People with more extreme and rigid ideas tend to get the most attention. This is sadly the norm today. There is no love for the level-headed, open-minded ones.
In fact, they say that if you want half of the population to hate you, take on an extreme view the other half opposes. At least those on your side will be your friends.
But if you want everyone to hate you, be intelligent, moderate and open-minded about issues. Both sides will hate you because you are not putting down anyone, rather you are doing the unthinkable: you are showing merit and flaws of BOTH sides. Such blasphemy!
But why are people so easily influenced by bigots? The reason for this, I believe, is two-fold: technological and psychological.
Let’s look at the psychological reason: people are easily influenced by those with extreme ideas, mistaking that rigidity and dogma for strength and courage. Their unwillingness to question their own ideas and consider to even consider any different ideas, is perceived as conviction.
But it is really just narrow-mindedness, intolerance and fear. They have found themselves in an ideological comfort zone, and are secure there; any suggestion to come out of the zone will be met with resistance, and even violence.
It’s like a beast trapped in a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Its natural survival instincts will kick in, and it will fight with everything it has. That’s not courage, it’s instinct.
As for the technological reason, it has to do with how the social media algorithms work. They are programmed to reward posts that draw attention and interactions. And this is heaven for bigots.
It works in their favor because the moment they put out some polarizing nonsense, people on both sides get triggered and do the inevitable: they start to give the post attention, either through love or hate. And those posts are picked up by the algorithms and elevated to the point that they go viral.
But take a level-headed view and say something like, “group A has a good point, but…” and the algorithms go, “meh.”
So these factors contribute to the extremists and bigots gaining more publicity and traction, which is not to say that they are weak. I would argue that they can be much stronger and possess significantly stronger powers of influence than the level-headed.
This is because of emotions.
Being bigoted is easy because it uses a lot of emotions and very little brain power. It is easy to believe firmly in baseless ideas, such as “we are better because of the color of our skin” or “because of our genetics, religion or political inclination.”
In fact, using the brain is detrimental to bigotry, and is hence discouraged. The basic rule is to reject everything the other side says, and you will be fine.
It is like when Richard Dawkins, a vociferous and hard-core critic of Islam, was asked if he ever read the Quran. He tweeted his rather rhetorical response, “Of course you can have an opinion about Islam without having read Qur’an. You don’t have to read Mein Kampf to have an opinion about nazism..”
That’s right. Do not use your precious mental energies to assess the views of the people you are attacking. It takes a lot of mental energy to take an intelligent approach.
It’s as F. Scott Fitzgerald mentioned in his essay “The Crack-Up”, that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time.”
Ideas like, “I believe I am correct, and am confident, but… there might be merit to what the opponent is saying.”
But who needs a first-rate intelligence when you can get the views and go viral? When you can use rhetorical trickery, shame and fear tactics to get people on your side?
Why go to the trouble? Because trouble is the price of progress, peace, justice and fruitful coexistence in a world torn apart by war, genocide and exploitation.
The moderate path is a harder one, but a necessary one. Just to be clear, it isn’t a path where we to give up our ideals and beliefs to become some sort of bland monoculture (like in modern USA) or, worse still, nihilists.
Rather, it is one where we are strong in our own personal convictions, beliefs and culture, while at the same time recognizing and respecting that others are different, have different views and different opinions and different cultures, and choosing to work together for the greater good.
As the Quran says: ‘O People of the Book (Christians and Jews)! Come to common terms as between us and you…’ (Quran 3:64).
By embracing creativity and critical thinking, we can reclaim the narrative from the extremists.
Change won’t come easily—but when has anything worthwhile ever been easy?
Amazon is a cash machine, and there are ways to sell products that don’t require a significant time or financial investment to get started.
In 2021, 50% of Amazon’s $469.8 billion in net sales came from third-party merchants, according to the company’s recent press release. Between Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA), book publishing, private labelling products, and the Amazon associates program, there are many different ways to tap into Amazon’s loyal customer base and create a new stream of income.
Here’s what you need to know about how to make money on Amazon – along with advice from experts who are doing it.
4 Ways to Make Money on Amazon
2.45 billion people access Amazon each month, according to research published by Statista, a data analytics company. In addition to the methods listed below, you could use Amazon as a marketing platform to sell low-cost products, introduce customers to your company, and later sell professional services or other larger offers.
Here are four viable ways to make money with your own Amazon page if you’re getting started today.
No. 1: Publish Physical or Digital Books
50% of research participants believed they have a good idea for a book, according to a poll of 2,000 people led by OnePoll in partnership with ThriftBooks, a book reseller. If you want to write and publish a book quickly, Amazon is a great place to self-publish and start selling your masterpiece.
