“In the future, we will have a very parallel approach to working and learning. We study, and study, and study, and then we say, ‘okay you learned enough, you can start working now.’ In the future, we will have to blend studying and working.”
Daniela Rus, Director at Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT
The more we learn, and relearn, the more we question things in life from our private sphere to the workplace, and the reason for what we do and which directives we follow. It is both good and developing, but which companies can handle it when not even flat organizations have got anywhere? And which middle managers will be able to handle workgroups that are constantly able to know more than they do? Which hierarchy will be viable – or what will it even look like – can it even exist? If the individuals are educating themselves, whether at their own expense or that of the company, why would the employee stay in the organization? I see companies that will be fundamentally restructured.
If the employee continues to update himself on more than the purely specialist knowledge and insights, the questioning can come up with things like; what is the reason why I work? What is the point of going here and blending into a group? What is prestige? What does it give me that I can’t do at home? A Chinese curse is in place that was made really known by Robert F. Kennedy, who used it in a speech in Cape Town on June 6, 1966: ”May you live in interesting times. Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.”