Are we ready for artificial intelligence?
Very exciting presentations at the 13th ECONOMIC FORUM OF THE CANTON OF SCHWYZ on the topic: "Are we ready for artificial intelligence?".
As the father of a 9-year-old daughter, I found Professor Silvio Herzog very revealing. Is education equipping our children with the necessary skills for this new digital world? Does it make sense, for example, to teach children "typewriting", given that the human-machine interfaces of the future will most likely do without a keyboard? Will typewriting be as useful for my daughter as shorthand was for my generation? Will our children still have to learn languages or will there simply be an electronic translator in the future?
But also the approach of Mr Pascal Kaufmann "Do it before someone else gets ahead of us" certainly has its appeal. But this reminds me of the detonation of the first atomic bomb by Robert Oppenheimer. He was also under pressure that someone else (Germany) would beat him to it. He therefore decided in favour of the test even though the calculations did not clearly show that the nuclear reaction would stop... Even Professor Stephen Hawking warned against too much overzealousness in this area: "I fear that artificial intelligence could replace humans altogether. If humans design computer viruses, someone will design an artificial intelligence that improves and reproduces itself. This will be a new form of life that will surpass humans."
To the individual Presentations on YouTube.
Excerpt from "The WEF 2019 Manifesto":
"Our whole system of education will have to be revamped. The age of the 4IR requires new skills and abilities as well as life-long learning. Emphasis must be placed on nourishing creativity, critical thinking and new digital skills, and above all, on supporting the very aspects that make us human. Cultivating empathy, sensitivity, collaboration and passion are the best way to ensure that we use technology as a tool for mastering our lives and do not become the slaves of algorithms."
This is exactly the point. Our schools need to rethink their curriculum and adapt it to the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).