Writing…A Gateway To Creativity & Critical Thinking In The 4IR

What Machines Can’t Do

These days, we just can’t hear enough about the 4^th Industrial Evolution (4IR). It’s everywhere. But what does it really involve? For those still not in the know, don’t worry…I got you. Here’s a quick and dirty definition of why the 4IR is different. What characterizes the 4IR is the integration of technologies to the point where the lines between human and machine are blurred.  Just think about it…so many things that you used to do mostly made use of people, but now technology is intimately involved…

Ordering food.

Private security.

Getting from point A to B.

Running your household.

Technology has disrupted entire sectors and its evolvement is building more and more momentum. Sky Net. The Matrix. Terminator. Transcendence. These are no longer far-fetched conspiracies…they are increasingly possible as we inch closer and closer to an understanding of consciousness…

But where does this leave job seekers RIGHT NOW?

In the wake of all this incessant talk about the 4IR, there is one observation that screams for attention: the skills needed to thrive in this new world.

Machine learning and robotics have made it possible to automate more and more jobs which has created a vacuum that needs to be filled…ASAP. A specific set of skills are now crucial for filling the gaps in this latest world order. And it should already be obvious what they are…WHATEVER MACHINES CAN’T DO.

Most experts have pin-pointed “soft skills” vs. “hard skills” as being the key to our future. Hard skills are those that are quantifiable – like computer programming or learning a foreign language – whereas soft skills are much harder to quantify because they involve subjective elements. These skills include:

• Complex problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• People management
• Coordinating with others
• Emotional intelligence
• Judgement and decision making
• Service orientation
• Negotiation
• Cognitive Flexibility

But what makes these skills so special, you may ask? After all, these are the same skills that were undermined and undervalued for generations. Like I said – this is precisely what machines lack. While they are rapidly becoming more sophisticated, they still can’t think in genuinely complex ways. This involves the competence of weighing value judgements, outcomes, long-term impact, and contextual factors to make the right decision – something that remains a distinctively human capacity.  

The burden this places on a mostly coddled and entitled generation is the call to elevate themselves to the point of being cognitively competent enough to think critically, creatively, and with emotional intelligence. Sadly, education systems across the world have given birth to a society that obeys instead of creating. We have shifted from being a society that teaches people how to think, to being one that teaches them what to think. And this could be our downfall.

Why Most Humans Can’t Do It Either

In explaining why most people can’t think in complex ways, I will focus my attention on higher education – an area I have the most experience in. One major shift that put us on the path towards disintegration was the gradual lowering of pass standards. Since I was a teaching assistant in postgraduate studies, I (along with other lecturers) was increasingly pressured into making sure a certain percentage of the students passed – regardless of their skill.

Over time, this created a perverse incentive for educators to bump marks so they wouldn’t get into trouble for their pass rates. Just so you know, the administration layer in a university is a hard task master with little mercy or concern for excellence. They care about appearance.

A further major change was the integration of postmodern thinking into the university as a whole. Most people want to believe this has been contained within the humanities but, unfortunately, it has spread throughout the sciences. The postmodern philosophy eroded the concept of objective truth to the point where lecturers were no longer allowed to enforce specific communication standards. This was something as sensible and valuable as helping them develop their critical thinking through rational, evidence-based discourse and debate.  

By abandoning the notion of objective reality, this destructive philosophy has enabled the weathering of all standards of discourse and truth-seeking, inevitably creating students who cannot think or communicate effectively.

The final significant change that I’ll mention here was the transformation of the university system into a business where parents and students became the customers. This infused students with the belief that they were entitled to being spoon fed – they had paid for a degree, and it was the lecturer’s job to make sure they got it…not theirs. I cannot tell you the number of times a student under my tutelage told me they deserved a better grade than what I had given them because “they had always received As”.

All these factors came together to create the perfect storm that gave rise to one thing… INCOMPETENCE. And that’s exactly what we got.

Now, as we start to realize that we urgently need to inculcate the skills that have been sacrificed at the altar of ideology and supposed kindness, we have to find a way forward.

So, where do we start? Well, we know that there is currently a massive skill gap. Students leaving university and other formal training programmes simply don’t have the abilities businesses really need. This means we need to start from scratch in developing these capacities, even if students have already left university. Anyone who thinks their job and future might be in jeopardy needs to think about ways in which they can make themselves indispensable in the 4IR.

Luckily, I have an answer that speaks to just that. It may seem obvious, but it is also the gateway to competence…It’s this magical thing called WRITING.

In the next blog, I’ll explain how writing is crucial for developing creativity – so make sure to check it out next week. I’ll also provide guidelines for how you can get started in your writing journey so that it speaks to who you are and what context you’re in. Till we meet again!