“Anytime I’m looking for a book, I go to Amazon first,” says Tae Lee, an Amazon-published author and founder of The Money Maximizer, a company that helps consumers build generational wealth. “We sell books that you read and books that you work through (workbooks), and we spend two hours a week marketing the books on social media and to our email list.”
Lee notes that sales of her books lead to sales of her consulting services, and that a book on Amazon can be a marketing channel to sell other products and services. Other entrepreneurs agree that this strategy is viable.
“I make money by selling my books on Amazon,” says Sha’ Cannon, an Amazon published author and founder of The Fractional C.O.O., a company that helps business owners with financial growth strategy. “I have a course, fractional chief operating services, and use my book [as a promotional tool] to help with selling products and services.”
Cannon says she mainly uses books as a credibility play to later promote and sell consulting services or digital products. Her Amazon book sales lead to an average of $7,900 per month in consulting clients and $500 per month in digital product sales on the backend.
Millions of authors use Amazon as a marketplace to sell their books, but the way customers like to consume books varies. Consider listing your book in paperback, Kindle, and Audible formats to reach different types of consumers on the platform with the same information.
No. 2: Use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)
Fulfillment By Amazon is a fulfillment network that leverages advanced technology and warehouses of various shapes and sizes to support the processing of orders. One way to make money on Amazon is to sell a product on the site, then have an Amazon fulfillment center handle the delivery of the product via its FBA services.
Promote your products, then watch Amazon fulfill them to your customers whenever you make sales.
You can sell products and know that Amazon is taking care of what could be the most time-consuming part of the process.
FBA is not the same as dropshipping, a form of ecommerce in which you never actually hold your own inventory. You will have to supply the product in order for Amazon to fulfill it; you can source these products either by shopping locally and then selling on Amazon, or finding a supplier like Alibaba that can send your inventory to an Amazon warehouse on your behalf.
Retail Arbitrage
The end goal of any Amazon ecommerce strategy is to buy or develop a product at one price, then sell it at a higher price on Amazon. When you purchase an already-existing product, then mark it up to turn a profit, this is known as retail arbitrage.
In times of duress, retail arbitrage can be controversial, such as when hand sanitizer resale prices spiked dramatically at the start of the pandemic. However, retail arbitrage is fairly common, as some entrepreneurs make time and effort to locate sources willing to sell wholesale goods, then mark up prices later.
Amazon Handmade
Want to only sell the items that you yourself have made? Amazon Handmade is a platform specifically for artisans who want to spend their time creating goods and let Amazon handle the rest. Amazon Handmade was founded in 2015 and has handmade sellers in over 80 countries.
Remember that Amazon’s area of expertise is shipping. If you have a great product, and just need to dial in the fulfillment piece, using Amazon might be a great fit for you.
No. 3: Private Label Products
Another way to make money on Amazon is through selling private label products and services. There are a few ways to use private labeling on Amazon.
Find a product with good sales but low reviews. There are some great products that can’t get enough reviews, so their sales are affected. You see what the sales of those products are and either negotiate a deal with the manufacturer or source a similar product, then label the product as your own.
Offer a product or service to another established brand to sell for you as if it’s their own. Since they have an established audience, they do the selling for a percentage.
Offer a product or service to sell under your brand. You may be the seller with the audience–you can sell other products and services under your brand as if they’re your own.
Sell different versions of a product or service. You may have higher and lower- priced versions of your product or service. You can sell one under your brand name and private label the other to differentiate what you offer. This allows you to appeal to different customer bases. Walmart’s Great Value brand and Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand are two examples of this.
Many companies and brands private label offers because it makes more sense financially. There might be a product or service you can private label and sell on Amazon.
No. 4: Sell a Subscription Box
Subscription boxes like Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh, and Birchbox have taken their industries by storm in recent years. If you have a great idea for a product that people want monthly, Amazon has an invite-only program that lets sellers list, sell, and manage subscription box products directly from the platform without having to figure out their own delivery service.
To receive an invitation from Amazon, you must be able to offer a fully-assembled curated subscription box with the ability to support free shipping directly to customers nationwide, Guam and Puerto Rico. Amazon says that sellers must also have an active Professional seller account to start selling, although it is not required to apply for the program. Applicants get notified via email of their application status in seven to ten business days.
Callwood says a subscription box is an untapped way to make money on Amazon and can lead to other opportunities.
“Before putting it on Amazon, my box had been featured in media publications, the Oscars Gala, gift guides, and many other places,” says Callwood. “I used the media attention to negotiate a good deal with Amazon to list my tea subscription box. Because of Amazon, I’ve also been able to get my tea box on DoorDash, UberEats, Postmates, and GrubHub.”
Subscribers to a subscription box make regular payments to get a box filled with items of a particular category. The seller packages up the month’s selections and sends them to customers at set intervals.
Do I Need to Sell Something to Make Money on Amazon?
Not necessarily! There are ways to make money on Amazon that don’t require you to supply your own product at all.
One way to make money without selling a product or service is by joining Amazon’s associate program. This affiliate program lets you create affiliate links for your favorite products and earn an affiliate commission whenever someone purchases from your link.
Here’s how the Amazon affiliate program works:
Sign up as an Amazon associate.
Get your affiliate link center set up.
Find the products on Amazon you want to promote, then generate affiliate links for those specific products.
Promote your affiliate links wherever you like, but make sure you disclose that they are indeed affiliate links, per FTC guidelines.
Whenever people purchase items through your affiliate link, you’ll earn a small commission for every sale.
Being an Amazon associate is a way to earn passive income without having to set up your own Amazon business. You can have hundreds of affiliate links for products you like. You can share those links in various places online and make as much money as you want without having to manage any one physical product on Amazon.
Is Selling on Amazon Worth It?
With billions of dollars being spent by consumers, selling on Amazon is worth it for those looking for a way to make money without taking up too much time. You can add some extra dollars to your bank account or even build a business.
“I think that having anything on Amazon automatically puts you in front of more people you may not have access to,” says Maleeka Hollaway, an entrepreneur and speaker who has three books published on Amazon.
“My website is down as I redo how it looks, so I send people to Amazon. If they Google my name, three of my books come up and they can see I’m a legitimate person.” Maleeka says that being on Amazon adds credibility to herself and her business.
The great part of selling on Amazon is an established customer base. One of the more challenging parts of selling anything is creating trust with customers who may not know you. Amazon customers trust the brand, which is good news for you.
“Last month, we did $71,160 in sales on Amazon with a medical device company we work with,” says Jayden Scott, an ecommerce entrepreneur who helps Amazon sellers build businesses that could eventually be acquired someday. “Amazon is an important platform on the internet, and anyone can make money with it.”
Does It Cost Money to Sell on Amazon?
Choosing the right way (for you) to make money on Amazon is essential. Certain forms of making money may cost you money to start. If you were to choose private labeling products or FBA, there is an initial investment to buy inventory.
If you want to write and publish books, you may incur the cost of an editor and formatter, but you could publish and sell books on Amazon with no initial costs if you choose to do all the work yourself.
The potential costs will be dependent on the model you choose. Get clarity on which model makes sense for your goals, research possible initial costs, and plan accordingly.
Start Making Money on Amazon Today
Amazon is worth it because you’re selling to a customer base that already trusts the marketplace. You have various ways to earn passive income, and you can make money in your spare time. Selling on Amazon can be a side hustle that grows into something more – and you might be able to start making money on the platform sooner than you think.
Do your research, focus on action, and eventually you’ll have a new income source that can become significant as time goes on.
Mentorship and learning from those who’ve walked the path before and achieved their goals are some of the key components to achieving success. Finding a mentor is not always easy and knowing which information to trust on the internet can be even more challenging. There are 100’s of do’s and don’ts when considering going into business or solopreneurship – here are just 5 of my go 2 tips for young or aspiring entrepreneurs to help you get started.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
There’s a saying that says “Choose a job you love and never work a day in you life.” – Loosely translated that if you pursue what you love and are passionate, it’ll never feel like work.
Research and experience shows that the most successful start-ups are founded by people passionate about what they do. Do you know what you’re passionate about?
Whether you love biking, music or coding, the things you enjoy doing the most can serve as a great inspiration for business ideas. You’ll be more motivated and focused when you base your ideas on something you are passionate about. Even better, you’ll add your own knowledge and life experiences, which are essential components that can help you find a special perspective to support your success.
According to FreshBooks, in America over 15 million people work for themselves full-time, and according to QuickBooks, 28.2% of workers have some level or form self-employment, including through freelance businesses.
PUT IN EFFORT AND MANAGE YOUR TIME
We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we actually make one. We need not regret failure, but rathe regret not trying. One of the biggest challenge when you’re still starting out is consistency, putting in a consistent effort and always pushing yourself to go to the extra mile. Sometimes we ought to view life as an ongoing university course in which we are always learning new things. And you can!
