EDITORIAL
ZEBLON
VILAKAZI
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Postgraduate Affairs
“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. In its scale, scope and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything else humankind has experienced. We do not know how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: The response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to the academia and civil society.” – Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Econo– mic Forum. This major disruption – the Fourth Industrial Revolution – is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres. The First Industrial Revolution replaced muscle with engines by using water and steam power to mechanise production. The Second Industrial Revolution used electromagnetic power to create mass production, while the Third used electronics and information tech– nology to automate production. It is imperative for universities like Wits to encourage our researchers and students to actively participate in the global knowledge economy, and to lead the frontiers of knowledge creation so that we are not confined to being passive receptors of a new revolution. We need to train scholars to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century, some which we may not yet have encountered. The new world order, including the use of the internet of things, robotics and artificial intelli– gence, has the potential to vanquish routine jobs that we take for granted today (read the feature on (Hu)man versus machine) – and create new ones that we cannot yet envision. The downside could be the deepening inequality in an already divided society (Professor Imraan Valodia contextualises the African scenario in his column). Another major challenge for policy makers could be the widening of the gender gap because trades and crafts that will benefit from this change, such as computing, mathematics and engineering, are largely characterised by a massive gender imbalance. Silicon Valley is a case in point. At Wits, several projects already play in the new tech realm. This edition of Curiosity brings to the fore a se– lection of the cool tech underway. It highlights a project or two from our tech hub, Tshimologong, and explores transformative tech for healthcare, some of Wits’ big data projects, and some of the human rights, ethical and moral questions pertaining to robots and ‘sentient beings’.
Photo credit: Lauren Mulligan
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I sincerely hope that we, as a University, with our partners, will develop the next generation of scholars who will change the future of Africa through developing the tech required for us to traverse eons of poverty, unemployment and inequality, and in so doing create a new world order that prioritises humanity before profits and power. We can’t stop the change any more than we can stop the Sun from setting, so let’s embrace it.
