Hamsters in the wheel? Acceleration and fourth industrial revolution

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution is characterized through the development of artificial intelligence, genetic editing, nanotechnology and the interfaces between the biological, the inorganic, the social and the digital. There are authors who potentially see in it a panacea that could bring a world of post-scarcity, reaching
the evolutionary overcoming of the human species in the realm of the trans-human. Others raise with great concern the possibility of fearsome dystopian scenarios, and an imminent “existential risk”, even greater than that of nuclear weapons. Between these two extremes, there are positions in this new techno-philosophical debate that consider both the realization of utopia and the fall in dystopia to be implausible, and propose a protopic vision, which calls for the understanding and acceptance of the inevitable aspects of the ongoing transition, and a proactive use of its possibilities as a way to preserve and strengthen the validity of human identity and freedom. In the first two sections of this work, we contextualize the current moment of technology and its transformative capacity in societies through what has been called the fourth industrial revolution. In the third section we deepen the theoretical discussion of acceleration, a defining concept for Harmut Rosa of “late modernity”. Finally, the work closes by placing a fundamental question that inspires it: what are our chances of guiding technological innovation to avoid unpredictable damage?