MANAGE YOUR TIME
It goes without saying that managing a business takes a lot of time and time management is crucial to running an effective, successful and productive business. Time setting gives a list of tasks that must be completed along with an estimated processing time based on the importance of the jobs. Well-timed actions can boost productivity in an activity or work. Before the age of technology organisations made us of physical time sheets to track task and time spent on each one. Today there are numerous online platforms that perform the same function while keeping you in touch with the rest of your organisation, whether it be to track tasks or collaborate on creative ideas. These platforms in Microsoft Teams, Trello, Slack, Monday.com, Microsoft Planner and Jira
FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS
As an entrepreneur, you are the vision carrier and you must have the desire to create it, develop it and make it into a reality. In order to keep your team motivated and focused on helping achieve your vision, you have to constantly communicate it and keep your vision clear at all times.
Goal-oriented thinking keeps us inspired to persist, never give up, and make an effort to achieve our objectives. Encourage yourself and your team to have a positive attitude whenever taking action because that gives you confident that you are moving in the right direction.
Self-assured As is well known, having self-assuredness can help people feel less inferior and afraid of trying new things or engaging with others.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF Working hard is important, and you might not have the chance to rest every day when you first start out, but it is important to know when you are overworked. Many people who buy from youth businesses do so because of the youthful component of what they do, a component built on energy and a fascination with everything they are learning. That energy and fascination can burn out very quickly if you are not well rested and ready to go. This is not to say that you should slack off, but that you should know when you are at a limit and celebrate progress when it occurs.
In the year 1800, the world’s population stood at 1 billion; within a hundred years, by the turn of the 20th century, this would double, bringing the number of people on the planet to an unprecedented 2 billion.
Not only did the world’s population grow, but thanks to the industrial revolution, people earned higher incomes, the overall standards of living went up, and the cost of living went down.
People in general were wealthier and better off than their forefathers from the 1800’s. They were able to eat better, dress better, and enjoy a higher standard of living.
Add to all of this the rapid expansion of colonialism in the 1800s, and you have a capitalist’s dream: tens of millions of insatiable consumers demanding more products, and waving their money in your face.
Naturally, there was a greater demand than ever for food as well as for non-food items, such as clothing, medicines, cosmetics, furniture, crockery, cutlery and ornaments.
In addition, with new inventions came more things to buy, creating new consumer demand which the factories had to meet. A perfect example of this was the invention of the internal combustion engine followed by the creation of the first car by Karl Benz in 1885.
Motor vehicles went on sale a short while later, and within two decades, cars were in huge demand globally. Everybody wanted an automobile.
Old modes couldn’t cut it
The existing farms and factories were not going to meet this massive new demand. There was a need for more farmland and bigger factories. More than that, there was a need for new, more efficient, more productive farming and manufacturing methods.
All things considered, the stage was set for another big change in the world.
Waiting around
The factories at the time had two major limitations. First, there was no systematic way of manufacturing items, and this led to a lot of inefficiency.
The way the first cars were manufactured, for example, was that the parts would be lumped up in one section of the assembly plant, and the technicians would huddle around, pick up the parts they could, and start putting them together, one at a time.
When one team completed the section they were working on, the next team would begin their work on it. For example, once the engine assembly technicians had completed assembling the engine, the engine installation team would install it into the car.
This was a very inefficient system of manufacturing, because the various sections of the vehicle were manufactured sequentially, instead of simultaneously. In other words, they were made one section after the other, from start to end. It was a time-consuming, time-wasting process.
People had to stand around a lot, doing nothing while waiting for the teams ahead of them to complete their work.
Stinky, scorching steam engines
Second, all the machines in factories were powered by massive steam engines which were installed in sections of the premises away form where people worked, because of the heat, smoke and bad odours they generated.
But that wasn’t the real problem with steam engines. The real problem was that each engine powered dozens of factory machines, and it was connected to them via a precarious system of pulleys and belts.
Try to picture it: a massive, rumbling engine sitting in the basement, spinning a huge pulley. This pulley was connected to another pulley upstairs using an extremely long belt. Then, that pulley would in tuen be connected to pulleys attached to the machines themselves, causing the machines to work.
With its hundreds of moving parts, it was like a massive 3-D jigsaw puzzle of pulleys and wheels, and it was a troublesome system that broke far too often. A single failure could stop factory operations for hours until it could be fixed. And (God forbid!) a fault in the steam engine itself would bring the whole factory to a halt for days.
These were definitely not the right conditions for optimal production.
Artisans, assemble!
In 1913, Henry Ford changed manufacturing forever by setting up the first ever moving assembly line for manufacturing vehicles. His new system reduced the time required to build a complete car, from 12 hours to one-and-a-half hours.
Each person on the assembly line had one task to do, and a very limited time in which to do it before the line moved on. By the end of the line, there was a fully completed vehicle.
Henry Ford’s innovation was subsequently applied to manufacturing pretty much every type of item, and the world of manufacturing would never be the same again.
