by Dr. Rafael Xavier Gonzalez
We currently need solid moral guidance in this new industrial age, the Fourth Industrial Revolution!
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has extensively discussed the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His unbridled optimism towards it is dangerous and for that reason we need moral regulation guided by the Magisterium of the Church. Let us briefly see the four revolutions to contextualize.
The First Industrial Revolution (late 18th to early 19th century), simply known as the Industrial Revolution, started in Great Britain and spread throughout Europe and North America. Basically, this time period is characterized by the transition from hand production methods to machines, which brought in steam power and mechanized textile production. Significant technological advancements were made due to the rapid production of iron, railways, etc., and these substantially changed the way of life for man in society. Capitalism and urbanization exponentially rose in dominance. Significant disparities in wealth ensued.
Many other negative changes brought about an environment denigrating to human dignity, to include child labor, poor working conditions, exploitation of workers, overcrowding and poor living conditions, pollution among other abuses. It was a bad environment for man physically and spiritually.
Pope Leo XIII in 1891 issued the first social encyclical Rerum Novarum, a seminal document in response to the new challenges posed by the Industrial Revolution. In it, the Pope defended workers’ rights like having safe working environments with reasonable working hours and fair wages. He critiqued unchecked capitalism that is divorced from moral consideration. At the same time, Pope Leo XIII also defended the right to private property, countering the critique of Capitalism, which was the must worse Communism. Other issues were addressed like solidarity, the role of the state, labor unions, etc. In the end the document was true guidance the Church needed to respond to the difficult times.
The next revolutions are less known but are not less important. The Second Industrial Revolution (late 19th to early 20th century) known as the Technological Revolution, was marked by the expansion of electricity, petroleum and steel. The telephone and the combustion engine were invented. In this period mass production and assembly lines, exemplified by Ford’s Model T, became prevalent.
A big jump occurred from the Second to the Third Industrial Revolution (mid-20th century to late 20th century), the Digital Revolution. Here we saw the rise of electronics, computers and the internet. Digital technology dominated which caused significant advancements in information and communication technology.
We are currently living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (early 21st century), the age of the Artificial Intelligence (AI). We live in the era of Post or Transhumanism in which the lines between the physical, digital and biological are blurred, especially regarding the very reality of the human. Smart technologies, biotech, quantum computing, big data has truly altered all aspects of human life for better and for worse.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has extensively discussed this concept in his book, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (2016). There are certain vital characteristics that manifest this revolution, such as, societal and economic rapid change and disruption, all due to enhancement in every technological sector of human life and even human life itself.
We are living in the time talked about by Francesca Ferrando in her Philosophical Posthumanism (2020):
“The posthuman destabilizes the limits and symbolic borders posed by the notion of human. Dualisms such as human/animal, human/machine, and more in general, human/nonhuman are re-investigated through a perception which does not work on oppositional schemata. In the same way, the posthuman deconstructs the clear division between life/death, organic/synthetic, and natural/artificial”.
This is an age dreamed about by Dana Haraway, manifested in her Cyborg Manifesto (1985). You can see her extreme anti-Christian erroneous optimism:
“The cyborg does not dream of community on the model of the organic family, this time without the oedipal project. The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust.”
Our time is a dangerous time, even according to the so-called futurists themselves. Check out these quotes extracted from a Time magazine article:
“AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” – Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX
“AI is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.” – Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
“We are entering a world where we will learn to coexist with AI, not as its masters, but as its collaborators.” – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
“Artificial Intelligence will evolve to become a superintelligence. We need to be mindful of how it’s developed and ensure that it aligns with humanity’s best interests.” – Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft
The Fourth Industrial Revolution needs regulation but by whom? Based on what principles? The Magisterium of the Church based on the principles of Faith and morality rooted in Scripture and Tradition. The Depositum Fidei needs to be activated in order to apply its perennial principles to today’s troubling realities.
Pope Leo chose the name Leo for reason which he stated in his address to the cardinals on May 10th: “…because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”
Pope Leo XIV continued: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”
May Our Good Lord guide our Pope in shepherding the Church through this most challenging era. God the Father never abandons his adopted sons just as He never abandoned His only natural Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord: “For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance” (Psalm 94:14). Stay tuned!
