Industry 4.0

Introduction

Benjamin Constant (quoted by Michéa 2007) wrote: “The purpose of the modern [citizen] is security in [their] private enjoyment; and they call freedom the guarantees granted by institutions to these enjoyment”. This vision of peaceful liberalism (i.e. without direct deaths) is in line with market or legal dynamics (limiting unacceptable unrest induced by market evolution). It does not define what is considered as the good life, investing in a principle of total freedom (not going beyond that of others, because of adjustment by law – with the primacy of just over the good according to Sandel (1998), nor over the obligation to leave behind possible selfishness). Liberalism, the dominant political foundation in the West, entrusts power to producers of personal property, with responsibility put on states to operate “good” regulations. In practice, individualism has been reinforced on this basis of pseudo-neutrality. Today, among other features, it is strongly supported by digital technologies.

However, in its design, the company and its material component, industry has been and still is a place of strong socialization: it makes work possible and achieves acceptable economic objectives. Digital technology, through the advantages it offers, not only troubles citizens, but also employees, the company in its governance and the way it produces. It is a revolution, which some have called the “robolution”! This short book attempts to provide a perspective between science and ...