After the Professions

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Susskind ◽  
Daniel Susskind
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Society ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
The Future ◽  
Specialist Knowledge ◽  
Standard Solution ◽  
Object Of Study

When we started working on this book in 2010, our principal focus was on what the future might hold for the professions. In the course of our research and writing, however, we realized that to confine our attention to our current professions would, for two related reasons, be too limiting. In the first instance, when we gave thought to why we have the professions at all, and when we explored theories of the professions in trying to make sense of the work of professionals, we unearthed a more basic and important question that had to be answered: How do we share practical expertise in society? It became clear to us that ‘through the professions’ was only one answer to this question. In a print-based industrial society the professions have emerged as the standard solution to one shortcoming of human beings, namely, that we have ‘limited understanding’. When people need help in certain kinds of situation in life, those that call for specific types of specialist knowledge, then we naturally turn to professionals. But we cannot assume that this current answer is the only or best answer for all time. We should be alive to the possibility, as we move from a print-based industrial society into a technologybased Internet society, that there are alternatives. And we should also want to investigate these. Which leads to our second reason for concluding that our current professions are too limited an object of study. When we undertook our research at the vanguard, we found that technology and the Internet are not just improving old ways of working; they are also enabling us to bring about fundamental change. They are providing new ways to make practical expertise far more widely available. And so, what is coming over the horizon are not just better ways of handling the work within the current remit of the professions, but systems that are greatly extending our capacity to sort out problems that arise from insufficient access to practical expertise. In short, therefore, we concluded in the early stages of our work that to concentrate only on the future of the professions would be to let the tail wag the dog.

Objections and Anxieties

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Susskind ◽  
Daniel Susskind
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Professional Society ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Future ◽  
Specialist Knowledge ◽  
Evolutionary Progression ◽  
The Way

We surface now from our theorizing in Part II to address more practical matters. Roughly speaking, the story so far is this—the professions are our current solution to a pervasive problem, namely, that none of us has sufficient specialist knowledge to allow us to cope with all the challenges that life throws at us. We have limited understanding, and so we turn to doctors, lawyers, teachers, architects, and other professionals because they have ‘practical expertise’ that we need to bring to bear in our daily lives. In a print-based industrial society, we have interposed the professions, as gatekeepers, between individuals and organizations and the knowledge and experience to which they need access. In the first two parts of the book we describe the changes taking place within the professions, and we develop various theories (largely technological and economic) that lead us to conclude that, in the future—in the fully fledged, technology-based Internet society—increasingly capable machines, autonomously or with non-specialist users, will take on many of the tasks that currently are the exclusive realm of the professions. While we do not anticipate an overnight, big-bang revolution, equally we do not expect a leisurely evolutionary progression into the post-professional society. Instead, we predict what we call an ‘incremental transformation’ in the way in which we organize and share expertise in society, a displacement of the traditional professions in a staggered series of steps and bounds. Although the change will come in increments, its eventual impact will be radical and pervasive. Our personal inclination, articulated at greater length in the Conclusion, is to be strongly sympathetic to this transformation. Our professions are creaking—they are increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible, and suffer from numerous other defects besides, as we describe in section 1.7. Change is long overdue. In conversation with mainstream professionals, in response to our thinking, two words in juxtaposition are uttered again and again—‘yes but . . . ’. Sometimes, what then follows is the special pleading that we note in section 1.9—professionals argue that our thinking applies to all professions other than their own.

The Future of the Professions

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Susskind ◽  
Daniel Susskind
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The People ◽  
New Models ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Way

This book predicts the decline of today's professions and describes the people and systems that will replace them. In an Internet society, according to Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century. The Future of the Professions explains how 'increasingly capable systems' -- from telepresence to artificial intelligence -- will bring fundamental change in the way that the 'practical expertise' of specialists is made available in society. The authors challenge the 'grand bargain' -- the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today's professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of their best is enjoyed only by a few. In their place, they propose six new models for producing and distributing expertise in society. The book raises important practical and moral questions. In an era when machines can out-perform human beings at most tasks, what are the prospects for employment, who should own and control online expertise, and what tasks should be reserved exclusively for people? Based on the authors' in-depth research of more than ten professions, and illustrated by numerous examples from each, this is the first book to assess and question the relevance of the professions in the 21st century.

Adaptations of Time Travel Narratives in Japanese Multimedia: Nurturing Eudaimonia across Time and Space

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Ae Lee
Keyword(s):  
Travel Narratives ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
The Future ◽  
Live Action

To displace a character in time is to depict a character who becomes acutely conscious of his or her status as other, as she or he strives to comprehend and interact with a culture whose mentality is both familiar and different in obvious and subtle ways. Two main types of time travel pose a philosophical distinction between visiting the past with knowledge of the future and trying to inhabit the future with past cultural knowledge, but in either case the unpredictable impact a time traveller may have on another society is always a prominent theme. At the core of Japanese time travel narratives is a contrast between self-interested and eudaimonic life styles as these are reflected by the time traveller's activities. Eudaimonia is a ‘flourishing life’, a life focused on what is valuable for human beings and the grounding of that value in altruistic concern for others. In a study of multimodal narratives belonging to two sets – adaptations of Tsutsui Yasutaka's young adult novella The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Yamazaki Mari's manga series Thermae Romae – this article examines how time travel narratives in anime and live action film affirm that eudaimonic living is always a core value to be nurtured.

