Page 24 - DPSA - Service Delivery Report

FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Behold the Future of Work
Futurists Professor André Roux, Doris Viljoen and Deidre Samson from the Institute for Futures Research at Stellenbosch University, provide snapshots of the future world of work in South Africa, in a report commissioned by Nedlac and released early this year.
Introduction
As has been the case for all previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth In- dustrial Revolution (4IR) will, of neces- sity, result in technological, economic, social, political, business, moral, and even aesthetic disruption. However, the perceived impact of this disruption ranges from the dystopian to the en- lightening. The ambivalence towards the 4IR is perhaps best captured by Geoff Livingston: “I see the movement towards artificial intelligence (AI) and
Graph 1: General environmental context
robotics as evolutionary, in large part because it is such a sociological leap. The technology may be ready, but we are not – at least, not yet”.
The dichotomous nature of the expect- ed impact of the 4IR is co-created by
a broad spectrum of vectors, includ- ing hyperbole, superstition, ignorance, propaganda, ideology, resistance to change, lack of foresight, ethics, prej- udice, and historical misinterpretation. These sentiments and views are mag- nified in South Africa where poverty,
22 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 12 No.3 of 2019