Compassion and Cooperation: the Two Challenging Ethical Perspectives in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Abstract

It has been internationally accepted that the trend of this global village has become the Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR that has been built by integrating technologies on electronics and information of the third revolution. While technologies have been affecting humankind, the borderlines between physical, mental and digital are hardly defined among humans. Though technologies have been focused by all sectors, the world will always need human brilliance, human ingenuity and human skills. Power of data needs to be utilized by power of people. Machines will supply humans with the insight and the perspective they need to reach those solutions but they cannot supply the judgment or the ingenuity that the people will do (Keywell, 2017). It has been argued that emerging new technologies have been socially and economically widening the gap between the north and the south, the rich and the poor and the ignorant and the educated. In addition, the inexorable integration of technology could diminish some of humans’ quintessential capacities, specially compassion and cooperation. Constant connection through smart-phones may deprive human life’s most important assets: the time to pause, reflect, and engage in meaningful conversation (Schwab, 2016). In this scenario, to care and share or having compassion and cooperation among humankind is, thus, a crucial element that people can use their potentialities to utilize these technologies not only for their own wealth but for the well-being of all members in society. The objectives of this article, therefore, include: 1) To analyze social, political and economic impact of the 4IR; 2) To identify the two indispensable ethical perspectives for the 4IR i.e. compassion and cooperation; and 3) To apply religious doctrines in the two ethical perspectives.