DIGITALIZATION OF LABOR MIGRATION PROCESSES IN UZBEKISTAN. WORLD EXPERIENCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Sulkhiya Gazieva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Logic Circuits ◽  
Digital Logic ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Future

The future of labor market depends upon several factors, long-term innovation and the demographic developments. However, one of the main drivers of technological change in the future is digitalization and central to this development is the production and use of digital logic circuits and its derived technologies, including the computer,the smart phone and the Internet. Especially, smart automation will perhaps not cause e.g.regarding industries, occupations, skills, tasks and duties

Im Archiv der Öffentlichkeit

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Maresch
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Oder Eine ◽  
The Public ◽  
Postal Services ◽  
The Public Sphere

Durch den digitalen Medienwandel ist der Begriff der Öffentlichkeit problematisch geworden. Die Debatte fokussiert sich zumeist auf die Frage, ob die sogenannte bürgerliche Öffentlichkeit durch das Internet im Niedergang begriffen ist oder eine Intensivierung und Pluralisierung erfährt. Rudolf Maresch zeichnet die berühmte Untersuchung der Kategorie durch Jürgen Habermas nach und zieht den von ihm konstatierten Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit in Zweifel. Dagegen verweist er auf die gouvernementalen und medialen Prozesse, die jede Form von Kommunikation immer schon gesteuert haben. Öffentlichkeit sei daher ein Epiphänomen nicht allein des Zeitungswesens, sondern der bereits vorgängig ergangenen postalischen Herstellung einer allgemeinen Adressierbarkeit von Subjekten. Heute sei Öffentlichkeit innerhalb der auf Novitäts- und Erregungskriterien abstellenden Massenmedien ein mit anderen Angeboten konkurrierendes Konzept. Mercedes Bunz konstatiert ebenfalls eine Ausweitung und Pluralisierung von Öffentlichkeit durch den digitalen Medienwandel, sieht aber die entscheidenden Fragen in der Konzeption und Verteilung von Evaluationswissen und Evaluationsmacht. Nicht mehr die sogenannten Menschen, sondern Algorithmen entscheiden über die Verbreitung und Bewertung von Nachrichten. Diese sind in der Öffentlichkeit – die sie allererst erzeugen – weitgehend verborgen. Einig sind sich die Autoren darin, dass es zu einer Pluralisierung von Öffentlichkeiten gekommen ist, während der Öffentlichkeitsbegriff von Habermas auf eine singuläre Öffentlichkeit abstellt. </br></br>Due to the transformation of digital media, the notion of “publicity” has become problematic. In most cases, the debate is focused on the question whether the internet causes a decline of so-called civic publicity or rather intensifies and pluralizes it. Rudolf Maresch outlines Jürgen Habermas's famous study of this category and challenges his claim concerning its “structural transformation,” referring to the governmental and medial processes which have always already controlled every form of communication. Publicity, he claims, is an epiphenomenon not only of print media, but of a general addressability of subjects, that has been produced previously by postal services. Today, he concludes, publicity is a concept that competes with other offers of mass media, which are all based on criteria of novelty and excitement. Mercedes Bunz also notes the expansion and pluralization of the public sphere due to the change of digital media, but sees the crucial issues in the design and distribution of knowledge and power by evaluation. So-called human beings no longer decide on the dissemination and evaluation of information, but algorithms, which are for the most part concealed from the public sphere that they produce in the first place. Both authors agree that a pluralization of public sphere(s) has taken place, while Habermas's notion of publicity refers to a single public sphere.

A Rapture of the Nerds? A Comparison between Transhumanist Eschatology and Christian Parousia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-367
Author(s):  
Roberto Paura
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Point Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe

Transhumanism is one of the main “ideologies of the future” that has emerged in recent decades. Its program for the enhancement of the human species during this century pursues the ultimate goal of immortality, through the creation of human brain emulations. Therefore, transhumanism offers its fol- lowers an explicit eschatology, a vision of the ultimate future of our civilization that in some cases coincides with the ultimate future of the universe, as in Frank Tipler’s Omega Point theory. The essay aims to analyze the points of comparison and opposition between transhumanist and Christian eschatologies, in particular considering the “incarnationist” view of Parousia. After an introduction concern- ing the problems posed by new scientific and cosmological theories to traditional Christian eschatology, causing the debate between “incarnationists” and “escha- tologists,” the article analyzes the transhumanist idea of mind-uploading through the possibility of making emulations of the human brain and perfect simulations of the reality we live in. In the last section the problems raised by these theories are analyzed from the point of Christian theology, in particular the proposal of a transhuman species through the emulation of the body and mind of human beings. The possibility of a transhumanist eschatology in line with the incarnationist view of Parousia is refused.

Dimensi Edukatif pada Kisah-Kisah Al-Qur'an

SUHUF ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Novita Siswayanti
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Text ◽  
The Future

The stories in Qur'an are Allah’s decrees which convey more beau-tiful values beyond any religious text ever written. It is the holiest scripture and is written  in a wonderful, understandable, and attract-ive language humbly conveying a vast amount of information about life and events that happened in the past. It’s aim is to be an object of reflection for human beings living in this age and the future. Even more so, the stories in Al-Qur'an also entail an educative function providing learning materials,  and teaching methods, regarding the transformative power of Islam and the internalization of true religious values.

Write–Reach–Repeat

2020 ◽  
pp. 1083-1093
Author(s):  
Robin M. Boylorn
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the role, importance, and impact of public intellectualism on the future of qualitative research. The chapter argues that the move toward technology and the public dissemination of information via the internet requires a shift in how and what we research with an expressed intention of reaching a broader and nonacademic audience. The chapter considers the relationship between the private and public sphere, and the so-called “bastardization” of intellectualism to explain the role and rise of public intellectualism in qualitative research. By considering issues such as personal subjectivity, accountability, representation, and epistemological privilege, the chapter discusses how public contexts inform qualitative research and, conversely, how qualitative research can inform the public.

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