Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.

Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine smart factories in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials.

The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history.

He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future--one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

Today, technology is changing everything--how we relate to one another, the way we work, how our economies and goverments function, and even what it means to be human.

One need not look hard to see how the incredible advances in artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, biotechnologies, and the internet of things are transforming society in unprecedented ways. But the Fourth Industrial Revolution is just beginning, says Schwab. And at a time of such tremendous uncertainty and such rapid change, he argues it's our actions as individuals and leaders that will determine the trajectory our future will take. We all have a responsibility - as citizens, businesses, and institutions - to work with the current of progress, not against it, to build a future that is ethical, inclusive, sustainable and prosperous.

Drawing on contributions from 200 top experts in fields ranging from machine learning to geoengineering to nanotechnology, to data ethics, Schwab equips readers with the practical tools to leverage the technologies of the future to leave the world better, safer, and more resilient than we found it.

Reimagining our global economy so it becomes more sustainable and prosperous for all

Our global economic system is broken. But we can replace the current picture of global upheaval, unsustainability, and uncertainty with one of an economy that works for all people, and the planet. First, we must eliminate rising income inequality within societies where productivity and wage growth has slowed. Second, we must reduce the dampening effect of monopoly market power wielded by large corporations on innovation and productivity gains. And finally, the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources that is corroding the environment and affecting the lives of many for the worse must end.

The debate over the causes of the broken economy--laissez-faire government, poorly managed globalization, the rise of technology in favor of the few, or yet another reason--is wide open. Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet argues convincingly that if we don't start with recognizing the true shape of our problems, our current system will continue to fail us. To help us see our challenges more clearly, Schwab--the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum--looks for the real causes of our system's shortcomings, and for solutions in best practices from around the world in places as diverse as China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore. And in doing so, Schwab finds emerging examples of new ways of doing things that provide grounds for hope, including:

• Individual agency: how countries and policies can make a difference against large external forces
• A clearly defined social contract: agreement on shared values and goals allows government, business, and individuals to produce the most optimal outcomes
• Planning for future generations: short-sighted presentism harms our shared future, and that of those yet to be born
• Better measures of economic success: move beyond a myopic focus on GDP to more complete, human-scaled measures of societal flourishing

By accurately describing our real situation, Stakeholder Capitalism is able to pinpoint achievable ways to deal with our problems. Chapter by chapter, Professor Schwab shows us that there are ways for everyone at all levels of society to reshape the broken pieces of the global economy and--country by country, company by company, and citizen by citizen--glue them back together in a way that benefits us all.

The end of the Cold War did not, as some might have hoped, simplify the issues facing world leaders. Civil war, famine, overpopulation, chronic unemployment, and an exploding refugee problem continue to plague the world economy, to the point where we begin to wonder whether national boundaries can contain such crises, or whether the challenges that face the world are beyond the reach of the leaders we have elected. Has the increasing disparity between the haves and the have nots, between the knows and don't knows led to an unbridgeable gap between rich and poor peoples and rich and poor countries?
Overcoming Indifference offers contributions from Nobel Prize winners, statesmen, scholars and university professors, and chief executive officers of major industrial corporations. The contributors include such well-known and disparate thinkers as Elie Wiesel, Samuel P. Huntington, Michael Hammer, and Carl Sagan. Highlighting subjects as diverse as the new information society, methods of creating sufficient employment, the disintegration of previously held value systems, and the maintenance of global security in the post-Cold War world, the contributors, propose the best possible courses of action.

The end of the Cold War did not, as some might have hoped, simplify the issues facing world leaders. Civil war, famine, overpopulation, chronic unemployment, and an exploding refugee problem continue to plague the world economy, to the point where we begin to wonder whether national boundaries can contain such crises, or whether the challenges that face the world are beyond the reach of the leaders we have elected. Has the increasing disparity between the haves and the have nots, between the knows and don't knows led to an unbridgeable gap between rich and poor peoples and rich and poor countries?
Overcoming Indifference offers contributions from Nobel Prize winners, statesmen, scholars and university professors, and chief executive officers of major industrial corporations. The contributors include such well-known and disparate thinkers as Elie Wiesel, Samuel P. Huntington, Michael Hammer, and Carl Sagan. Highlighting subjects as diverse as the new information society, methods of creating sufficient employment, the disintegration of previously held value systems, and the maintenance of global security in the post-Cold War world, the contributors, propose the best possible courses of action.