The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Recolonisation of Africa

The Coloniality of Data

By Prof. Everisto Benyera

Chapter 6: The 4IR as the mother of all destructions and accumulations

Page 116

This chapter positions the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a culmination of extractive processes that both destroy and accumulate resources from Africa. It examines the dual nature of technological change as both creative and destructive.

Key Points

  • Analysis of how the 4IR destroys traditional economic structures and livelihoods
  • Examination of the accumulation of wealth and power by tech companies
  • Discussion of the environmental and social costs of technological advancement
  • Exploration of how destruction and accumulation are two sides of the same process

The chapter examines the Fourth Industrial Revolution through the lens of "creative destruction," showing how technological innovation simultaneously destroys existing economic and social structures while creating new forms of wealth accumulation. Prof. Benyera argues that this process disproportionately benefits global tech companies while imposing costs on African societies.

By characterizing the 4IR as "the mother of all destructions and accumulations," the chapter highlights the unprecedented scale and scope of technological change and its implications for Africa. This analysis challenges techno-optimistic narratives about the 4IR and calls for a more critical assessment of who benefits from and who bears the costs of technological transformation.

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