Institut Teknologi Bandung

Through a seminar titled “Wave of Changes in the Era of Double Disruption,” he shared his views on the importance of being relevant in adapting with the latest progresses. This event was held virtually via Zoom and live broadcasted via YouTube.

Prof. Rhenald said that the global society will always changing, especially in its population and technological aspects. The changes in these two aspects resulted in what we know as the World 0.0 to 4.0 concept. In the future, rapid global population growth will propel the advancement of artificial intelligent that can dominate many aspects at once. Nevertheless, he warned that there is a huge danger behind all this advancement, such as diminishing human resources and global warming.

Disruption itself is an innovation that make old habits turned obsolete. “Our job as a human is to make those relevant. Therefore, it is necessary to evolve our habits according as the time goes by”.

Furthermore, this pandemic created a condition that is called “double disruption”. This condition can occur due to the obsolescence of digital technologies, such as in terms of speed and efficiency, which suddenly appeared in front of us. According to Prof. Rhenald, the key to double disruption is the invention of more efficient technologies that can solve new expectations from the customer.

The emergence of telemedicine, for example, is a solution to new habit of social distancing during the pandemic. The doctors in Indonesia which once were reluctant to give prescription without meeting in person are now forced to adapt with this new technology.

However, just like the domino effect, the double disruption era will gradually produce new long-lasting trends. “We are living in a world which technologies have developed further than what human workforce can keep up”, he explained. The prevalence of automation will impact the future of Indonesia job market. According to research, around 23 million of Indonesian citizen will be replaced by machine. One of the example on this case is the prevalence of chatbot that are slowly replaces human costumer service.

Answering this problem, Prof. Rhenald advised that Indonesia should not detach itself from the advancement of technology to not get swept away. According to him, initiation and commitment to seize opportunities play an important role in determining the creation of new jobs in the future. Prof. Rhenald, which is a University of Illinois graduate, said that there are several sectors that gain the most from this era of double disruption, that is biotechnology, cyber security, and logistics.

In addition to the discussion of the double disruption era, Prof. Rhenaldi also mentioned the Peter Diamandis’s concept of “The Era of Abundance”. That idea refers to the Gordon Moore’s saying that state that the number of transistors in Integrated Circuits (IC) will double every year, resulting in an exponential curve.

These words caused Peter to think that technology will facilitate and cheapen human life, causing unexpected changes. In his opinion, technology will increase the world’s population while also reducing the cost of food and energy. As a result, 9 billion people in the future will not be lacking basic privilege.

Prof. Rhenald said that the era of double disruption and abundance prove that human is an adaptive species that are resilience when faced with limitations. Technology that continues to advance is a concrete example of human effort in solving a hardship. However, he also warned that the danger of natural ecosystem catastrophe that may occur in the future due to the human exploitative attitudes.

Ending his speech, Prof. Rhenald gave a message to the younger generation to prepare themselves in facing new challenges in the future. He said that now, higher education does not necessarily guarantee you an employment. In order to survive, we must be able to take control and become a leader. “Make a choice to be a leader, technology is advancing very fast, you need to adapt with it to use it actively and wisely,” he said as his closing remark.

Reporter: Sekar Dianwidi Bisowarno (Bioengineering, 2019)
Translator: Favian Aldilla R (Civil Engineering, 2019)