Electric motors
Another boost to manufacturing came form electric motors. Although invented in 1834, the electric motor was only improved enough for practical use during the late 1800’s. Even then, they could not be used because electricity was not available in factories.
But this was about to change.
The invention of the lightbulb led to a massive demand for electricity in towns and cities, and by the eary 1900’s, electricity lines were being rolled out all over the world.
Manufacturers seized the opportunity, and began manufacturing and installing electric-powered machines in factories. The new machines were much smaller and more compact, did not give off any smoke or bad doors, and best of all, each had its own motor.
No more stinky steam engines, no more pulleys and belts, no more frequent failures that brought entire production lines to a grinding halt.
Ready, steady, Revolution!
Assembly line and electricity gave rise to a whole new generation of factories, all of which were smaller yet far more efficient. Not only that, but they could be set up anywhere in the world in the fraction of the time it took to set up massive steam-powered factories.
The face of manufacturing was to change forever, and the stage was set for a revolution: the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a phenomenon where new, innovative and disruptive technologies are combining to completely and irrevocably change the way we live and work.
Although the 4IR is being driven by a number of technologies, the three main technologies are Artificial Intelligence, Networks and Cyber-physical Systems.
Thanks to these three technologies, the 4IR is giving rise to so many new breakthroughs, and with such rapidity and at such a scale, that it is disrupting nearly every industry and affecting every person on the planet.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the branch of computer science interested in giving computers human-like qualities, such as the ability to learn new things, to speak fluently, understand human speech, to see and recognise people and objects, and to make complex decisions.
These new-found abilities are enabling computers to do things that were only possible for human to do previously, like driving cars, flying drones and planes, operating machinery, translating speech between languages, diagnosing illnesses and dispensing medicines.
Although AI has been around since the 1950s, it could not reach its full potential due to the lack of computing power.
Computer networks refers to the vast and complex system of satellites, fibre optic cables and cellular towers that transmit data at lightening speeds across the globe, transferring unimaginable volumes of data from place to place.
These networks are what make the World Wide Web possible, enabling us to surf the web, stream videos, post to social media, communicate with one another through chat and voice and video calls, purchase items, order food, call an Uber – basically everything that we know and take for granted today.
Finally, cyber-physical systems are traditionally non-computer devices that are now being given computer power and are being connected to the internet.
For example, until recently, no one would have associated a farm animal with computing power. Yet, today cows are being fitted with tiny computers connected to sensors embedded in their bodies. These sensors constantly measure the cow’s heart rate, body temperature and other vital statistics, and transmit this data to the farm’s central server, enabling the farmer to monitor his stock and use AI to predict any outbreaks of illness before they happen.
Although these three technologies, AI, networks and cyber-physical systems have been around for a while – AI was around since the mid 1950s – they did not spark a revolution because they never combined in any meaningful way, until now.
As with so many other technologies, each of these technologies was insufficient in itself to spark a revolution, but together they are changing our world, causing a major global revolution: the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
I think a more appropriate title for the age we are living in, considering the fact that machines are now becoming ever-more capable and are beginning to be more like their human creators, is “Rise of the Machines.”
But the 4IR is not just about technology and machines. More than anything, it is about people. As with its predecessors, 4IR has the potential to increase incomes and improve standards of living; but unlike its predecessors, 4IR will not be limited to specific countries and regions.
In contrast, the 4IR is the first of the industrial revolutions that is truly global in in nature and truly democratic, providing opportunities to people who never had them. It is not a privilege reserved for a segment of the population, such as the rich, or people in developed countries; it is truly for everyone.
This is thanks to the pervasive nature of technologies such as mobile devices and the internet. Today, all a person needs is a mobile device and internet access to seize the opportunities presented by the 4IR.
The 4IR is about solving some of the most pressing problems we face, such as wealth inequality, access to healthcare, access to education, disease control, environmental degradation and global warming.
Today, people in some of the remotest parts of the world have access to the internet, enabling them to educate themselves, learn a new skill and gain access to vital services.
With nothing more than a mobile phone, few dollars and a drive to succeed, one is able start a business, sell their products or offer their services. The barriers to entry into a new business have never been lower.
The First Industrial Revolution, which took place in the 1700s and 1800s, changed our world by introducing steam power. The main driver of this revolution was the invention of the steam engine.
The steam engine provided human beings with a completely new form of power. Prior to steam, all we had was muscle power, and all modes of manufacturing and transport relied on either human or animal strength.
The invention of the steam engine led to the invention of steam-powered factories, which were much grander in scale than any factories prior to them, giving people the ability to manufacture more goods more rapidly than ever before.
Steam-powered farming implements made large-scale farming a reality, allowing them to produce more food than ever before.
Steam trains brought far away towns and cities closer, allowing factories and farms to distribute their products much further than before, and much more quickly.
