9. Bringing the Developmental State Back in the Age of Exponentiality

There is on the other hand some negative view on such robotic object, notably, that is, the uncanny valley hypothesis—the more similar the appearance and the movement of a robotic object is to a human being, the greater people’s liking for the object but from a particular point of time, the stronger people’s sense of disgust and rejection will be.

The first Industrial Revolution refers to a period which saw the transition from hand production to machine production, the expanded usage of steam power, the development of machinery and the birth of factories; the second Industrial Revolution occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, with the advent of electricity and production assembly lines.

People and the Internet: How people connect with others, information, and the world around them is being transformed through a combination of technologies. Wearable and implantable technologies will enhance people’s ‘digital presence’, allowing them to interact with objects and one another in new ways; Computing, Communications and Storage Everywhere: The continued rapid decline in the size and cost of computing and connectivity technologies is driving an exponential growth in the potential to access and leverage the Internet. This will lead to ubiquitous computing power being available, where everyone has access to a supercomputer in their pocket, with nearly unlimited storage capacity; The Internet of Things: smaller, cheaper, and smarter sensors are being introduced—in homes, clothes and accessories, cities, transport and energy networks, as well as manufacturing processes; Artificial Intelligence and Big Data: exponential digitisation creates exponentially more data—about everything and everyone. In parallel, the sophistication of the problems software can address, and the ability for software to learn and evolve itself, is advancing rapidly. This is built on the rise of big data for decision-making, and the influence that AI and robotics are starting to have on decision-making and jobs; the Sharing Economy and Distributed Trust: the Internet is driving a shift towards networks and platform-based social and economic models. Assets can be shared, creating not just new efficiencies but also whole new business models, and opportunities for social self-organisation. The blockchain, an emerging technology, replaces the need for third-party institutions to provide trust for financial, contract, and voting activities; and the Digitisation of Matter: physical objects are ‘printed’ from raw materials via additive (or 3D) printing, a process that is transforming industrial manufacturing, allows printing products at home, and creates a whole set of human health opportunities.

Two most unequal continents with an average Gini coefficient are Africa with .44 and Latin America with .52 over the period 2000−2009 (Armah and Baek 2015).