17 must-read stories for the weekend

We’re facing a battle between humanity and robots. It’s a war we can win if we apply human values to the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The leaders millennials admire the most. The southern hemisphere tops the list, but there’s still a gender gap for generational heroes.

Economic incentives to promote equality stifle growth. Or is the conventional wisdom wrong?

Humanity needs clean energy to avoid runaway climate change. Here are 15 technologies to unlock a sustainable future.

720 million women were forced into marriage as girls. Unless we act now, that number will soar to 1.2 billion by 2050.

We live in a technological age of plenty, yet infrastructure investment lags on every continent. Business can work for the future, but it needs cooperation.

“I cannot and will not give up my family time.” Finding a balance between work and home is every working parent’s issue, not just women’s, says Suzanne Donohoe.

How will we understand artificial intelligence? And what kind of threat will it pose to its creators? Understanding the ‘containment’ problem.

The Chinese attitude to waste. How German engineering and Chinese pragmatism are turning faeces to fertilizer, putting Western waste management to shame.

Technology is killing jobs. Or is it?

Small income boosts make big differences for poor families. A rare glimpse into the subtle but important ways money can alter a child’s life, when their parents get a little extra.

Sick cities. New research shows pollution took a toll in lives and productivity in the first industrial revolution.

Millennials care most about inequality. The Global Shapers’ survey of over 1,000 young people shows they are concerned about inclusiveness. (USA Today)

…and they admire Narendra Modi, Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs. More results from the Global Shapers’ survey. (Wall Street Journal)

“It is up to us to shape the human consequences of Fourth Industrial Revolution.” World Economic Forum Founder tells the Summit on the Global Agenda. (The National)

The cost of counterfeiting alone could reach $1.77 trillion in 2015. Cites a Forum white paper. (Economic Times)

Leaders need to embrace technology. Warily. Cites a paper by the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Finance & Capital. (Forbes)

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Author: Adrian Monck is Managing Director and head of Public Engagement at the World Economic Forum.

Image: A hundred humanoid communication robots called Robi perform a synchronized dance during a promotional event called 100 Robi, for the Weekly Robi Magazine, in Tokyo January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino