What kind of industrial policy is required to reverse deindustrialisation in South Africa? Bhaso Ndzendze and Tshilidzi Marwala recently opined that South Africa’s industrial policy needs to adjust to the “realities” of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) by using artificial intelligence and big data to identify markets. This, they suggest, will create and support jobs in “smart” factories (based on the “Internet of Things”) and combat unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is wishful thinking. It imagines that South Africa, like the mythical African country of Wakanda in the superhero film Black Panther, can become rich enough to solve poverty and inequality through immensely powerful technology. Not only do they argue that 4IR offers meaningful economic salvation for South Africa, but they imply it is the only way to save us: we need to adopt “world-class manufacturing” or be condemned to replicate the failures of the past.