Society 4.0
Add comment August 18th, 2006 Robert Bosman
We are at the doorstep of a whole new society.
Those who take the time to watch what’s happening right now and have the insight to think beyond the borders of the present, know that a whole new world is on it’s way… and that at high speed!
This weblog is all about or future, that new world, that new society, which we will call Society 4.0. Because in our history as human beings, there were 4 deliberate main steps or ‘quantum leaps’ - so called because of the hug change in human lives that leaps created.
- The 1st quantum leap was the invention of human language, a symbolic and very powerful way of direct communication. Language gave us the opportunity of sharing our experiences with our children and being so it’s the very basics of all knowledge. Knowledge changed human life as nomads into that of farmers. And a whole new society emerged…
- The invention of writing was the 2nd quantum leap, enabling indirect communication: writing enabled us to communicate with people at other places and even from other times! It didn’t only expand our knowledge tremendously; it also enabled the development of a system of written laws, the very basis of the ancient kingdoms and even of our modern societies. Moreover, without writing the three ‘religions of the book’ (Judaism, Christianity and the Islam) couldn’t even exist… Just like the language, writing created a whole new society…
- The art of printing created the 3rd main shock (quantum leap) in our human history by enabling mass communication. That caused the rise of science, a new school system, the rise of private enterprises, the birth of republics and its new democracy etc. Again, a whole new society emerged…
- The 4th quantum leap is that of digitalization, a ‘universal language’ that not only enabled a whole new way of digital writing (in computer storage) and mass communication (by audio, video, telephone etc), but most of all enabled mass co-creation: ‘normal citizens’ like you and me are not any longer depending of the permission of the limited number of wealthy people to publish our thoughts, idea’s, pictures, music, movies and so on, we just do it! Empowered as we are by the ultimate digital plaza, the internet! This 4th leap is creating a total upside-down transformation of power, on a scale that has never seen before in human history. And we’re just at the very beginning of it! Tremendous challenges for those who see them; hug problems for those that continue sleeping - unless we help them. So, once more, a whole new society is on its way…
The bad news is that each transformation of society showed a lot of misunderstanding, fights, war, hatred, blood and tears. The good news is that nevertheless always a better society was the result.
The good news is also that this new society is being created in our time. And that not only the happy few, but all us may participate. Encouraging is also that each of the quantum leaps was followed by a tremendous economical growth, sometimes called ‘The Golden Age’. So, a new Golden Age is coming. If, and only if we are able to live in peace. Peace with each other and peace with ‘mother earth’ as such.
And that brings us to wisdom, practical wisdom or practosophy®, one of the other main topics of this weblog.
Technorati Tags: web2.0, evolution, society, new world, philosophy, practosophy
