Current Affairs

Society 5.0: Where will technology take humanity?

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh • July 12, 2024 08:59

We often hear about the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0. However, we will probably become more familiar with and frequently use the phrases: Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0. One example of this is the publication of the book: "Relationships 5.0 – How Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Robotics Will Reshape Human Emotional Lives" by author Elyakim Kislev. The book was translated and published in Vietnam in 2023. From Elyakim Kislev's perspective, we have actually entered Society 5.0. More specifically, we are in the early stages of Society 5.0, and the time we are living in is a transitional period, an intermingling of Society 4.0 and Society 5.0.

July 12, 2024

From Society 1.0 to Society 4.0

Based on technological advancements throughout history, in his publication "Relationship 5.0 - How Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Robotics Will Reshape Human Emotional Life," Elyakim Kislev argues that the history of human society has gone through five stages. The first stage, or Society 1.0, was the hunter-gatherer society. Society 1.0 was built on the foundation of hunting and gathering technology. The second stage in human history was the agricultural society, or Society 2.0. Farming technology shaped Society 2.0. The third stage in human development was the industrial society, or Society 3.0. Society 3.0 was built on many technologies such as the steam engine, electricity, and production processes. The fourth stage of human history is Society 4.0. The key technologies shaping Society 4.0 are computers, the internet, and wireless phones.

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Breakthrough technologies (computers, the Internet, and wireless telephones) in the information age have laid the foundation for hyperconnectivity between individuals, social groups, and nations worldwide.

Elyakim Kislev argues that Society 4.0, or the Information Age, began around the mid-20th century and lasted until approximately 2010. Humanity entered the information age after World War II, when scientists began to pay particular attention to "storing, extracting, controlling, transmitting, and receiving information in digital form." These technologies have enabled humanity to make tremendous strides in communication methods and the ways of producing goods and services. While in industrial society, Society 3.0, people relied primarily on mechanical means, in the information society, Society 4.0, humanity relies mainly on digital technology.

Overall, in the past few decades we have witnessed and experienced many technological breakthroughs that have shaped Society 4.0; but the three core achievements of innovation that have defined this type of society are computers, the internet, and wireless telephones. These breakthrough technologies in the information age have laid the foundation for hyper-connectivity between individuals, social groups, and nations worldwide. These technological breakthroughs have also accelerated globalization to an unprecedented level, and in this context, nations are becoming increasingly globalized, diverse, and multicultural. Simultaneously, in the context of a highly globalized and information society, many companies have become multinational corporations, knowledge plays a leading role in the economy, and the service sector has generated more value than the manufacturing sector.

Three revolutions shaped Society 5.0: the cognitive revolution, the sensory revolution, and the physical revolution.

Following the information society, Elyakim Kislev argues that humanity is entering Society-Technology 5.0. Society 5.0 is based on the remarkable advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR), and social robotics. Elyakim Kislev emphasizes that Society 5.0 is built on the foundation of three revolutions: the cognitive revolution, the sensory revolution, and the physical revolution, specifically as follows.

The cognitive revolutionBased on the development of artificial intelligence, this involves creating "human-like brains in machines," meaning machines with brains similar to humans, machines that are intelligent like humans. To create machines with intelligent brains like humans, scientists rely on three basic methods. First, neural network technology helps create "artificial intelligence neural networks that mimic the sophisticated arrangement of the multitasking nervous system in the human brain by instructing the computer to process multiple units of information simultaneously." Second, deep learning is a method of "using bioelectrical and optical techniques to study records of visual processing in a cell in the brain of mammals." Third, reinforcement learning helps create "reinforcement models that identify cause and effect and then piece them together through neuroscience-based processes."

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Elyakim Kislev emphasized that humanity still has a long way to go to develop machines with artificial intelligence similar to humans, but in the future, machines with artificial intelligence will become a new "species" in human society that humans need to prepare themselves to accept.

Although currently none of these three methods have enabled scientists to create machines with artificial intelligence that "can think and react like humans," in reality, machines based on artificial intelligence technology can already perform many tasks much better than humans, even in complex fields such as disease diagnosis or surgery. Therefore, Elyakim Kislev emphasizes that humanity still has a long way to go to achieve machines with artificial intelligence that are identical to humans, but in the future, machines with artificial intelligence will become a new "species" in human society that humans need to prepare to accept.

The question is whether machines with artificial intelligence can form relationships with humans in the same way that humans do with each other. Currently, advancements in artificial intelligence have enabled the creation of chatbots that can converse with humans in a way that closely resembles human-to-human interaction. This lays the groundwork for reaching a stage where humans can have emotions for AI-powered machines; human emotions can be understood by AI-powered machines; and AI-powered machines can have emotions for humans. Of course, technology needs to advance further before humans can create AI-powered machines that meet human needs for closeness, empathy, and understanding; but progress in this direction is happening rapidly. Therefore, Elyakim Kislev poses the question: "Can humans find similarities and empathy with chatbots to the point of developing feelings for them to the extent of building full and complete relationships with them?"

Based on social surveys, Elyakim Kislev stated that many people consider this unhealthy and reject establishing relationships with artificial intelligence machines. However, he also noted that many people, especially young people, are open to the possibility of befriending AI machines; and they are increasingly inclined to develop relationships with AI machines. Elyakim Kislev predicts that in the future, as AI capabilities develop and AI becomes more sophisticated, interactions between AI and humans will become more natural; AI will participate more in personal lives; society will increasingly accept AI; and the cognitive revolution could change people's emotional lives.

