Abstract

MOLL, Ian. Scientific revolution, industrial revolution, technological revolution or revolutionary technology? A rejoinder to Marwala and Ntlatlapa (S Afr J Sci. 2023;119(1/2)). S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2023, vol.119, n.3-4, pp.1-3. ISSN 1996-7489.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/15767.

SIGNIFICANCE: Critical responses by Marwala and Ntlatlapa challenged Moll's refutation of a contemporary technological revolution as a necessary but not sufficient stratum of a Fourth Industrial Revolution (S Afr J Sci. 2023;119(1/2)). This rejoinder suggests that they work with loose criteria about what counts as a 'revolution', and therefore confuse the character of industrial, scientific and technological revolutions. Therefore, their defence of the existence of a new, contemporary technological revolution, and a related economic, social and geopolitical revolution, rests on shaky conceptual ground. Neither the pandemic nor an unprecedented fusion of technologies has produced a 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'.

Keywords : Fourth Industrial Revolution; scientific revolution; technological revolution; information technology; ideology.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )