Second Industrial Revolution Research Paper

Progression is fundamental to society. Throughout history, civilization has witnessed a few distinguishable moments that have dramatically altered the course of human development on a global scale. History calls these periods “Revolutions.” Approximately 10,000 years ago, humanity began farming and living in city dwellings. This transition from a hunter-and-gathering society to one of stationary farming was the beginning of the first agricultural revolution. Skipping forward to the early 1800’s the world was on the cusp of the First Industrial Revolution. The catalyst for this revolution was water and steam-powered machinery. It was this period that humans began to use machinery on a large scale. The Second Industrial Revolution took place

Some have dubbed it the “Digital Revolution.” It is this “Digital Revolution” that has scientist and scholars alike discussing how this revolution will fundamentally change how humans live, work and interact with one another. The “Digital Revolution” has followed a common law that most computer scientist revere as the golden rule of computing. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Physics, Moore’s Law states, “The number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles every two years. This statement was first made by Gordon Moore, the president of Intel in 1965 and it has remained valid for the first fifty years of the existence of integrated circuits.” For the most part, Moore’s prediction has been precise. However, advances in quantum computing and the divergence from binary code to qubits may soon lead to a level of computing that may make today 's most advanced systems look like a 1980’s Nintendo gaming system. The “Digital Revolution” is like no other in the history of humanity. The implications of having technology advance at an exponential rate rather than a linear fashion will have unknown consequences on areas of personal privacy and

With the world’s population expected to rise above 8.9 billion by 2025, it is evident that as a species their will be a fundamental need for technology that will automate transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing. The complexity of the global economic system and the need for advances in security, healthcare, and transportation are all driving forces for the development of Artificial Intelligence (A.I) driven systems. These systems are revolutionary and controversial at the same time. For each person who advocates for the unrestricted development of such systems, there is another who sees the dangers of not having guidelines and restrictions on such technology. Tesla and Space-X CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “China, Russia and soon all countries with strong computer science will compete for A.I superiority at the national level and will most likely be the cause of WW3 in my opinion.” It is without saying that Musk has reservations on the advancements of A.I and the dangers that the technology may carry both physically and mentally on humanity. He’s spearheaded a non-profit organization justifiably named “OpenAI.” “OpenAI 's mission is to build safe artificial general intelligence, and to ensure artificial intelligence benefits are as widely and evenly distributed as possible.” The organization is made up of some of the top researchers in the fields of