On the Path to the Fifth Industrial Revolution

This book explores the technological and societal evolution of industrial revolutions, from mechanization to digitalization, with a focus on the Fourth and emerging Fifth Industrial Revolutions. It blends historical context with cutting-edge theory to explain how Cyber-Physical Systems (powered by AI and internet connectivity) are reshaping global industry. The work highlights the disruptive shift from globalization to reshoring and introduces quantum computing as the foundation for future Cyber-Physical Systems. Through a clear methodological framework, it examines how energy manipulation has evolved across revolutions and how information entropy is reduced to enable autonomous decision making. The book includes topical case studies on deglobalization trends and the limitations of classical computing, offering a forward-looking perspective on quantum-enhanced industrial systems. It is geographically broad, with implications for global manufacturing and policy and temporally spans from the 18th century to the near future. Groundbreaking in its synthesis of physics, computing, and geopolitics, this volume provides a comprehensive roadmap for understanding the computational shift driving the next industrial era. This book is key reading designed for undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and nonspecialist readers alike.

Rolando Herrero, PhD, is a director at Northeastern University, USA, and researches communications, signal processing, Cyber-Physical Systems, and Industry 4.0; he authored Fundamentals of IoT Communication Technologies (2021) and over 50 peer-reviewed articles, contributing extensively to next-generation IoT, AI, and energy systems.

1. Introduction 2. First Industrial Revolution 3. Second Industrial Revolution 4. Third Industrial Revolution 5. Fourth Industrial Revolution 6. Fifth Industrial Revolution 7. Ultimate Questions