The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Promise or Peril?

The “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4IR) debuted at the World Economic Forum’s 2016 conference as a vision of the future in which emerging technologies change “the very essence of our human experience.” Since then, the idea of 4IR has been used to promote a wide range of emerging technologies and organizations. This paper takes a critical look at the idea of the fourth industrial revolution, exploring how 4IR benefits the organizations which adopt it, the validity and implications of claiming that certain technologies cause ‘revolutionary’ change, and the consequences of adopting a vision of the future written and promoted by the notoriously exclusive World Economic Forum. I argue that 4IR is based in the flawed logic of technological determinism, and that it disempowers women, people of color, and the people of the Global South while reinforcing and justifying the power held over them by the Global North and its tech industries. 4IR is currently an attractive marketing phrase, but it damages the credibility and reputation of those who adopt it while promoting the development of technologies which serve private interests over public interests.