What kind of education will our children need to be successful in their future; a world filled with artificial intelligence. Ten students gather regularly around a campfire, to experience community and to explore their ideas about what the school of the future should look like. Their discussions lead them to explore skills that will prepare them to control AI, be successful, and exemplify the highest standards as compassionate humans. My book is called, Human Competence.
Early in my teaching career, I began creating programs that brought students out of a passive classroom environment into the real world. I observed remarkable things. Learning accelerated and human connections flourished. Students were pulled into a space where they could open their minds to ideas and critical thinking without the distractions of daily routines. Boredom and fear melted away.
We have prepared students for their future by teaching them with tools from our past. The information revolution, the internet, and developments as powerful and momentous as artificial intelligence, demand different approaches to teaching. In less than two decades the world has changed dramatically, while the schools that prepare students have not.
Machine intelligence with the access to infinite sources of information that it brings, is quickly overtaking and replacing the importance and the value of biological intelligence. We are being forced to redefine our value, our unique abilities, our individuality, and how we contribute; mankind must redefine human competence or die out as a species.
Biological intelligence is limited by our brains – our onboard computers. When I had a series of strokes bought on by surgical incompetence, my brain was damaged. I had to forge new pathways to work around the damaged parts. The experience sharpened my awareness of the distinction between my brain and my mind. While my brain is impaired, my mind is not. It led me to question whether we biologicals have a monopoly on the mind. Do computers have this level of intellect? Perhaps it is not our brains, but our minds that will save humanity from extinction? Not our IQ, but our EQ.
What skills and capabilities do students who will become leaders and contributors to world society need in 2036 and beyond? How can they be prepared to solve the coming threats to humanity?
Our education systems must lead the way in defining evolved humanity and the skills necessary for our species to survive technological advancements and planetary changes. Human Competence centers around mind and the development of strong EQ (emotional quotient). Changes in educational approaches that are critical to our successful survival as a culture and a species.
I did not want to write a book full of footnotes and proof of academic prowess. Instead, I wrote as I taught, and gradually empowered my students to be self-directed and use available sources of information to work together to solve problems. The approach of this book is different and I hope you find it refreshing.
Some of my most successful teaching was done around campfires. Music, poetry, and teaching blended into solutions we needed. Human Competence gives voice to fears, concerns, and ideas about solutions that plague our youth and so many of us, as we move into our futures. Are we preparing our children and ourselves for the challenges ahead? How do we deal with the threats of climate change, global warming, pollution and mass extinction? Will machine intelligence make humans superfluous? Is the age of man coming to an end?
How do we prepare for the healthy survival of the next generation and what skills they will need? How will human competence be taught? As machine intelligence supplants biological intelligence what is the role of humans?
Can machines be conscious? Do biologicals have a monopoly on the mind?
Human Competence: Education for Their Future, is available on Amazon.com in print and as an ebook. Enjoy the message and the stories. It is guaranteed to get you thinking about preparing our children and the decisions we make that shape our futures. Comments and likes are always appreciated. Recommend it to others. The ideas in the book live or die by the strength of those who see value in its message. Share it!
We can ensure our sanity by looking ahead and thinking about our children.
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