It is January and time for another World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, so I join the trek up to the remote mountain village in Switzerland’s eastern Alps, which has become synonymous with building a global community based on a sense of liberal humanity.

The success of such tolerant values are no longer to be taken for granted as extremists are taking advantage of the vacuum in world governance to build their own power bases, and the world order is shifting as China is starting to challenge what it sees as a US-based system, and the vast populations of the developing world are starting to realise their true potential in the modern connected global world.

This is why it is interesting that the theme this year will be what the World Economic Forum has called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which refers to the transformation of the global society by advances in areas of science like artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing and nanotechnology, which will affect every industry and society however remote.

Incidentally, this definition begs the question of what were the other three revolutions: I know about the first and its transformation of Victorian Britain into the dark Satanic mills of William Blake’s poem, but I am not sure about the other two.



Even the robot from Hubo Lab in Korea ' s KAIST institute has to wear a Davos participant's badge round it's neck. GN Photo / Francis Matthe



The team from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology with their robot at Davos led by Professor Jun Ho Oh of the Hubo Lab. GN Photo / Francis Matthew

But all this exciting stuff is very far from the minds of the 11 million Syrian refugees who just want their civil war to end, and the millions under Daesh control in Iraq and Syria, or the people of Libya and Yemen seeking almost any kind of stability.

So I will still be chasing the politicians who come to Davos, asking them what they are doing about the world’s more immediate problems while also trying to keep an eye on the scientific innovation that is already impacting many of our lives.

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From robots to rappers: Davos looks at the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’


Delegates

The Americans are sending an unusually substantial delegation with Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretaries Kerry and Carter covering foreign policy and defence, which leads one to wonder what their mission might be.

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi from Iraq will be there, doubtless seeking support for Iraq’s war on Daesh, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is due to talk about the state of Indian-Pakistan talks but let’s see if he will comment on rumours that he is mediating between the Saudis and the Iranians.

And if it all gets too serious, actors like Revenant star Leonardo DiCaprio and Kevin Spacey will be there, to add some glamour along with rapper will.i.am and others. It will be fascinating to see how they add to the quality of the debates.