With steam ships, sailors were no longer reliant on the ever-changing winds to drive their ships forward, making sea travel more predictable and reliable than ever before.
For the first time in history, we saw mass production and mass distribution of commodities. Food, clothing, tools, weapons, household appliances were all mass produced for the first time. And thanks to the ever-growing rail networks and shipping routes, distribution networks extended far beyond country borders and across oceans.
Wider distribution meant more customers, which meant more demand for goods, which meant more production, bigger factories and even wider distribution. It was an unstoppable cycle of growth and prosperity which radically transformed industry and society.
The rich landowners provided the capital to finance the new factories, becoming fabulously wealthy in the process, and giving rise to the age of capitalism.
Cities swelled in size as more and more people left the farms where their forefathers lived for hundreds of years, for better pay in the new factories. Stadards of living went up considerably.
The countries affected by the 1IR, like Britain, France and Germany, thrived and became world trade, commerce and military leaders.
The phrase “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has become a buzzword since it was mentioned by Professor Klaus Schwab in his book of the same name in 2016.
At the time. Professor Schwab believed that we were at the threshold of a revolution, one driven by massive advancements in technology.
This, he believed was the fourth in a series of revolutions that took place over that past 300 or so years that completely transformed the way we lived and worked.
The previous revolutions catapulted us from muscle power to steam power, then to electric power and finally to digital power.
Prior to the first industrial revolution, everything was driven by muscle power. Some work we did manually, while others were done by animals such as horses, mules and cattle. Then cam steam-powered machinery, which replaced muscle power and triggered an industrial revolution.
The second industrial revolution saw us graduate from steam to electricity, further accelerating our progress as a species.
The third revolution was very different from the first two, in the sense that it saw the introduction of completely new types of machines: machines that replaced brain power, instead of muscle power.
Just as the machinery in factories began to do most of the heavy physical work that was once done by humans and animals, computers began to do much of the heavy mental work, thereby freeing our brains to focus on more complex activities like creativity, problem-solving and innovation.
The 3IR was an exciting time that saw the introduction of computers, the internet, cellular phones, mobile devices, social media, e-commerce, e-learning and a whole host of new technologies never before imagined.
The 3IR continues to this day, but is now overlapped by the fourth in this series of major revolutions: the 4IR. In many ways, the 4IR is a product of the 3IR, in that it is built on technologies developed during the 3IR, but it is also radically different in many ways.
What differentiates the 4IR most from its predecessor, is artificial intelligence, or AI. AI has completely blurred the line between the human mind and computers by giving computers the power to do things that were only possible for humans to do previously.
Thanks to AI, computers can speak like we do, understand human language, recognise people, animals and other objects, teach themselves new skills they were not programmed to do and solve complex problems.
These new abilities are making computers into an indispensable ally in the innovation space. More and more, scientists, engineers and innovators are relying on AI to assist them in research and development, which means the rate of innovation will speed up considerably since computers are much faster than humans.
We will see new and revolutionary innovations in pretty much every current industry, as well as the birth of completely new industries.
We will see major strides in computing, such as a new generation of mobile supercomputers, intelligent robots and quantum computers. There will be major strides in the fields of 3D printing, biotechnology, agricultural technology, financial technology and others.
Technologies such as neural implants, 3D printed limbs, lab-grown meat and cryptocurrency will be commonplace by 2030.
We know that innovation has been a constant force for change since the last century, but it seems we have crossed an invisible point in history where, instead of the rate of change slowing down, as many people expected it to, it is accelerating.
It is like we were travelling in a really fast car at an incredible speed, and just when we thought we were travelling at full speed, the car suddenly began to accelerate and go even faster.
The question is, why now? What is causing the pace of innovation to increase?
The best way to answer this question is by an example.
Benjamin Franklin, the famous inventor and scientist did his famous kite experiment in the year 1752. His aim was to prove that lightning was electricity, and that he could channel that electricity through a metal cable.
The experiment was a success, and miraculously Franklin survived it without being electrocuted.
Franklin’s experiment kicked off an era of serious scientific studies and discoveries on electricity, and by the early 1800’s scientists had mastered the use of electricity.
However, electricity never went mainstream until over 150 years after Franklin’s kite experiment. Why?
The answer is that no one saw the mainstream value of electricity. It was a great phenomenon to work with in a lab and to do experiments on, but that was the limit to its use.
All that was about to change in 1879, when another great American inventor, Thomas Edison, invented the first incandescent light bulb, a type of light bulb that produced light by passing electricity through an extremely thin metal filament.
The light bulb was no short of a miraculous invention in itself, but it also set off a series of events that went on to change our world.
