Page 77 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The fourth industrial revolution will have a profound impact on the nature of

state relationships and international security. I devote particular attention to
this issue in this section as I feel that of all the important transformations
linked to the fourth industrial revolution, security is a topic not sufficiently
discussed in the public domain and in sectors outside governments and the

defence industry.

The critical danger is that a hyperconnected world of rising inequality may

lead to increasing fragmentation, segregation and social unrest, which in
turn creates the conditions for violent extremism. The fourth industrial
revolution will change the character of security threats while also

influencing shifts of power, which are occurring both geographically, and
from state to non-state actors. Faced with the rise of armed non-state actors
within what is already an increasing complex geo-political landscape, the
prospect of establishing a common platform for collaboration around key
international security challenges becomes a critical, if more demanding

challenge.

Connectivity, fragmentation and social unrest

We live in a hyper-connected world, where information, ideas and people

are travelling faster than ever before. We also live in a world of rising
inequality, a phenomenon that will be exacerbated by the massive changes in
the labour market that I described earlier. Widening social exclusion, the
challenge of finding reliable sources of meaning in the modern world, and

disenchantment with established elites and structures, perceived or real,
have motivated extremist movements and enabled them to recruit for a
violent struggle against existing systems (See Box E: Mobility and the
Fourth Industrial Revolution).

Hyper-connectivity does not naturally come together with greater tolerance
or -adaptability, as seen in the reactions to the tragic human displacements

that reached a historic high in 2015. However, the same hyper-connectivity
also contains the potential to reach common ground based on greater
acceptance and understanding of differences, which could help bring

communities together rather than driving them apart. If we do not continue
moving in this direction, however, the alternative is that it leads to
increasing fragmentation.

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