Interview with Eamonn Fitzgerald

Welcome Amon first, what is the connection between Buddhism and industry? Four point. Oh, if you had asked me that question a year ago, I would have said, There's no connection are I don't think there's a connection, but in the middle of me, I read an article in the online addition off The Jakarta Post, which has been described as Indonesia's leading English language newspaper. And the headline on this story was Buddhism Moves toe, adapt to industry four point. Oh, and it was all about a festival that Buddhists celebrate every year about the birth and life and death of Buddha. And it was held in a pagoda in Vietnam and Buddhists from all over the world assembled to talk about Buddhism and industry. 4.0, and I found it really fascinating, which is why I devoted my column to the topic. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is causing disruption on a global scale. Kim religious belief help people to cope with such dramatic change? I don't know, but what I know is that if we go back to Buddhism, which has a history off 2000 years off meditation, it's obvious that certain activities can help people deal with stress and with change. And we're living through a time off. Dramatic change. Very stressful change. Will robots take my job? Must I learned something completely new? Should I buy the latest smartphone, or will I look really sexy in this outfit on Instagram? So how do people cope with such stress? Well, for a long, long time, religions have offered a place where people can go on and think and contemplate, ease and pray. And this might be in a church are a mosque or a synagogue or a temple, and enviously, they get away from the world. They have a chance to rest and relax and think. But even if you're not religious, we've seen the growth off yoga, for example, where people try to de stress. What we know is that this is a time of change. We know that stress is a killer, and whatever helps us to cope with stress must be good. You begin your story with The Jakarta Post and ended with The Manila Times. Why? On the day I read the article, it was actually a multimedia piece in The Jakarta Post. I read an article in The Manila Times which is a very important English language newspaper in the Philippines. And this WAAS the first part off a two part Siri's by a journalist looking at how industry 4.0 could help the Philippines to industrialize. And in the second part she traveled to Europe to Italy and visited companies that are using the concepts off industry 4.0, to prepare their businesses for the present and the future. And she visited a company south of room. It's 175 years old, and it makes the machines that companies use restaurants use to make Pastor. And she talked to the owners and they were using these techniques thes concepts, which really had their origins in Germany in 2011 to make sure that they will still be in business 175 years from now. So it is quite fascinating to see how a concept can travel around the world and then come all the way back home, as it were. Thank you very much, Amon. You're welcome.