Pandemic, New Normal, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Wealth Inequality, Unemployment, Platform Labor…
In what way is the world changing?
In the era of poverty, hatred, and humiliation, how can human dignity be preserved?
This book seeks to answer that.

Due to COVID-19, everyone has come to realize that we are living in an era of crisis. However, the disease itself is not the only thing that makes our lives difficult, as the pandemic is also revealing the flaws of the new capitalism.  We struggle through our everyday lives as if we are fighting a war for survival, and this demonstrate just how serious the issues of income inequality and wealth disparity are, how the lives of workers, who have lost the traditional social safety nets, can become desolate.

The uncertain future that people anxiously observe is filled with bleak prospects. Economic growth has long ceased, and unemployment rates show no sign of improvement. Graduates are burdened with debt, and even pooling one's soul seems insufficient to secure a place to rent in Seoul. Permanent positions are as rare as finding a needle in a haystack, and to make matters worse, advancements in technology brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as artificial intelligence and industrial robots, threaten our livelihoods.

Certainly, there have been several industrial revolutions in the past that have rapidly transformed the world. However, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, based on recent advancements in digital technology, is different in many ways. Unlike in the past when benefits extended to workers, current technological advancements only seem to benefit multinational corporations. Meanwhile, the boundaries of labor are becoming increasingly blurred, and workers are being pushed into forms of employment such as 'zero-hour contracts,' 'cloud labor,' 'concierge labor,' and 'platform labor' that fail to guarantee a decent quality of life.

In this era also known as the Second Machine Age, the economic hardships we are experiencing are even more devastating because social safety nets have disappeared. The face of labor and poverty in this digital age is evolving into a 'new' form that we have never experienced before.

In such a reality, is there really anything we can do?

The author, after majoring in political philosophy, has given numerous lectures in universities and on the street. He first explains how this reality has been constructed through history. Then he diagnoses the extent of current technological advancement and, finally, proposes alternatives we can take to address these issues.

A world where we form positive partnerships with machines, the concentration of wealth among the few is prevented, and the ordinary majority can live under protection. 

In the book, the author asserts that such a world is entirely possible. He says, if we extend our hands to each other, humans can maintain dignity even in the face of any crisis. And even though it feels like the end of the world, every end inevitably harbors a new beginning.

Let's take his warm hand and step into the pages of the book together.