural practices around the world at a quick pace, making use of new sophisticated precision technologies. Often used as a rhetorical device, this narrative has a material effect on the trajectories of an inherently political and normative agricultural transition; with funding, other (...) policy instruments, and research attention focusing on the design and development of new precision technologies. A growing critical social science literature interrogates the promises of revolution. Engagement with new technology is likely to be uneven, with benefits potentially favouring the already powerful and the costs falling hardest on the least powerful. If grand narratives of change remain unchallenged, we risk pursuing innovation trajectories that are exclusionary, failing to achieve responsible innovation. This study utilises a range of methodologies to explore everyday encounters between farmers and technology, with the aim of inspiring further work to compile the microhistories that can help to challenge robust grand narratives of change. We explore how farmers are engaging with technology in practice and show how these interactions problematise a simple, linear notion of innovation adoption and use. In doing so, we reflect upon the contribution that the study of everyday encounters can make in setting more inclusionary, responsible pathways towards sustainable agriculture. (shrink)

After explaining the reasons why we must urgently reexamine the foundations of the market economy, the article goes on to illustrate the main differences between the civil market and capitalist market models. It then answers the question of why, in the last quarter of a century, the concept of the civil economy has reemerged as a topic of public debate and scientific research. In particular, it highlights the reasons why the fourth industrial revolution postulates a civil market if (...) the risks involved with the advancement of transhumanism are to be avoided. The article ends with an invitation to transcend the contradictions of the culture of libertarian individualism. Después de aclarar las razones por las cuales es urgente repensar las bases de la economía de mercado, el artículo continúa para ilustrar las principales diferencias entre el modelo del mercado civil y el modelo del mercado capitalista. A continuación, se responde a la pregunta de por qué en el último cuarto de siglo la perspectiva del discurso de la economía civil está resurgiendo en el debate público, así como en la investigación científica. Se presta especial atención a resaltar las razones por las cuales la cuarta revolución industrial debe desarrollarse desde un mercado civil si se quieren evitar los riesgos asociados con el avance del transhumanismo. El artículo termina con una invitación a superar las aporías de la cultura del individualismo libertario. (shrink)

A veritable tidal shift in Herder scholarship has taken place over the last quarter century, primarily but not exclusively in German. This review essay seeks to evoke the richness and vitality of this revival with the hope of persuading American academics that some ill-founded opinions still circulating concerning Herder's "irrationalism" and chauvinistic, even racist nationalism, and his philosophical naivety and literary effrontery, might at last be put to rest. The recent revival has brough sharply to the fore two crucial aspects (...) of Herder. First, there is the contribution of Herder's thought to the emergent cultural and social sciences. Second, for Herder the "science of man" was also a natural science: the division between the humanities and the natural sciences that has been such a hallmark of the age from Kant until very recently did not exist for Herder. (shrink)

New technologies are emerging across the globe and are influencing our perceptions of the world, our behaviour and our understanding of what it means to be a human being. In particular, Klaus Schwab and others define the advancement of ‘cyber-physical systems’, coupled with new capacities for both machines and human beings, in terms of ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’. The South African Parliament placed the Fourth Industrial Revolution on its national agenda. It serves as a new foundation (...) story for the country, one that justifies, explains and facilitates the perceived shifts from previous understandings of reality, and one that currently plays out on an unevenly distributed continuum. To be an effective agent of change and a relevant voice for the voiceless and the powerless in this Fourth Industrial Revolution era, the church must facilitate immersive, yet provocative performances of the Gospels while simultaneously embodying and empowering others with wisdom to traverse this unchartered terrain of technological innovation with insight and discernment. The church’s message should be that, to live more godly, we all need to become more human, not post-human or trans-human. We cannot avoid the fact that we are entering an era in which technology will redefine who we are. However, the question is not only what technology can do for us but also what we as change agents should allow technology to do. Contribution: This article focuses on the role of the Christian church in our era of massive technological innovation. The creative role that faith communities could play in order to ensure a more humane approach to and interaction with various 4IR technologies are addressed. A short investigation is offered of a new ‘hermeneutical performance’ of the Bible as an immersive text in an interactive 4IR world. In this regard the emphasis on a new ‘metanoetic alignment with the mission of Jesus, which is explored in the article, links on to the theological scope of HTS Theological Studies in terms of new theological insights and new vistas for academic investigation. (shrink)

