Industry 4.0 and the metaverse are both major trends of our present day. One older, the other brand new. There was interesting news about both megatrends this week.
These even make me wonder whether the two trends might not even merge. But more on that in a minute.
But first dear readers,
Let me tell you, that today is the last Tech Revue of the year.
And I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest and engagement. You are the reason I write in the first place. I look forward to continuing to learn from your views in the future.
Industry 4.0 Aspects in our Reality
Industry 4.0 is a term that was coined by the World Economic Forum in 2015. It is based on another term Industrie 4.0 from the German future project for the comprehensive digitization of industrial production.
Industry 4.0 is not so narrowly defined, however. It is used to describe a future world. This world will see fundamental breakthroughs in areas such as AI, biotechnology, or robotics.
Ultimately, bringing radical change to our daily lives.
Industry 4.0 in Service,…
This week I read that robots are acting as waiters in Japan. And not in a model restaurant, but at restaurant chain Yaki Niku Kingu (Grilled Meat King).
Japan is an overaged society. On the one hand, with high technological maturity and, on the other, with a shortage of service personnel at all levels. According to futurologists, this is what many countries will face in the future.
The breakthrough for the waiter bots in Japan happened – no wonder – during the Corona pandemic.
But this is not the only example of how the technological impact is already visible today.
…Financials and…
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with US$9.5 trillion in assets under management.
How could the company turn into the giant it is today?
Certainly a big part of the answer lies in BlackRock‘s cutting edge data analysis system Aladdin.
The super brain performs over 200 million calculations per week. It assesses risks and runs through various local and global scenarios such as earthquakes, pandemics or real estate bubbles.
Last week it was announced that ESG criteria (environmental, social and corporate governance) are now also included in this calculation.
All for the best investment decisions.
How is a human being supposed to keep up with that?
While the machines take over our jobs we’d rather retreat to our smart homes. Which in turn are increasingly populated by sensors and robots. 😉
… Home Automation!
Many of us already have digital assistants like Alexa at home. Google shows what else a smart home can do today in a Home Alone homage with a wink.
The post is a few years old, but fits so wonderfully into this week. See for yourself, I had great fun.
The Fight for the Metaverse
So much for the Fourth Industrial Revolution for now. But it wasn’t quiet on the Metaverse front this week either.
This week, Intel has reinforced my thesis, that the real metaverse needs a hardware revolution. I had already expressed my concerns a few weeks ago in this article.
Intel even believes that a thousand-fold increase in hardware capacity is required.
A Battle is brewing
Plus, a battle is brewing. Large corporations against the crypto/startup world. The latter do not only think in a technically decentralized way, as decentralized organizational forms (DAOs) prove.
Both sides, if one can and may speak of it, have their own ideas of the metaverse.
While some focus on the business model, others want an independent open world.
To be fair, though, it has to be said that it’s not just ideological motivations when, for example, Sandbox co-founder Sebastian Borget takes a shot at Meta (ex. Facebook) this week.
My personal opinion in this context is, is that the Metaverse is not Meta/Facebook. It is a concept that is much older and larger.
Moreover, it should not be confused with a concrete implementation of a specific company like Meta.
I will use the term accordingly throughout Homo Digitalis.
But what about the initial question of whether Industry 4.0 and Metaverse will merge?
In my opinion Industry 4.0 and Metaverse will not only coexist, they will merge into each other.
Industry 4.0 is an even wider term than the Metaverse and from my understanding Industry 4.0 includes the Metaverse.
Other Notable News
- Space: 30 years of development, ten billion dollars, developed by 10,000 people took off yesterday into space. We are talking about the James Webb Space Telescope, which will give us new understanding of the origins of our universe.
- Crypto: Adidas had the second largest NFT drop and Fabian Schmidt recaps the event and gives an outlook on it’s implications. Recommended read!
- CyberSecurity: For many security experts and IT professionals, the log4j flat fire ruined the Christmas vacation. The discovery of a security vulnerability hidden in countless Java applications forced companies around the world to take a software inventory and create a catalog of measures.
- More Metaverse: The Federal Trade Commission is closely eying Metas ex Facebooks Metaverse Action, as it could be seen by the delaying of the acquisition of VR Fitness App Supernatural.
- Even More Metaverse: Elon Musk thinks Neuralink is the better option than building a Metaverse
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