Abstract
The emergence of the “4th Industrial Revolution,” i.e. the convergence of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, advanced materials, and bioengineering technologies, could accelerate socioeconomic insecurities and anxieties or provide beneficial alternatives to the status quo. In the post-Covid-19 era, the entities that are best positioned to capitalize on these innovations are large firms, which use digital platforms and big data to orchestrate vast ecosystems of users and extract market share across industry sectors. Nonetheless, these technologies also have the potential to democratize ownership, broaden political-economic participation, and reduce environmental harms. We articulate the potential sociotechnical pathways in this high-stakes crossroads by analyzing cellular agriculture, an exemplary 4th Industrial Revolution technology that synergizes computer science, biopharma, tissue engineering, and food science to grow cultured meat, dairy, and egg products from cultured cells and/or genetically modified yeast. Our exploration of this space involved multi-sited ethnographic research in both (a) the cellular agriculture community and (b) alternative economic organizations devoted to open source licensing, member-owned cooperatives, social financing, and platform business models. Upon discussing how these latter approaches could potentially facilitate alternative sociotechnical pathways in cellular agriculture, we reflect upon the broader implications of this work with respect to the 4th Industrial Revolution and the enduring need for public policy reform.
Highlights
Emerging “4th Industrial Revolution” (4IR) technologies that fuse the “physical, digital, and biological worlds” (Schwab 2016, p. 1) could help to revitalize the contemporary agri-food system, improve social equity, and reduce environmental degradation
As noted by Gibson-Graham (2006), there is a tendency for many political economy scholars to portray the capitalist economy as monolithic and incessant
Industrial revolutions present the possibility for social reorganization that could democratize ownership, broaden politicaleconomic participation, and reduce environmental harms (McCarthy and Zald 1977; Rifkin 2014; Schwab 2016)
Summary
Emerging “4th Industrial Revolution” (4IR) technologies that fuse the “physical, digital, and biological worlds” (Schwab 2016, p. 1) could help to revitalize the contemporary agri-food system, improve social equity, and reduce environmental degradation. We identified two critical dimensions for inclusive innovation in cellular agriculture and the 4IR: ownership, which refers to the legal entities involved in the development of the industry, and participation, which refers to collaboration and stakeholder engagement (both within the industry and with broader publics).
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