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10 The Economy 4.0
10.1 We Can, We Must Re-Invent Everything
Nowadays, however, the world is often too complex for timely or proactive top-down
governance. In particular, neither governments nor multi-national companies have
so far been able to overcome complex problems such as climate change, overfishing,
unsustainable use of resources, international conflicts, and global financial instability. Moreover, the problems of overregulation and high government debts are basically unsolved. Conventional modes of governance, which are based on standardized
procedures, are also not very good at satisfying diverse local needs.
Therefore, the creation of new institutions and approaches is inevitable. In particular, we need information platforms which can harness the diverse knowledge in our
society and support more effective decision-making. Before I describe how I think
the Economy 4.0 will work, I would like to provide a quick overview of the transformation which is already underway. This will help to illustrate the fundamental
changes to our socio-economic systems that we should expect. Indeed, these changes
will be of a magnitude greater than anything we have witnessed in the last hundred
years.
1
10.2 Personalized Education
In the past, the academic system did a remarkable job in compressing increasing
quantities of knowledge into surprisingly few lectures. Often, centuries of knowledge
were squeezed into a single course. However, our world is now changing faster than
ever. We are probably in a situation where most of our personal knowledge is already
outdated and where it is impossible to follow all of the news that might be relevant to
us. Even scientists and doctors are struggling to cope with the exponential increase
in knowledge. Politicians and business leaders are confronted with similar problems,
too.
In response to this challenge, the education system has already started to change.
We are now seeing an explosion of new bachelor and master degrees, which go
beyond the classical fields of study such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology
and history. This increasing diversity means that people can now find study directions which better fit their interests and talents. Moreover, massive open online
courses (MOOCS) are quickly spreading through platforms such as Coursera, Khan
Academy, edX or Udacity, which enable people to learn about almost any subject
from some of the best professors in the world. Such virtual courses are often taken
by huge numbers of visitors. Up-to-date, high-quality knowledge can now be shared
with millions of people, who can learn a subject whenever they want.
1 To some extent, we might compare the effect of the digital revolution with that of a tsunami.
10 The Economy 4.0
10.1 We Can, We Must Re-Invent Everything
Nowadays, however, the world is often too complex for timely or proactive top-down
governance. In particular, neither governments nor multi-national companies have
so far been able to overcome complex problems such as climate change, overfishing,
unsustainable use of resources, international conflicts, and global financial instability. Moreover, the problems of overregulation and high government debts are basically unsolved. Conventional modes of governance, which are based on standardized
procedures, are also not very good at satisfying diverse local needs.
Therefore, the creation of new institutions and approaches is inevitable. In particular, we need information platforms which can harness the diverse knowledge in our
society and support more effective decision-making. Before I describe how I think
the Economy 4.0 will work, I would like to provide a quick overview of the transformation which is already underway. This will help to illustrate the fundamental
changes to our socio-economic systems that we should expect. Indeed, these changes
will be of a magnitude greater than anything we have witnessed in the last hundred
years.
1
10.2 Personalized Education
In the past, the academic system did a remarkable job in compressing increasing
quantities of knowledge into surprisingly few lectures. Often, centuries of knowledge
were squeezed into a single course. However, our world is now changing faster than
ever. We are probably in a situation where most of our personal knowledge is already
outdated and where it is impossible to follow all of the news that might be relevant to
us. Even scientists and doctors are struggling to cope with the exponential increase
in knowledge. Politicians and business leaders are confronted with similar problems,
too.
In response to this challenge, the education system has already started to change.
We are now seeing an explosion of new bachelor and master degrees, which go
beyond the classical fields of study such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology
and history. This increasing diversity means that people can now find study directions which better fit their interests and talents. Moreover, massive open online
courses (MOOCS) are quickly spreading through platforms such as Coursera, Khan
Academy, edX or Udacity, which enable people to learn about almost any subject
from some of the best professors in the world. Such virtual courses are often taken
by huge numbers of visitors. Up-to-date, high-quality knowledge can now be shared
with millions of people, who can learn a subject whenever they want.
1 To some extent, we might compare the effect of the digital revolution with that of a tsunami.