218
10 The Economy 4.0
increasingly complex world, the outcomes of majority votes are also too limited,
and the contributions of minorities become increasingly important. This is one of
the reasons why more participatory ways of organizing our economy and society are
emerging.
To foster collective intelligence we must build platforms allowing people to
coordinate and integrate information so that they can learn, innovate, and produce
collaboratively. The goal must be to create a participatory “information, innovation
production, and service ecosystem”. This must provide sufficient niches for diverse,
competitive problem-solving approaches, but also incentives for interoperability and
cooperation. Furthermore, it must be sufficiently easy to integrate partial solutions
in a modular way to reach higher-level goals. In fact, when thinking about the development of a modern car or plane, we immediately understand that some systems are
so complex and require so many different skills that no one person can fully grasp
all the details.
Importantly, by growing a diverse ecosystem in which many different approaches
can co-exist and co-evolve, we will also make our society more resilient. The flexibility of this approach, furthermore, means that whatever happens, we will have a
rich arsenal of options to respond. In contrast, the international trade and service
agreements which have recently been negotiated may homogenize and standardize
the world too much, and thereby eliminate the niches in which new ideas emerge and
thrive.
41 Niches provide necessary opportunities for experimentation. Indeed, this
is why evolution is so effective.
42 If we homogenize our socio-economic systems
too much, they will be more vulnerable to disruption—with potentially disastrous
consequences.
10.17 Preparing for the Future
What can we do to prepare ourselves for the Economy 4.0? In the past, we built public
roads to facilitate the industrial society and public schools to provide the workforce
for the service society. Now, we will need to build the public institutions for the digital
society. This will include open and participatory information platforms, which will
support people to make better decisions, to act more effectively, and to coordinate and
help each other. In addition, participatory platforms should support creative projects
and collaborative production.
In order to overcome the challenges ahead of us successfully, it is important
to acknowledge that citizens, consumers, and users are essential for our society’s
success and must be treated as partners—in a fair way and with respect. If we want
to create new jobs, we must also increase opportunities for small and medium-size
41 Large companies are often rather bad at innovating, and that’s why many of them need to acquire
other companies to survive.
42 Remember also that local interactions are important for cooperation to occur when collective
goods shall be created, as I have shown in a previous chapter.
10 The Economy 4.0
increasingly complex world, the outcomes of majority votes are also too limited,
and the contributions of minorities become increasingly important. This is one of
the reasons why more participatory ways of organizing our economy and society are
emerging.
To foster collective intelligence we must build platforms allowing people to
coordinate and integrate information so that they can learn, innovate, and produce
collaboratively. The goal must be to create a participatory “information, innovation
production, and service ecosystem”. This must provide sufficient niches for diverse,
competitive problem-solving approaches, but also incentives for interoperability and
cooperation. Furthermore, it must be sufficiently easy to integrate partial solutions
in a modular way to reach higher-level goals. In fact, when thinking about the development of a modern car or plane, we immediately understand that some systems are
so complex and require so many different skills that no one person can fully grasp
all the details.
Importantly, by growing a diverse ecosystem in which many different approaches
can co-exist and co-evolve, we will also make our society more resilient. The flexibility of this approach, furthermore, means that whatever happens, we will have a
rich arsenal of options to respond. In contrast, the international trade and service
agreements which have recently been negotiated may homogenize and standardize
the world too much, and thereby eliminate the niches in which new ideas emerge and
thrive.
41 Niches provide necessary opportunities for experimentation. Indeed, this
is why evolution is so effective.
42 If we homogenize our socio-economic systems
too much, they will be more vulnerable to disruption—with potentially disastrous
consequences.
10.17 Preparing for the Future
What can we do to prepare ourselves for the Economy 4.0? In the past, we built public
roads to facilitate the industrial society and public schools to provide the workforce
for the service society. Now, we will need to build the public institutions for the digital
society. This will include open and participatory information platforms, which will
support people to make better decisions, to act more effectively, and to coordinate and
help each other. In addition, participatory platforms should support creative projects
and collaborative production.
In order to overcome the challenges ahead of us successfully, it is important
to acknowledge that citizens, consumers, and users are essential for our society’s
success and must be treated as partners—in a fair way and with respect. If we want
to create new jobs, we must also increase opportunities for small and medium-size
41 Large companies are often rather bad at innovating, and that’s why many of them need to acquire
other companies to survive.
42 Remember also that local interactions are important for cooperation to occur when collective
goods shall be created, as I have shown in a previous chapter.