A Critical Historical and Scientific Overview of all Industrial Revolutions

Over the course of history, mankind has perfected its industry by not only relying on technical evolution but also by reinventing it as new resources have created new technical means. TECIS Conferences have been advocating and rightfully so, that control, automation theories and practices can contribute in making the world a more stable place for everyone. Industry has benefited from qualitative advancements which have sometimes been so ingrained in a certain time period and have had such an overwhelming impact that we have dubbed them “revolutions”. Industrialization changed the economy, transportation, health and medicine and led to many inventions and firsts in history. The first four industrial revolutions as historically been developed are review from a critical point of view. The main technological development for each one is briefly discussed. Their social impacts are highlighted. The numbering of the industrial revolutions has brought new controvercies into the world. The last 10 years many difficult problems have come upon the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new difficult situation for the whole planet. The TECIS vision is of a civilization in which our technologies, systems and processes are in service to all humanity. This is called "human-machine symbiosis" and is a vision of the application of control and automation technologies and systems which benefit all life. A new sustainable economic model for the meta COVID-19 period is needed. A new concept for the humanized revolution is proposed, the INDUSTRY 6.0.