- 28/02/2018
- Category: Commentaries
The book The Industries of the Future is separated into six chapters that equally draw upon the authors’ projection for the perils and potentials of industries of the future. Considering the author’s background, the book is an easy read with clear explanations and portrayal of futuristic mechanisms. It gets the readers to see the rapid speed of technological advancements and its implications in various industries and areas of the world. The industry becomes the focal point of this book as it contributes to the living dynamics of socio-economic values—the one which was unimaginable in the past, where the limitation of humans’ imagination to adapt becomes one of the many challenges, especially for low-cost labours. The main idea points out how the new industry—that recently emerged in the 1990s will eventually become the old economy.
The paradigm offered by the author distinct these developments to those which happened in America and European countries—where he categorises them as the wrong side of globalisation, and those in the emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa—which are considered being on the right side of globalisation. Furthermore, his travels to the emerging economies allow him to capture new sets of knowledge, such as the new economy with complexity in which their growth-led economic activities changed their ways of living. However, in this book, the efforts to understand the emerging economy and their industries are not paired with adequate elaborations on political transitions or an in-depth look into the cost of these changes, in which political volatility becomes a paramount opportunity for powerful stakeholders to direct the mass.
A balanced amount of fascination and caution are brought through a retrospective lens throughout the chapters, paired with a knack for storytelling which includes significant historical socio-economic facts. The author celebrates the idea of openness, for both governance and business, to unveil the curtain that limits the interaction for public and private sectors. In most chapters, data are yet to be conceptualised into more tangible aspects that must be included in the discussion about politics, security, and economy. Transparency and accountability are some of the elements which technology, according to the author’s argument, can spare to improve the quality of life. This concept of openness undermines the omnipresence of multinational corporations, allotting various sorts of bargaining position for the public.
To round up the book, the author surprises his readers by saying that his parental job becomes the most important one in the rapid speed of technology. To him, it is pertinent for humans not to lose its humanistic traits of empathy, care, and affection amidst the world filled with robot workers, the flow of codes, digital cash, and other technological advancements. In an academic sense, this book provides an overview, a surface that introduces us to the kind of changes to expect in the future. Despite industries as a subject for broader societal interaction, the author argues that it is family which functions as an institution that will keep us grounded. This book predicts the key drivers that are expected to shape the future; which is an excellent option to see what is on the exterior of future industries.
Lastly, this book does not portray the future as some technology idyll. Technology is seen as an instrument which has its costs and could deepen the gap for disadvantaged groups within the society. However, the dimension of advancement shall not be put on the same ground as the cause for pursuing equality. The author suggeststhat incentives for innovation merely will not solve inequality within society (whether economic or gender). Thus, the efforts to address this issue must also walk hand in hand with the enthusiasm in future technology. Overall, The Industries of the Future is one well written and thoughtful book for those who are interested in grasping the idea of ‘the future’.
Editors: Diah Ratna Pratiwi, M.Dev & Nabeel Khawarizmy Muna, S.IP
