Communities as custodians

Green thumbs: The letter-writer (left) in a wefie with the community garden’s committee members. – Supplied

THE fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) roles inexorably on. Artificial intelligence, machine- learning, big data and blockchain are some of the jargon words widely used now. IR 4.0 is enabling innovation and “disrupting” existing business models.

However, while these are exciting times, the world is still reeling from the aftermath of previous industrial revolutions. Pollution, mass destruction of natural resources and climate change are some of the side-effects of industrialisation, and only time will tell the downfalls of IR 4.0 – the widening gap between those with access to knowledge and those without, perhaps, or the loss of many menial jobs to machines?