So far, I haven't gone to a parent-teacher night at the school to speak about Smallsteps, and today, the streak continued. It isn't that I wouldn't go, because I wanted to, but the teacher is more comfortable speaking in English, and if she has to translate, I think it takes focus away from what is important. So, my wife went today as well, and as expected, everything was fine with Smallsteps' school results and behaviour, and the teacher seems to think that there are no issues at all.
She must take after her mother's academic skills.
What was interesting though, was the teacher said it is quite clear that Smallsteps doesn't get much screen time, because her skills in other areas are high. This teacher is well experienced, and I suspect that she has seen the changes over the years and has some predictive insight into what happens in the home. She also said that Smallsteps obviously enjoys storytelling, and asked if she writes at home, which she does, and has been for a while now, with songs, poems, stories, letters and starting this year, a daily diary and a "longer form" journal.
Pretty cool. But I am her biased dad.
I think it is hard for a parent these days, because unlike generations past, there is really no clear skillset that is known to be valuable in the future. The technological advancements are happening at such a rapid pace, that even the core skills like interpersonal communication, are uncertainties. It might seem strange to consider right now, but it really won't be too long until the artificial intelligence models no us better than we know ourselves, and can speak for us, better than we can speak for ourselves. Rather than arguing with a partner, our AIs will interact to see if there is a way to work things out instead.
What it means to be human is shifting rapidly, as we are already in an algorithm-based dystopia, with every choice we make at least influenced, if not completely chosen for us by a formula. It is interesting to consider that for a few thousand years humanity has been looking for a way to be free to choose, only to develop tools that enslave us by taking away our choice.
The pressure on a parent is also a societal pressure, where there is a certain level of conformity to the peer group. Parents who keep their kids away from screens and focus on learning analogue skills, are told "kids should be kids" as if sitting in front of a screen watching passively is what kids are made to do by nature. Being a child is a learning experience to prepare for the future, not a consumer experience to take up time and keep a wandering mind in one place.
But, for many, it is easier to go along with the masses, because if they are wrong, they are wrong as a group. Being wrong as an outlier, means to be alone. But, I think one should consider that it is the outliers that are the most successful in the world, as well as the least successful. The middle mass tends to survive, but they don't necessarily feel that their life has meaning.
Meaning is something we are all looking for I think, even those of us that aren't looking very hard, or are willing to accept the suggested paths forward. A lot of people might be living vicariously through their children in order to gain that sense of meaning, progression and some kind of continuance of life, a type of immortality. But, there are others who derive their meaning from what they consume, what they can collect in the world. I don't know if one is better than the other.
I think that in the next few decades, we are going to have to take a step back and really consider what it means to be human, as more and more of our skills and tasks are outsourced to technology. We might be able to live longer, we might be able to have more resources, but does that provide us the source of meaning we crave, or does it just free up our time to dwell on how little value we can provide the world outside us?
I don't know, but I have a daughter that I believe that with the right opportunities, she might be able to be awesome in the future environments. Or perhaps, she will be left far behind because all of her peers had a life in front of screens and it was this that prepared them for the world to come. My intuition tells me that scarcity is always going to have value, and there are already growing skill scarcities, as more and more people have been raised to rely on tools for their skills, without bringing anything to the table as themselves - yet expect to be rewarded as the skill holder.
There soon aren't many skills that the average person is going to be able to do better than an AI, and that means that there isn't going to be much need for most humans. It is happening very fast, so what does it mean for the children like Smallsteps and their future? I have very little idea, but I still have the intuition that at least in a niche sense, there will still be a market for high-level human skills and interesting people. But, I might be wrong. If I am?
The teacher today said that Smallsteps has what it takes to be successful in many areas, but I am still questioning, how many of those areas are actually going to matter. Will there be a market for humanity?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
There is always a market for humanity most especially to those countries who are not that high in technology and advancement and those jobs that needs human affection.
I don't know about where you're living but over here the only time I've heard "kids should be kids" was to a parent who had their kids scheduled to within scant nanometres of their lives.
I had talked to the parent who got told this and they were proudly telling me about how their kids' pretty much every waking moment was at school or an activity or travelling between those and how their day started at 5am or something like that because some of the activities were before school which wouldn't have been a problem if that was what the kid wanted but I couldn't say that confidently
Could just be one of those socioeconomic things though :)
This is super common in the US, but I think that's because most expensive colleges are so hard to get into that each kid needs to have an incredible non-academic resume alongside an incredible academic resume. I don't know why Aussies would be so motivated though - my guess is the parents love being a taxi, haha.
That sounds incredibly stressful. To the point where I'm not sure if potential end results are worth it x_x
Some of them just live vicariously through the poor kids, again some time ago I also had one person telling me straight up that they were living through their kid like it was a perfectly normal and good thing (the kid had no say in what interests and activities they wanted to pursue, it was all what the parent wanted).
Isn't that why everyone has kids? To live your life again?
No machine can ever know what it's like to be human. If there's a market for knowledge of what it's like to be human, then there will be a market for humanity. And as long as there are humans, there will be a market for that.
AI can draw upon the collective works created by humans but producing something entirely new and unpredictable about the human condition will always be the province of humans themselves.
You pointed out crucial issues for the coming generation as everything is evolving, and AI is going to be replaced in many sectors for better efficiency compared to an average human being with further development in the sphere. I can tell you about the situation in Bangladesh, where technological advancement is still in the early stages, but people are shifting from traditional educational degrees and gaining practical skills for various jobs. Also, many educated people are moving to agricultural sectors with innovative ideas, as it is noticeable that the farm sector has been neglected for so many years. This sector has emerged as a high-yielding production hub, and many monthly paid jobs, especially low-paid jobs, are suffering for the laborers there. We don't know which skills will shine or fade away. Still, in my point of view, medical and industrial skills will have a much more sustainable pay scale as human beings suffer more from health-related issues, and the aggressiveness towards nature intensifies the troubles in this sector.
It's good that she has a teacher who can see those things. I don't think it would be surprise that your daughter is probably more of the exception than the norm. The fact is the "norm" just learns differently these days and teachers who aren't able to accommodate both styles are doing the students a disservice as much as we would hope the old way would work just fine. As you fear, the more new teachers that come out of university and embrace the new ways (ie technology heavy), there will be fewer and fewer students like your daughter, and we desperately need minds like hers.
I guess you can take some solace that not everything has be marketable. If your daughter enjoys story-telling and writing then it doesn't matter if AI could do it better (I absolutely doubt that it can) because she enjoys it and likes spending her time doing it.
If there is no market for humanity then we'll have no way to make money and buy the things AI is making, so then AI will go poor too - in which case we'll all be dead, or we'll get UBI and your daughter can enjoy her days writing.
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I think I used to get the following scale - mastery - 5 points, excelence - 1 point. And on average as a child, until you become and adult, you can work to master one skill or excell in five. There is also virtuosity, which is a step above mastery, but this is another story.
It is certain that in the coming years, there will be little need for humans due to artificial intelligence. There are things that artificial intelligence cannot do. It may make sense to turn to them. For example, it cannot do the full job of a doctor, but it can only assist a doctor.