One Man Conglomerate, #06. The paradigm of knowledge and information will also change. [PART I]

The following is English version of Chapter 2 of ‘One Man Conglomerate’, published in August 2023 by Do-Jeon, Marcus, Jeong.

 

2nd Chat: How will our lives changes?

 

#06. The paradigm of knowledge and information will also change.

 

[01] The authority of knowledge and information will decline.

 

Until now, the knowledge (知識, 지식) and information (情報, 정보) of professors (including PhDs) were both authority and money. So, even without making consistent efforts, they were able to gain recognition for their authority and accumulate wealth just by using the knowledge and information they had acquired in the past.

Even if they had never been tested for practical skills or leadership, they could become high-ranking government officials or heads of public institutions as long as they had teaching and research experience. This is because of the systems created by people in the past (particularly politicians and members of public society) who believed that all knowledge and information was concentrated in them.

This is like a kind of idolatry(偶像崇拜, 우상 숭배). Even though the skills of professors were clearly revealed in each administration, when a new administration came into power, they were again appointed to important positions. This is because of the vague belief that knowledge and information are concentrated in them (as a limited number of people).

So, in order to obtain the necessary knowledge or information, we all have to pay more than necessary every time. Of course, this also applies when we don’t get a satisfactory answer.

However, with the emergence of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, their authority will decline. In other words, knowledge and information that had been difficult to access until now can now be easily used by anyone.

Therefore, their position in gaining recognition for authority and accumulating wealth using low-level knowledge and information will be narrowed. Instead, ordinary people whose skills have been verified through YouTube, etc. will soon take their place. In other words, there will now be a mass production of ordinary people who create various intellectual and economic values by utilizing the knowledge and information obtained through AI. The general public becomes the subject of creating knowledge and information.

Therefore, individuals will be able to easily present papers (thesis, etc.). In other words, just as the general public dominated the publishing industry, papers will no longer be the exclusive property of universities and research institutes. Therefore, high-quality individuals who can compete with existing universities and research institutes will emerge and move the market. In the real world, the halo effect will only lead to the sacrifice of the best.

 

Image: developed by Midjourney

 

 

[02] Will the shelf life of knowledge become shorter than now?

 

As mentioned earlier, the current pace of development of artificial intelligence technology is too fast. And this will affect almost all areas related to our lives. Perhaps that is why many people say, ‘With AI, the shelf life of knowledge will be much shorter than it is now.’

Of course, I agree with this argument. This is because the current speed of development of AI technology is an ‘incredible speed’ that humans have never experienced before. However, this may not apply equally to all areas (or knowledge).

This is because the areas (or knowledge) that are ❶ less or ❷ more affected by this will be differentiated to some extent.

For example, economics or accounting are likely to be areas number ❶. Of course, knowledge in this field will also change (existing theories are revised, new standards emerge, etc.) due to the development of AI technology. However, this is likely to be a minor change within the larger framework of economics and accounting.

In contrast, business administration (hereinafter referred to as business) or law is likely to be the area of number ❷. This is because they are likely to be more affected by changes in AI technology than economics or accounting. For example, as the number of companies using AI to manage humans increases, the purpose of human resource management (HRM), a field of business administration, may need to be reexamined. This is because the criteria by which AI judges talent will be different from the existing ones.

And if ‘artificial intelligence people (AI people)’ are added to the current legal system in addition to natural persons (i.e. humans) and corporations, this will also be an event that can shake up the entire legal theory.

Of course, the above is just an example. In fact, at this point, it is not easy to predict which area (or knowledge) will be number ❶ or number ❷. This is because the situation may change at any time. However, one thing I can say with certainty is that ‘there is nothing in the world that does not change.’

Therefore, in the future, it is likely that the tendency to accumulate knowledge in multiple fields, such as a double major or multi-degree, will become common. This is because it may be dangerous to last a lifetime with just one piece of knowledge. And there is no need to acquire this knowledge at school. This is because knowledge itself is important, but not the place where knowledge is learned. And this is because schools are not the place to impart the best practical knowledge.

 

 

[03] The paradigm for education will change.

 

Nowadays, schools cannot produce right people. The current education system is clearly wrong. And even though this criticism has continued for decades, there is no room for improvement.

The biggest problem with our education system is that ‘education is centered around college entrance exams.’ As a result, education became just a tool to keep students in line. Educational programs are uniform, collective, and formal. No consideration is given to each student’s potential or speed.

Of course, it is far from personality education (人性敎育) or whole person education (全人敎育). Several decades passed like this. And in the end, our school system has created a class society that evaluates and ranks people based on ‘university’ or ‘money (or luxury goods)’ rather than morality and conscience. So many ancestors sacrificed themselves so as not to pass on a class society to their descendants, but in the end, their descendants created that kind of world again.

What’s worse is that even after graduating from college with this kind of education, many people end up not being able to function as ordinary people. People who are called elites are also selfish, have narrow perspectives, have no manners, and have very low levels of common sense.

In other words, their thinking ability (the ability to judge right and wrong, i.e. intelligence) is miserable. Professionals sometimes claim, “I studied with my own money, so why is the country telling me to do this and that!”

Our education system is destroying not only individuals, but also our society and nation, even though it uses an astronomical amount of taxpayers’ money (about 15% of the national budget).

This is because many people will realize that college is not of much help in our lives, and that people who make a living thinking that knowledge and information are authority are not great at all. In other words, the paradigm of people who view education will change.

 

[ Attention ]

The above article excludes footnotes and details, unlike the actual book.
Please read the following post for details of “#03”

위 글은 정도전 작가가 2023년 8월에 출간한 ‘1인 대기업(One Man Conglomerate)’의 챕터2 영문 버전입니다.

 

참고: 1인 대기업 139 페이지 캡처본