People immediately saw the advantages of the electric light over traditional lamps. They were cleaner, produced no smoke and unpleasant smells, were much brighter, and didn’t need to be constantly refuelled. Soon there was a demand for electric lighting.
Naturally, with the demand for lights came the need for electricity supply.
In 1882 Edison set up the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which began to roll out light bulbs to streets and homes close by. Within a short space of just of 30 years, the whole of the United States was electrified, and the rest of the world was soon to follow.
What we learn from this example, is that many great innovations are insufficient in themselves to drive any major change. They just sit on a shelf, waiting.
Eventually, a new innovation comes along, and a combination of the two innovations is what changes everything. Like electricity and the light bulb, each innovation was in itself insufficient to drive any real change. But combined, they worked together to spark a revolution that transformed our world.
This has been a recurring pattern throughout history, and the current wave of innovation we are experiencing, is no different. It is a time of convergence of a series of innovations which had been around for some time, but have never combined in any significant way, until now.
What are those innovations? They are artificial intelligence, computer networks and cyber-physical systems, and they are changing our world in previously unimaginable ways and have sparked a revolution: the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Did you know? We will see more new technologies in the next decade, than we saw in the previous century.
I know what you are thinking: this is impossible. There is no way so many new technologies could emerge in just ten years. Granted, we are living in a time of great technological progress, and we expect many new technologies to come to light over the next ten years; but more than in the previous century? No way.
The previous century was the one that brought us pretty much all the technology that we know and love. Transistors, computers, satellites, space travel, the internet, cellphones, social media, instant messaging, e-commerce and so many more technologies were products of the previous century. How can we top all that, and in one tenth the period of time?
It is not just possible, but is definitely going to happen, according to Peter Diamandis, who is a well known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, futurist, and founder of the Prize Foundation. Peter believes that the key is computational power. As computers become ever more powerful, they will unlock the doors to immense new potential in technological progress.
Exponential Computing Power
In 1965 American engineer and founder of Intel Corporation, Gordon Moore, made a prediction that the number of transistors per silicon chip in a computer will double every year for the next ten years. In simple terms, this means that computing power will double nearly every year for a decade.
This became known as Moore’s Law, and many experts found it preposterous. They did not believe that computing power could double every year for ten years.
But Moore’s law held true for the next decade, and it did not stop there; it has been over fifty years, and Moore’s Law still holds true to this day. Computing power hasn’t stopped doubling every year!
The result? Today we have supercomputers in our pockets that are more powerful than anything imaginable in the 1960’s. For example, the computer that helped land people on the moon during the Apollo mission was one of the most advanced and powerful in the world at the time. Your ordinary smart phone is 120 million times more powerful than that computer.
Scientists say that today’s computers have the computing power of a mouse brain, and we are just a few years away from the computing power of the human brain. Sounds creepy, I know.
Data at the Speed of Light
Going hand in hand with the massive computing power available to us, are our super-fast, extensive computer networks which form the modern internet. Today we have computers connected across continents as if they are sitting right next to each other, because data transfer is so fast it seems instantaneous.
Two people on opposite sides of the world can chat, share files and images and even edit the same document together thanks to the super-fast information highway, enabled by extensive networks of fibre optic cables, cellular networks and satellites.
Fibre optic cables transmit data at the speed of light, and a single fibre, one eightieth the width of a human hair, can push through 14 trillion bits of information per second, which is equivalent to 210 million voice calls – all at the same time. Astounding.
Taking things a step further, Elon Musk’s SkyLink satellite network will provide internet access to the remotest parts of the world wirelessly from the sky.
As these networks grew and became more widespread, more and more devices became connected. In 1984 there were only 1000 devices connected to the internet. Today, there are over 20 billion connected devices. But not all of these devices are computers.
The rise of expansive and reliable networks gave rise to the concept of the “Internet of Things” which is where things other than computers are now connected, and for various reasons. Home appliances, security systems, vehicles, medical equipment, heavy machinery, clothing and even farm animals are now connected to the internet.
Another side effect of these networks is the concept of the “neural network”. A neural network is where clusters of computers that are connected via high speed networks are able to operate as one single computer, sharing the processing power between them. This arrangement mimics the human brain, where each computer is analogous to a single brain cell, while the collective operates as a single, super-powerful brain.
We are not Alone
What is the result of all this? Super-powerful computers, high speed networks and neural networks have together spurred the rebirth of an extremely powerful and potentially world-changing technology that was around since the 1950’s but could not reach its full potential because of the limitations of the technology at the time: Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has given computers immense new capabilities, giving them abilities that were only possible for humans previously. Computers are now able to speak to us, understand our languages, recognise people and objects and learn new things – just like their human creators.
