It has been widely reported that humanity has entered into a new phase in its relation to the designed, built, and manufactured environment. It is being called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial Revolution was defined by the shift from wind and water power to mechanization; this process began in Britain in the late 18th century and is ongoing. The Second Industrial Revolution was marked by the replacement of steam by electricity. This “great transformation” was accompanied by new industries—chemical, electrical, steel— and took root first in Germany and the U.S. in the early 20th century and spread rapidly. The Third Industrial Revolution was a function of the information technologies created in the aftermath of World War II, and whose most obvious expression is the Internet. Are we poised now, for a Fourth Industrial Revolution? Have we embarked upon a path that will permanently redraw the boundaries between the physical, the digital, and the biological? In this course we will survey recent developments with an eye toward one leading question: “What has this got to do with me as a designer?"

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