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RESEARCH PRODUCT

EMERGING RESEARCH MILESTONES FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES IN A SMART SOCIETY

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Scientific and technological development goes hand in hand and has always sustained mankind, being the sources of a better living for humans. Until recent years, people were the ones that coordinated and maneuvered machines or production chains, used telephones or droved cars, which only operated as tools, according to their handlers will. This scenario is nowadays less obvious, and devices are currently less subordinated to man manipulation. They become smart, record and share information, decide to act or communicate, simulating human behavior, independent from a human decider. All the above-mentioned issues are considered facets of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as defined by the leader of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, in Davos. Economists and politicians, social scientists and engineers, innovators and conformists regard such never met before transformations with both hope and skepticism, identifying benefits, risks and challenges. In the following pages we will radiography the key sectors impacted by the fourth industrial revolution, analyzing several perspectives regarding it and emphasizing the main areas of interest for social sciences.