Thanks to these newfound abilities, they are now able to drive cars, pilot drones and planes, diagnose illnesses, operate machinery, solve complex puzzles, teach themselves and play games and a whole host of other tasks.
Most importantly, thanks to their immense new power, computers are now able to help us to invent new technologies. Scientists and inventors are no longer trying to figure things out by themselves; they have help in the form of AI.
So, whereas the technological advancement of the past century was driven by human beings, the tech advancement of the next decade will be driven by human beings plus artificial intelligence.
And since computers tend to do things much faster than their humans creators, the tech advancement of the next decade will take place at a highly accelerated pace – likely ten times faster than ever before.
Fact No. 2 : Did you know 50 percent of today’s jobs will not exist in ten years time?
How is this possible? How is it that half of the jobs people do today, will cease to exist in just a decade?
The answer lies with technology. As technology advances and becomes more capable, thanks to artificial intelligence and robotics, we will find computers and robots doing more and more of the jobs that were traditionally only possible for humans to do.
Machines are now able to drive cars, fly drones, speak like people, prepare meals, dispense medication, monitor our health and a whole host of other things. In the next few years, your taxi will be a self-driving vehicle, your waiter, chef and baristas will be robots, the cashier at your nearest supermarket will be an AI, the call centre agent you speak to will be a computer, and your medication will be dispensed by a robot pharmacist. But this will just be what we see on the surface.
Machines will be doing countless other “invisible” jobs, jobs where we don’t normally get too see the workers, in industries such as agriculture and manufacturing. They will also do dangerous jobs like mining and undersea and space exploration.
Machines have many obvious advantages over human beings, which will provide compelling reasons for businesses to adopt them in favour of humans. Machines don’t get tired or sleep, so are able to work 24-7. The best part is, they don’t earn a salary. They are more efficient and more precise than human beings. They don’t have personal problems, take sick leave, or go on holiday. A single machine might be able to replace dozens of human beings.
And did I mention, they don’t earn a salary?
With benefits such as these, it will be impossible for businesses to resist going the automation route; and as these technologies gain traction and become more widespread, they will gradually displace their human counterparts.
This is by no means a new trend. We’ve seen theis trend repeat itself over and over again in the past two centuries, where new, innovative and highly efficient machines replaced human beings en masse in farms and factories around the world.
But there was a major difference: in the past, machines were only able to take over the most manual types of work, the type of work that is highly structured, boring, repetitive and required no thinking at all. They were ideal for large scale farming and manufacturing, where they plugged the fields, harvested crops and worked in assembly lines systematically assembling components, weaving cloth and filling containers.
Today’s machines are a lot more capable, thanks to artificial intelligence, and are able to complete exceedingly more complex tasks.
Another likely scenario which will lead to jobs disappearing, is technological obsolescence. With the incessant flood of new innovations every year, existing technologies are constantly under threat of being replaced by newer, better technologies.
In one moment a technology is the kind of the hill, and in the next, it is a memory of the past.
The thing is, when a technology is replaced or disappears, along goes the entire associated industry and all the jobs in that industry.
We’ve seen this trend too repeat itself over and over in our lifetimes. Devices, gadgets, software and online services have come and gone. One of the most dramatic cases of a tech completely disappearing, was that of the video cassette recorder (VCR). At one stage, there were only two ways to watch a movie: on TV or on a VCR.
The VCR industry was huge at its peak, making billions of dollars in revenue and employing hundreds of thousands of people across its value chain, from research and development, to manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales to after-sales service.
Add to that the associated industries that went hand-in-hand with the VCR industry, such as cassette manufacturing and sales, movie production on tapes, video rental stores and the like, and you can see how huge this global industry was.
Here is a mind-blowing example: the movie Lion King on video cassette sold $500 million worth of copies – that is half a billion dollars worth! That is just one movie!
Of course, as history testifies, that industry wasn’t going to last, and sure enough, towards the end of the last century, video cassettes were replaced by CD’s and then DVD’s. Blue Ray disks are enjoying a bit of time in the sun, but with 4k streaming and fibre internet becoming a standard in households throughout the world, even Blur Ray is destined to go the way of the VCR.
Now take some time to think about all those people who worked in the massive VCR industry, either directly or indirectly. It is not inconceivable that the number of people who earned their livelihoods through this industry would have been in the millions. What happened to all of them when the industry disappeared?
We know they didn’t die of starvation, so obviously they moved into other jobs in other industries. That is the nature of technology.
Ultimately, there are a few lingering questions: what current technologies are destined for the garbage dump, and what is the next big thing? What industries are going to go bust in the next decade?
And most importantly: What jobs are going to disappear, and what new opportunities will arise?
