DIGITAL REVOLUTION
The Third Industrial Revolution – digital revolution, starting in the 1980s was the advancement of technology from analog electronic and mechanical devices to digital technology.
Innovations of the Third include personal computers and internet. The United States of America (USA) led the innovations of this revolution. The discoveries of computer and internet were backed by an American deployment of resources towards ensuring its leadership of the world in the digital age.
Example is Bill Clinton’s administration strategic investment in human capital development and preparation of market for US control of the information highway. According to Bruce Lehman, Clinton’s commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office; “It was about trying to create an economic policy that would be good for my country, and hopefully others too—to have an economy that wasn’t just based on backbreaking physical labour but on the fruits of the mind.”
The unraveling of the Third Revolution is the Fourth, building on digital revolution, representing new ways in which technologies connects billions of people and interact with society. The fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing and nanotechnology speak to the uniqueness of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
