Automation is a revolutionary concept and technology.

First-Generation Automation

The first generation of automation is the automation of the heaven-and-earth system: the growth of all things.

Heaven supplies energy as yang, earth takes form as yin; the ancient sages observed this and put it to use. Following the four seasons and adapting to local conditions is what is called wu wei (non-action). Wu wei is not inaction — it is acting in accordance with nature.

The automation of this generation has three elements: heaven, earth and man.

Weather reflects the intensity and total amount of the solar energy supplied. The changes of weather divide broadly into the four seasons and finely into the twenty-four solar terms. Terrain differs from place to place, so one adapts to local conditions; and people must sow, water, fertilize and feed at the right time and in the right place, as if playing in concert with heaven and earth — hence human harmony.

Although heaven and earth are already automated, from the human point of view it still takes the right action at the right moment for all things to grow as humans intend.

Second-Generation Automation

The second generation of automation is machine automation. From this generation onward, automation is man-made.

Machine automation did not begin in modern times; the ancient waterwheel, for instance, was an automated machine powered by water.

But what brought a truly revolutionary change in efficiency was the arrival of industrial machines powered by electricity in the modern era.

Electricity is man-made, produced at first mainly by burning coal and oil; only then did humanity truly have a concept and awareness of energy.

It was also at this point that humanity went from submitting to nature and opening up wasteland to destroying nature and extracting minerals.

Speaking of the human being, the body is yin and consciousness is yang. When yang reaches its extreme, yin is born; when intellect reaches its extreme, ingenious devices are born.

Coal mines and oil wells burn to generate and supply power, and iron and metals are smelted into form: this is the yin and yang of the “heaven and earth” of second-generation automation.

The second generation of automation does not replace the first; rather, it plays two major roles.

First, it acts on the products of first-generation automation, reprocessing them;

second, it in turn upgrades first-generation automation, using machines to create small local natures.

Third-Generation Automation

The third generation of automation is logic automation. From this generation onward, automation moves from the concrete into the abstract.

The automation of logic is the automation of the capacity to judge, and its product is software.

Likewise, the third generation of automation does not replace the second; it too plays two major roles.

First, on the basis of the products of second-generation automation (hardware), it builds a vast new world of software;

second, it in turn upgrades second-generation automation, making hardware programmable.

In the distinction between form and intent, form is yin and intent is yang. When yin reaches its extreme, yang is born. When matter reaches its extreme, intelligence and ingenuity are born.

It is also from this generation onward that automation moves from things to people. The journey of “creating humans” begins.

The second generation of automation replaced human physical labor; the third generation is beginning to replace human consciousness itself. Note the two kinds of “action”: one is the body’s outward “action”, the other is the body’s inward “action”.

What Is the Fourth Generation of Automation?

Think about it differently: what does the next generation of automation begin to replace in humans? It should be replacing human sensation. Put them in order of precedence, and it should first replace human “perception”.

“Feeling” and “perception” are not the same thing; only with perception is there feeling. For example, perception covers sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, while feeling covers spatial sense, the sense of cold and heat, emotion, the sense of pain and so on.

Perception is reception; feeling is response.

Among the five perceptions, put them in order of precedence again, and it should be human “sight” that is replaced. This is machine vision, a branch of artificial intelligence. Progress on “hearing” is good as well — that is, “speech recognition”.

Self-driving cars are an attempt to generate “feeling” on top of machine vision; voice assistants, for now, only respond to commands or vague commands, and still have a long way to go before true “feeling”.

It is foreseeable that completely covering the five perceptions will still take a very long time.

Completely covering the five feelings, on the other hand, means the birth of “human-like” robots. That will take even longer.

Back to DevOps

DevOps is a form of automation too: automation for the entire software lifecycle. It arose out of third-generation automation and will drive humanity more quickly into the fourth generation of automation; it can be compared to second-generation automation.

The difference is that one acts on the virtual space of software, the other on the physical space of reality.

For a software development company, a fully realized DevOps platform is like an internal industrial revolution and efficiency revolution.