The third industrial revolution that scientists have been talking about seems to have already begun. The world is again on the threshold of global changes. We can safely say that the changes will take place not at the will of the peoples and politicians, but as a result of the need to confront the impending crisis of public and private financial institutions. This is facilitated by growing competition from developing countries, which raises the question of getting rid of industries with low technology, high costs and low efficiency.
Background
Preparation for the industrial breakthrough process is already underway, the third industrial revolution is just around the corner. There are a sufficient number of factors that can ensure its onset - these are new technologies and materials, a high level of software, a number of the latest web servers,technological processes. They can change our lives beyond recognition. An example would be 3D printing. It is impossible to say specifically at what time the acceleration of the implementation of all this into life and what consequences this may cause will take place. But the process cannot be stopped.
Who can ensure the third industrial revolution?
The answer is unequivocal: only big business and TNCs, which have a huge influence on the decision-making process of governments of all countries. Only they are interested in promoting and developing production, since competition will be the main driving force here. Today, they will not be hindered by governments, much less from society. Now lobbying has been elevated to such a rank and its mechanisms are so sophisticated that business and government are practically inseparable.
Jeremy Rifkin and the third industrial revolution
Traditional centralized business practices are being replaced by new business structures, according to Jeremy Rifkin, one of America's most influential economists and environmentalists. To some, his ideas will seem strange, but nevertheless, Rifkin's vision of the third industrial revolution found support and was officially accepted by the community of Europe and China. Even cautious attempts are being made to bring his concept to life.
In his book, he not only names the main prerequisites that have developed today, analyzes the basic characteristics, principles of the occurrence ofnew infrastructure, but also considers all possible obstacles that may arise in different countries, individual communities and the whole world. According to his concept, the synergy of energy and telecommunication technologies and created systems is the basis. The means to create it will be new forms of communication, which will become a means to create previously unseen forms of energy, including renewable ones.
Five foundations of a new revolution
According to Rifkin, five basic pillars will serve as the basis for the coming transformations:
- Energy, which is considered to be renewable. Solar, hydro, biomass, wind, wave, generated by the movement of the ocean.
- Building buildings that produce energy.
- Hydrogen and other energy storage.
- Energy internet (smart grid). The use of new technologies for the transmission and receipt of electricity on the basis of the information Internet. The leader in smart grid adoption is Germany, where an experiment is being conducted in which one million buildings are converted into mini-power generators. Well-known companies Siemens and Bosch Daimler are working on devices capable of connecting the energy network and Internet communications. So the industrial revolution has begun.
- Vehicles powered by electric, hybrid and conventional fuels.
According to Rifkin, in 25 years the constructed and transformed buildings will perform the function of not only residential buildings,offices, industrial plants, as well as power plants. They will be able to convert the energy of the sun, wind, recycling of garbage and waste from certain types of production, such as woodworking, and transfer it to the network via the Internet.
Consequences
Plants and factories in the sense to which we are accustomed remain in the past. Huge workshops lined with hundreds of machine tools, behind which workers in oiled overalls work. Stuffy and smoky workshops with proletarians and their main tool - a hammer. They are being replaced by premises that are more like modern offices equipped with computers that are engaged in labor-intensive manufacturing, fitting, and adjustment of samples. They instruct 3D printers to produce layer upon layer of the most complex and sophisticated parts, products.
Such computers and 3D printers are the head of complex manufacturing. They can make any product, up to a car. But that's in the future. Today, technology is not so perfect. But the trouble is the beginning, they are developing at an unprecedented pace. So seeing a car made with a 3D printer is a matter of the near future.
And again, physics against lyricists
If spiritual, philosophical, political thought are, to put it mildly, in stagnation, then mathematicians, chemists, biologists, physicists do not get tired of presenting new discoveries to society. Boson discovered; nanotechnologies are successfully introduced into modern production; vehicles operating without drivers; energy savingcars capable of driving 600 miles on 1 liter of fuel; breakthrough Internet technologies; a huge number of robots performing various functions. The list goes on.
What is the response of the humanities to this challenge? Stagnation in all directions. Moral guidelines are lost. There are no leaders, bright authorities. Instead, there are many governments that do not have the trust of the citizens. International organizations are not empowered, they are really weak and cannot influence the current process. Everywhere there is a crisis of confidence in the bodies that manage states, financial unions, and in the ideas of democracy. No one can predict how the third industrial revolution will take place in this difficult situation and how it will affect people's lives, what consequences it will lead to.
First Revolution
Great Britain at the end of the 18th century served as the beginning and place of the beginning of the first industrial revolution. It was ubiquitous and comprehensive, which subsequently made it possible to cover the countries of Europe and the USA. Its consequences include a radical change in industrial manufactories. Steam engines began to be used everywhere, the printing press was invented and applied. Her symbols are steam and coal.
The reform of textile production, the development of light industry, the increase in labor productivity have changed the nature of production, the way and place of residence of people. Printed products, including the mass production of newspapers and magazines, have changed the information impacton people, at times increased their education.
Second Revolution
The second industrial revolution is the transition to another phase of development. This was facilitated by the use of electricity, conveyors and internal combustion engines in industry. It was these factors that made the release of goods massive.
It is considered to be a symbol of oil, as well as a Ford car. The production of automobiles led to the massive production of oil and its processing. The social life of a person did not remain unchanged, as radio and television appeared, which radically changed his thinking.
What the future revolution has in store for us
No one can say exactly what the coming changes will bring us. But we can assume that this is, first of all, the democratization of production. Each state and even a single family can participate in the manufacture of goods. Various costs will be reduced, especially transport costs, since the original parts will be produced locally. The era of small and medium-sized enterprises will come. Her symbols are the Internet and the energy transmitted by it.
