contemporary and future issues
Yuval Noah Harari presents some fascinating facts and projections regarding contemporary and future issues. For instance, he elaborates how the current education system is failing us. He states, “We have no idea what to teach children in schools and most of what they learn is irrelevant for the future and current job markets” (Harari, 19:08-19:27). He says that people are being dismissed from low skill jobs while they move other low skill jobs. He argues that this has created masses of unemployed people because people are utterly unprepared and unequipped with necessary skills such as machine learning and artificial intelligence skills required for by the revolution that is slowly taking over the system. I absolutely agree with this because we are already suffering due to poor and poorly-funded educational systems. For example, the education that children receive is designed to improve grades and test scores. Not only do these tests define the curriculum, but also what is regarded as important within each educational level. Because standardized tests seem to be the cornerstone for education, classroom creativity is suppressed, minority and low-income students are underprivileged, and extrinsic motivators and dishonest efforts to achieve higher grades are empowered. However, I believe that we have more potential and more capacity to create transition than ever before. Harari insists that we have the ability to transform how we think the world should work. So far, we have already begun to seize this opportunity through means like Artificial intelligence. Therefore, if we can change the way we manage education, we can reduce the achievement gap and transform the future of socioeconomic inequality considered as a danger of the revolution. As a matter of fact, we all deserve an equal education. Developing a culture around up to date education, and teaching all students, the skills they need to tackle the problems of the coming revolution is essential.
Chaeyoon Oh, I hope you are doing well. I too believe that 2020 has not been a good year for most of the people. This is due to COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing brutality from the police. However, I am afraid I disagree with you, and I have a different view because I think that humans are getting better over time. When Harari says that the world is “getting better” is not to say it is perfect. He is just optimistic about the future. Indisputably, the human race has come together and upgraded their social structure. We started as hunter-gatherers in small bands, with a very flat social structure. We then moved to villages when agriculture became widespread. After that, the society keeps reinventing itself to the nation-states today. Therefore, I do not believe that the human race is still the same as it were since we are evolving and becoming a more civilized society. We might not be at an ideal state of humanity. Harari argues that the state of life due to revolution depends on some of the political choices that we make (45:43-46:00). Some things that are happening in both developing and developed countries is because we make political choices based on things such as race or ethnicity. The rate of human abuse which existed in 1800 and the era of slavery is not the same as today. We have realized that it does make sense to have a structure to bring countries and people together. While humans are often the source of the problem, we are also the source of the solution.