The Second RevolutionAccording to Elyakim Kislev, what contributes to the creation of Society 5.0 is the sensory revolution. This sensory revolution is based on the development of Extended Reality (XR) technology. Extended Reality technology includes the following three specific technologies.

The first,Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that creates a completely artificial environment, or a virtual environment. This technology is used by having users wear a headset to "enter" a completely unreal world – a virtual world created by the technology. In this virtual world, users can see, hear, and interact with the characters within it.

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In this virtual reality (VR) world, users can see, hear, and interact with the characters within it.

Monday,Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that "enhances" the real world by using the real-world environment and placing virtual information on top of that real-world environment. This technology creates virtual images that appear in the real world when viewed through a camera, enhancing the real world through various digital elements such as images, text, and animation.

Tuesday,Mixed Reality (MR) is a technology that integrates virtual objects into the real world. In other words, it blends real-world objects with virtual objects. As a result, in mixed reality, digitally created virtual objects and real-world objects can coexist and interact with each other in real time.

Extended reality technology includes or combines virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality technologies. This technology allows users to "embody" virtual environments, interact with virtual objects in the real world; enhance all senses, provide additional information about the real world; or create entirely virtual worlds for users to experience.

Thus, with augmented reality technology, users can “live in” a world called “active virtual reality” through technological devices. In this world, users can embody characters within it, or “digitally embody” characters within it to build a life in this virtual world. In it, “residents of the virtual world can get to know each other, date, have sex, fall in love, get married, and build their own families…”. This raises a very important issue that Elyakim Kislev is concerned about: Can people “develop online relationships” with characters in the virtual world that are as deep as relationships between people in real life?

The third revolution is the physical revolution.Elyakim Kislev emphasizes that the physical revolution is based on the development of social robotics. We are witnessing the rapid development of many increasingly intelligent robots in various fields. Looking at it holistically, Elyakim Kislev classifies robots into two groups. The first group consists of robots that provide technical support, and the second group consists of robots that perform emotional functions. Robots performing emotional functions "are often designed with a human appearance." This is the field known as social robotics. The question is when will humans be able to create robots that are so human-like that humans can build full relationships with them? In fact, with the development of technology, the creation of robots that are like humans, with intellectual and emotional functions, is becoming increasingly possible.

Robots are increasingly capable of performing a wide range of bodily behaviors, from "simple house cleaning to hugging and even sexual intercourse." Elyakim Kislev also mentioned the possibility that at some point in the future, humans "will have more sexually and emotionally satisfying relationships with robots than with humans"; and even to the point where humans "prefer experiences with robots to experiences with humans." While this is only a possibility in the future, the development of technology is giving us reason to think about these possibilities.

Cognitive revolution, sensory revolution, physical revolution: Humanity versus artificial entities, the question of humanity and morality.

The development of artificial intelligence, augmented reality technology, and social robotics has led to two major problems.The first major problemCulture is the dependence of humans on a world of man-made entities created by humans. In this regard, sociologist Georg Simmel once put forward the thesis on the tragedy of culture when he discussed the dialectical relationship between "objective culture" and "subjective culture." Georg Simmel understood "objective culture" as all the products created by humans; while "subjective culture" reflects the individual's capacity to create, absorb, and control the elements of objective culture. Georg Simmel argued that the tragedy of culture occurs when objective culture dominates subjective culture. In other words, the tragedy of culture occurs when the will and capacity of the individual are subservient to their own creative products. With the development of artificial intelligence, augmented reality technology, and social robots, humanity will create a wide variety of artificial entities—machines with artificial intelligence, social robots with artificial intelligence, capable of thinking, learning, and experiencing emotions. At that point, reality could unfold as leading tech billionaire Elon Musk remarked: “If you’re building systems that are more powerful than humans, how can humans maintain power over those systems forever?” Therefore, some predict that at some point in the future, robots with superintelligence created by humans could build factories to produce a new generation of super-intelligent robots. And this process would repeat itself to create increasingly intelligent generations of robots. Many also worry that at some point in the future, intelligent robots will revolt against humans. However, contrary to this view, many argue that it is merely a pipe dream because "robots can only perceive, but free will is something that humans cannot create in robots." Of course, this remains an open question, but we need to think about it for the sustainable future of humanity.

The second major problemWith the development of artificial intelligence, augmented reality technology, and social robots, we see questions being raised about the nature of humanity and morality from our current perspective. Let's assume that at some point in the future, humans will have emotions towards machines with artificial intelligence. Let's assume that at some point in the future, augmented reality technology will allow humans to have relationships and emotions with characters in the virtual world created by technology similar to their relationships and emotions with people in the real world; perhaps even deeper relationships and emotions with characters in the virtual world created by technology than with people in the real world. Let's assume that at some point in the future, humans will have full relationships with robots, humans will have more sexually and emotionally satisfying relationships with robots than with other humans, and will prefer experiences with robots to experiences with other humans. By that time, how will the nature of humanity and the nature of human relationships be transformed? Will humans lose their humanity in their relationship with robots? Will humans tend to treat others as objects? The answers to these questions lie only in the future, but we have reason to be optimistic, as Elyakim Kislev argues: Relationships with artificial entities “are not necessarily solely related to technological capabilities” but also “depend on social norms and public acceptance.” Elyakim Kislev further emphasizes: “The unique elements that have allowed our species to survive throughout history are our ability to evolve and adapt to new conditions,” so we have reason to believe that humanity will “find ways to adapt to technology” to enter Society 5.0; where humans will continue to “develop and flourish.”