Are you ready for the second revolution? Not a political one – the AI Revolution after the Industrial one.
In 1741 Moravian settlers founded Bethlehem PA. They encouraged literacy, taught trades skills to their own teens and local tribes, built farms. The area thrived quietly.
Then in 1831 Asa Packer, a carpenter with limited funds, started bringing iron ore and coal from the Pocono Mountains to Bethlehem, first by barge and then via a new railroad. And the Industrial Revolution kicked off. Bethlehem Steel became a major steel producer and later was a key supplier not only to railroads, bridges, and buildings but also to important US Navy ships. Nearby, Atlas Cement provided the material for the Panama Canal, Grand Central Station, and more. Silk and other sewing factories sprang up. Eventually Packer used his new wealth to found Bethlehem’s Lehigh University, a major engineering school.
Over time the Industrial Revolution transformed our national economy and lives. Skilled tradesmen immigrated and contributed. Congress passed laws allowing the creation and trading of company shares, which in turn increased investment and corporate ownership – including by members of the newly formed labor unions.
But there were costs. Older elements of the economy lagged behind or were disrupted. Wealth disparity had always existed but its presence and impact were sharpened greatly. Industries replaced farms on some land. The world changed in significant ways. After WWII the area around Bethlehem became a major manufacturing center. Mack Trucks, Bell Labs / Western Electric and other factories grew. So did highways and shopping centers where farms once quietly sat.
By the 1990s, however, US manufacturing had been significantly hollowed out in the area. High wage union jobs came with rigid rules that prevented response to overseas competitors. Increasing environmental and other regulations also prevented industry from adjusting. Factories closed. Blue collar employment dropped. Eventually more farmland was converted to logistics warehouses and large trucks began to dominate the highways across the region.
Today Bethlehem and the wider Lehigh Valley are among those places where plans to build large data centers and more broadly the rise of AI agents and tools threaten – or promise – to disrupt the status quo once again. In 19th century England the Luddites smashed sewing machinery in a vain attempt to prevent automation. Instead they brought unemployment and poverty to their communities. So too attempting to prevent the growth of this powerful new technology will primarily bring economic failure to our country. China and others have no hesitation both to build these capabilities and to use them – economically but also militarily.
Rather than preventing the construction of data centers and AI systems, our focus should be on structures and safeguards around privacy, environmental impacts, and intellectual property ownership. Revolutions are disruptive by their nature. Some offer the potential for greater freedom, prosperity, and options to shape our future in responsible ways.
Robin Burk went from blue collar kid to entrepreneurial high tech, teaching at West Point, and building a cutting-edge research program for the counterWMD agency, Robin Burk has led contributions to national security / defense and to industry here and abroad. She holds a PhD in AI/data analysis, an MBA, and enjoys her 52-year (so far) marriage to a retired USAF officer / West Point prof along with their dog Neil.
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