Changing the humalogical balance from human activities to technology performed tasks

At the end of last month it was ASB Un-Plugged. I always enjoy the extended sessions, and this year I attended a 4 hour session run by Scott Klososky on humalogy, the integration of technology and humans to get processes done.

Scott talked about the way that we are living in times of historical transformation - because technology changes the underlying economy and what young people need to know. He claims that looking back 100 years from now we will think in terms of before the internet -v- after the internet. Before the internet will come to be seen as the "dark ages". We are now in a time of information immersion - we can ask any question at any moment and get an answer. In fact he said that 80% of everything learned by teenagers today is from a screen (not a book or a human being).  

Soon we will be connected to everything. Technology will connect people, organisations and devices that have not been connected before. The Internet of Things will be the next big change, which Scott referred to as the 4th Industrial Revolution. There will be a huge difference when all devices are connected as they will be able to talk to us and to each other - he said it will feel like our devices have come alive.

At the same time we will live in a time of frictionless communication where anyone in the world can talk to anyone else - almost for free. For example today if you write a blog - millions of people can read wherever they are in the world. In recent years we have seen the rise of citizen journalism as anyone in the middle of an atrocity has the ability to record it and upload it for everyone to see using video, photos and tweets. The news has come out of the hands of the media and into OUR hands.

Robotics and intelligent software is also replacing the jobs humans do. Over next 30 years Scott predicts that 35% of all jobs will be replaced by machines - automating at an increasingly fast rate. Yet this is not a dismal prospect as we are creating jobs as fast as we are replacing them and these jobs are not repetitive mind-numbing jobs but involve more human skills such as creativity, problem solving and emotional connection.

And here is the warning: teachers need to keep up! When businesses get behind in technology, they go out of business. But when teachers get behind in technology it’s not teachers who pay the price, it’s their students.

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