Two key discourses of our time, lifelong learning and the fourth industrial revolution, have been inextricably linked to offer a compelling narrative of the coupling of education models and technological change to enable individual empowerment, social inclusion and a shared prosperity. Taking a broadly interdisciplinary approach, we identify the development and key consituents of each concept and examine how they have been brought together. We identify fundamental flaws and difficulties with the concepts and their application, but also indicate how the the fourth industrial revolution can provide an impetus for thinking about lifelong learning in new ways that transcend the individual employment-focused conceptualisations that have dominated in recent times. Finally, we offer a discussion about the nature of a progressive conceptualisation of lifelong learning which might respond in a more authentic and realistic way to contemporary changes in the nature of work, life, social and economic activity and indeed to more fundamental issues for humanity.