Becoming Survivors in the 4.0 Era
To face the digital era, for instance, we can read Tom Chatsfield’s 2012 title, How to Thrive in the Digital Age, on the relevant competencies that can prepare us for Industry 4.0.
"It\'s technology, not business or government, that\'s the real driving force behind large-scale societal shifts”. (Sean Parker, US businessman, Napster co-founder and first Facebook resident, as quoted in Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin, 2017).
On New Year’s Day, a variety of various reflections came to mind. One emerged upon reading Yasraf Amir Piliang’s contribution, “Repositioning, Reinterpreting and Reimagining Indonesia: Nation-Building through Creativity” in Reinventing Indonesia (Komaruddin Hidayat & Putut Widjanarko, eds., 2008).
It is encouraging to read that Indonesia and Indonesian-ness is something that must be continuously sought, built, interpreted and imagined. Such an awareness or understanding leads to at least two wisdoms. First is that Indonesia and Indonesian-ness must not be seen as something static or final. This first wisdom makes way to the second one, that there is work to be done to make sure that Indonesia and Indonesian-ness continue to grow in line with the changing times.
Thus far, our concerns have been focused on conventional issues: integration, nation-building, environment, terrorism and inequality.
It is true that all these are still relevant. However, at the same time, there are new topics that are perhaps growing banal, namely disruption and Industry 4.0. Despite the banality, these new topics must still be perused and responded to wisely and immediately.
Mankind is clearly blessed by societal revolutions. The first industrial revolution between 1760 and 1840 was marked by the invention of the stream engine and railroads. The second industrial revolution in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was marked by the invention of electricity and mass production through assembly lines. The third industrial revolution, often called the computer revolution, began in the 1960s with the development of the semiconductor and mainframe computing, personal computing in 1970-1980 and the internet in the 1990s
Reading Klaus Schwab’s exposition in his 2017 title, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, we are now at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution built on the digital revolution. Today, we see the mushrooming of mobile connectivity, smaller yet stronger and cheaper sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The last one refers to implementing AI in a system that enables it to automatically develop the capability to learn and improve based on experience, without any explicit programming.
In Industry 4.0 – a term first popularized during the Hannover Fair in 2011 – the emergence and mushrooming of key technologies, including AI, robotics, 3D printing and the Internet of Things (IoT), enables the emergence of smart factories where physical and virtual production systems collaborate flexibly in a global scope.
Beyond the increasingly intelligent system and machine connectivity, Industry 4.0 is marked by significant advances in other sectors, such as genetic modification and nanotechnology.
Beyond the increasingly intelligent system and machine connectivity, Industry 4.0 is marked by significant advances in other sectors, such as genetic modification and nanotechnology. The fusion of various technologies and their interactions in the physical, digital and biological realms make Industry 4.0 fundamentally different from all previous industrial revolutions.
Observing impacts
Observing the breadth and depth of technological disruption as well as the emergence of various innovations, it is understandable that were, both individually and as a nation, must open our eyes to the various potential impacts of Industry 4.0. This will not be easy, as we were overwhelmed by problems even before the start of Industry 4.0, including digital and economic inequality, the current account deficit and the limited availability of jobs.
Jobs can be seen as a critical issue in Industry 4.0, as AI and robotics will change the landscape of jobs. On the one hand, millions of jobs, especially routine and administrative jobs, will disappear; on the other, millions of new jobs that are unknown today will emerge.
To face these potential new jobs, we must be as smart as machine learning to grasp the trend. By understanding the character of current and future technologies, we will be able to adapt in terms of competence.
To face the digital era, for instance, we can read Tom Chatsfield’s 2012 title, How to Thrive in the Digital Age, on the relevant competencies that can prepare us for Industry 4.0.
Returning to Schwab, who gathered input from the World Economic Forum (WEF), he cited that three of the most important and required skills beginning in 2020 are cognitive skills (closely linked to logic and rational intelligence), the ability to understand systems and skills in solving complex problems. Other skills that are frequently discussed and seen as superior to cognitive skills are referred to as soft skills – social skills – and rank sixth on the WEF’s list.
No matter how you look at it, Industry 4.0 necessitates the mastery of new skills nurtured through educational institutions and the mass media
No matter how you look at it, Industry 4.0 necessitates the mastery of new skills nurtured through educational institutions and the mass media. It is in considering the literacy of these 4.0-era cultures that is Kompas’ reason for bringing up this theme.
A new approach
All levels of education must implement new education and learning methods. It will be inadequate to use all class hours merely on transferring knowledge or on learning subjects.
It will be wise if some time is used to develop new skills in demand by the 4.0 era. Under an umbrella that nurtures students as lifelong learners, it is important to instill in them the skills to collaborate, adapt, be tolerant, be solution-oriented, innovate and develop new ideas.
Among the stereotypes of Industry 4.0 is that it is “fast-paced”. However, we must also be aware that this mindset can lead to unnecessary complications in matters related to intellectual rights and the Electronic Information and Transaction (ITE) Law. It is in this perspective that we often hear the advice “filter before sharing”, as our fingers may move faster than our thinking.
However, “fast-paced” often leads to shallowness while today’s complex problems often require in-depth thinking and discussions to settle fully. It is understandable, then, that Canadian journalist Carl Honore wrote in In Praise of Slowness (2004), as did Thomas Friedman in Thank You for Being Late (2016), on ways to ensure success in this fast-paced era.
Indonesia must run quickly to catch up with other nations in the dawn of this new era. However, in order to survive the waves of Industry 4.0, speed alone will not be enough, and developing a deep understanding of problems will also be important