A layered interpretation of the history of chemistry is discussed through chemical revolutions. A chemical revolution mainly by emplacement, instead of replacement, procedures were identified by: a radical reinterpretation of existing thought recognized by contemporaries themselves, which means the appearance of new concepts and the arrival of new theories; the use of new instruments changed the way in which its practitioners looked and worked in the world and through exemplars, new entities were discovered or incorporated; the opening of new (...) subdisciplines, which produced, separated scientific communities. The fourth chemical revolution, fundamentally characterized by the incorporation of new instruments in chemical practices is discussed. (shrink)

One can say that there is inadequate preparation, in Africa, to embrace the fourth industrial revolution. Two schools of thought argue as to the reason for this state of affair. While the Internalist school blames the situation on Africa’s culture and metaphysics, the Externalist school considers external factors as the ultimate explanation for Africa’s plight. We argue that both internal and external factors considered separately are not sufficient as the ultimate explanation for Africa’s lack of preparation, hence the (...) need for a multi-dimensional approach which offers more than the conventional wisdom but critically considers what constitutes a complex explanation and solution for Africa’s plight. Furthermore, we suggest that more attention should be paid to Africa’s existential situation if she must rise to take her place in the emerging revolution. The study initiates a conversation around the theme of Africa’s fate in the looming fourth industrial revolution using phenomenological methods of research. (shrink)

The recent technological revolution, often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or the Second Machine Age, has brought significant changes in both the knowledge production process and its outputs. These changes have raised the question of whether a doctoral degree will retain its unique value as a knowledge creator in the future. In addition, the global challenges confronting society, such as climate change and economic inequality, require a better response from doctoral education and raise the question (...) of whether the current form of doctoral education will meet the demands of future society. Doctoral education might harness technological developments wisely to address these challenges, or it might miss this opportunity and thus lose its valuable role in educating advanced researchers. Based on a critical review of the literature, this paper explores the meaning of the profession in the future at a time of technological revolution and imagines possible future scenarios for doctoral education. The paper applies Ronald Barnett’s framework for the imaginative university, focusing on ideological, dystopian, persuasive and utopian universities, and describes the potential changes to doctoral education. (shrink)

In an era during which more and more people show signs of narcissism, extreme individualistic views and a lack of empathy for others, the evidence that a definite change in society has taken place cannot be denied. This change is, in many ways, the result of the fast-growing pace of development and availability of technology, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in terms of which change has become a daily occurrence. Accessibility to the Internet and social media (...) platforms contributes to the rapid change in society and how people and specifically younger generations view themselves and approach others. Amid this change, the church must act as a positive change agent and should not oppose change. Change has become a constant in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the church thus needs to become an agent in this process of change, to reorientate the focus of society and overcome the self-centeredness induced by current technological progress in society. What should such a focus look like? In answering this question, perspectives from Psalm 82 and the Old Testament are considered.Contribution: This article makes an interdisciplinary contribution, drawing knowledge from the Psalms in the Old Testament, social anthropology and technological advancement studies as to contribute on the relevance of theology today and the importance of understanding generational differences in a time of technological growth and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. (shrink)

Ethics and robotics in the fourth industrial revolution The current industrial revolution, characterised by a pervasive spread of technologies and robotic systems, also brings with it an economic, social, cultural and anthropological revolution. Work spaces will be reshaped over time, giving rise to new challenges for human‒machine interaction. Robotics is hereby inserted in a working context in which robotic systems and cooperation with humans call into question the principles of human responsibility, distributive justice and dignity of (...) work. In particular, the responsibilities for using a robotic system in a surgical context will be discussed, along with possible problems of medium- or long-term technological unemployment to be tackled on the basis of shared concepts of distributive justice. Finally, the multiple dimensions of human dignity in the working context are dealt with in terms of dignity of work, dignity at work and dignity in human‒machine interaction. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

There are two approaches to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956: to view it as a national or as a social affair; a fight for national independence or for a revolutionary transformation of society. The two approaches can be collapsed into a comprehensive one in the name of autonomy, and this is what Feher and Heller did, remaining mindful, however, of the two major and irreducible aspects of the actual events and their motivating forces. Their main argument is threefold. The (...) people in revolt wanted to establish a “dual system” of a socialist economy and a political pluralism; they wanted a renegotiation of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements; and in the course of the revolution they achieved a national consensus that could actively negotiate a compromise implied by both major aims. (shrink)