The Knowledge Society

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All countries and peoples are changing rapidly – as the market economy, democratic politics, non-democratic policies and the international millennial’s culture spread all over the world, pushed by artificial intelligence (AI). A few years ago, In the process called ‘globalization’ American management thinker Peter Drucker, memorably described this emerging social organization as the ‘Knowledge Society”. By this Drucker meant that – in our world today – knowledge has become the basic human resource.

Nowadays, value is created not so much by capitalists, workers, and natural resources, as by productivity and innovation – both of which are the application of knowledge to work. Today, value is created primarily by intelligence – creativity – and inventiveness. The new tribe are ‘knowledge workers’ – individuals who know how to allocate knowledge to productive use.

And, for both individuals and nations, education – the systematic acquisition of knowledge – has become the ultimate ladder to opportunity!

Globalization will speed up the flow of technical and scientific knowledge from the developed to the less-developed countries. Education must work to close the gap in learning between those two types of countries. In other words, globalization will intensify and broaden every country’s need to educate all its people. No longer will it suffice to educate a tiny elite that will then manage and direct the politics, the economy, and the culture of the many.

Development will require not only a corps of highly skilled individuals capable of absorbing advance technology; it will also require a minimum of scientific literacy and technological skill; it will also need the setting of professional standards, the delineation of fields of expertise, and the organization of communities of knowledge. Education can no longer afford to leave anybody behind. All young people – whether they go to college or not – will need a similar set of core competencies if they are to succeed in today’s labor markets. Government, the private sector and civil society have to work closely together to Safe the Children.

Ramon del Rosario Jr., Chairman of the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) found the right words: “It’s the private sector that is creating the jobs. But government has to create an enabling environment for the jobs to be created!”

If the Philippines is to survive in the ever-changing, fast moving, technology-driven world taking shape before our eyes, the country has to position itself strategically in this new economy. The end-effort must be to secure the Philippines’s place on the right side of the digital divide the revolutions in communications, information, and computer technologies are creating.

This requires a work-class workforce, something that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and creative industries have been asking for. And because knowledge has become the modern economy’s central resource, we must keep in mind continuous learning has become essential. So swift is the generation and transmission of knowledge that learning has become a life-long process for every one of us.

On the industry side, we are already seeing moves from sectors that will be significantly affected by the adoption of AI such as high tech and telecom, financial services, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare and education. Experts anticipate that a quarter of jobs in outsourcing and electronics will be lost due to automation, but this loss will be offset by new roles within those industries.

Let’s also bear in mind that digitalization means that new skills and capabilities are needed, and companies must provide the appropriate programs and training for their employees to remain competitive.

With AI making it possible to get to ‘knowledge’ with just one click, it is necessary for us to discern what is true and what is not. Mis- and disinformation will continue to be rampant. Therefore, we have to have the ‘skill’ to discern three realities: what is true, what is right and what is false.

Let’s all be part of the Knowledge Society and agree to push for a ‘human-centered’ approach to AI.

Feedback would be highly appreciated; contact me at [email protected]