The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Mechanization of Life

We know that in the early ages, people depended only on agriculture or nature for their livelihood.

Even 300 years ago, the economy and people's standard of living depended on agriculture. People have been constantly inventing new things to improve their quality of life. When those inventions were widely used commercially, the economy was revolutionized. At various times, the massive change in the world based on the commercialization of inventions is called the Industrial Revolution. Three major industrial revolutions are considered to have occurred in the world so far. The fourth industrial revolution has begun, and people are getting used to it.

First Industrial Revolution: The first industrial revolution began with Thomas Newcomen's invention of the steam engine in 1710. We know James Watt's name from the steam engine. He made essential improvements to the first commercially successful steam engine, which became a huge success. This steam engine ushered in the mechanized age of our agricultural economy. As a result, the economy shifted from agriculture to industrialization later through the use of machinery in agriculture or the extraction of iron and coal from mines.

Second Industrial Revolution: The invention of electricity in 1870 brought us from darkness to a world of light. During this time, the rapid expansion of electrical technology transformed industry and society, becoming the driving force behind the second industrialization. Electricity's extraordinary versatility has given it nearly unlimited uses, including transportation, heating, lighting, communication, computation, etc. Electric power is now the backbone of modern industrial society.

Third Industrial Revolution: The third industrial revolution began with the combination of information and communication technology with the massive development of computer technology and the invention of the Internet in 1969. This revolution is also known as the digital revolution. As a result, a knowledge-based economy was born. Technology puts the world at our fingertips, allowing countries like ours with fewer natural resources and more population to contribute to the global economy. It gives millions of people the opportunity to work from home. It ushered in an industrial revolution, where business could be based on information alone, without physical infrastructure. There are many examples of this around us. 

Ride-sharing companies, such as Pathao or Uber, do not own their cars but are trading with others' cars. Again, e-commerce companies do not have their own stock but are doing business by selling other people's products. Many examples of companies are doing very well just by matching buyers and sellers with information. The main point of the third industrial revolution was that whoever had a good information collection and distribution system would have a business. Such big companies include Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Amazon, etc.

Fourth Industrial Revolution: The term Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) was first coined by scientists developing a high-tech strategy for the German government. Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, coined the term in a 2015 article in Foreign Affairs. The concept of the fourth industrial revolution is more advanced. Here, information collection, delivery, and use will be automated. Decisions, machine-to-machine communication, and execution will take place without human assistance. What humans cannot do physically will also be possible here automatically.

If we look at the use of technology in our daily work, some of the technologies used in the fourth industrial revolution and their use can be as follows.

Smart Lifestyle: IoT (Internet of Things) can do much more. Devices with internet connections, such as smartphones, can be called IoT devices. We saw an example of this technology in the third phase of the industrial revolution, like Uber, Amazon, Airbnb, etc., where booking is done manually. Data will be automatically collected, maintained, and used in the fourth industrial revolution, for example, in a smart home, bright office, or smart factory.

Let's say something happens in your home while you are not home, and a specific device detects it, immediately informs you, and solves the problem. For example, you have a habit of opening the refrigerator after returning home to eat something, but the fridge sees that it is not there. The refrigerator itself orders it. Or the cleaning robot cleans the room in your absence. All this is possible now.

Surrealism: This is the fancy name for virtual reality. What if you could try on your favorite clothes from an e-commerce site at home? Now, many things, including glasses, can be seen later. 

Robotics: Robots will slowly take over monotonous and dangerous jobs. Everything from running machines in factories to driving cars on the road will be automated. Robots can efficiently perform any complex operation on the patient that is difficult for humans. A machine will replace any part of the organism. Automated robot-controlled machines will cultivate, sow, maintain, and harvest in the crop fields. Behind these social and economic changes lies a vast trove of data, which quantum computing will analyze instantly. Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning can analyze data and make decisions automatically.

Cyber Security: Bangladesh's financial landscape is undergoing rapid and transformative modernization. The complex interplay between digital advances and the constant risk of regulatory breaches in the cyber world poses a significant threat to the financial sector.

Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is a technological advancement and a strategic imperative for business organizations that want to keep pace with the modern era. It provides a secure, cost-effective, flexible, and scalable solution to store, manage, and access data and applications from anywhere worldwide, making it a game-changer for business organizations.

What are we to do?

Passed well on all indicators, moving out of the least developed country (LDC) into a developing country category. Now, waiting for the official announcement, Bangladesh will no longer get several global trade benefits after the announcement. Free market economies have to compete with developing countries.

Besides, public awareness about the fourth industrial revolution is necessary to realize the vision of achieving the status of a high-income country through industrialization. Education, research, and production must be worked on by adopting a realistic plan. We should teach our children about 'next-generation technologies' such as IoT, AI, Big Data, VR, Genetic Engineering, Robotics, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain, and efforts should be made to educate the masses at least about these technologies.

Impact of cloud seeding technology on the environment

Currently, silver iodide is the most effective and popular for cloud seeding. Prolonged drought-prone conditions have exacerbated the current century's water crisis. About 45 percent of the world's population suffers from acute water stress and lacks sufficient water for irrigation. There is an excellent possibility that all countries will suffer from a severe water crisis in the next 20-25 years. In such a situation, artificial rainfall solves acute water problems. Technology is moving and dynamic. Technology never stands still. Day by day, there is a significant development. Again, the invention of a completely new technology breaks all previous ideas. Cloud seeding technology is still quite expensive. Scientists are currently researching how to do the process with low-cost laser technology. Modern research is underway on cloud seeding using laser beams instead of airplanes or rockets.

Seeding is artificially creating clouds in the sky to produce rain. Artificial precipitation does not mean precipitation from artificially created clouds. Artificial rainfall forces useless rain clouds floating in the sky to fall to the ground as rain. Artificial precipitation is a process through which precipitation is caused by artificially impregnating a particular type of cloud. Hence, it is also called the 'artificial transformation' of clouds. Cloud seeding or artificial precipitation is forcing rain through scientific manipulation of nature.

On the other hand, it is also known as cloud seeding. In this case, the first step is to create a cloud. The second step is to condense these clouds to bring them into a state suitable for precipitation. In the third i.e. last step rain is poured. However, artificial precipitation is usually caused by turning clouds floating in the sky into water droplets. The principle of rain is the condensation of clouds. This process usually occurs naturally. Rainfall is entirely natural. Due to nature's careless rains, situations like over-rainfall and non-rainfall occur. Naturally, due to the sun's intense heat, the water in the sea, rivers or reservoirs evaporates and rises. Then, these water vapors become clouds by mixing with numerous dust particles floating in the air. When these clouds, floating in the troposphere of the sky, become heavy to condense over time, they fall to the surface as raindrops under the earth's gravity.

Rain will start immediately if the clouds in this troposphere can be artificially condensed ahead of time. This is essentially what 'cloud seeding' does. Cloud seeding is the dispersion of substances into the air. In actuality, that acts as a cloud condensation or ice nucleus. Cloud seeding technology uses ubiquitous chemicals like dry ice, solid carbon dioxide, silver iodide, potassium iodide, etc. Liquid propane gas is also used in this technology. This gas can form ice crystals at higher temperatures than silver iodide. This causes the cloud to condense rapidly and reach a falling state. However, this technology has now increased the use of sodium chloride or table salt as it has proven to be much cheaper and quite effective.

During cloud seeding, the temperature inside the cloud drops to 7 to 20 degrees Celsius. At that time, there is a danger of snowfall. Chemicals like silver iodide are used to eliminate this situation. Cloud-seeding material is spread around the cloud by aircraft or rockets. As the aircraft moves through the clouds, silver iodide is also dispersed. Tiny crystalline grains of this chemical essentially act as cloud seeds. The water vapor in these grains collects the water particles and turns them into large droplets. For this, the cloud must first be created. In the second stage, these clouds must be condensed and brought to the conditions suitable for precipitation. Condensed clouds eventually gain weight and fall as rain under the pull of gravity. However, artificial rain is usually caused by turning the clouds floating in the sky into water droplets. As a result, artificial rainfall occurs. Artificial snow and rain are produced using the same technology.

Source: Hiren Pandit

Bio: Hiren Pandit is an essayist and a researcher.

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