Recommendations for an ultra-free society: an unstable life

■Recommendations for an ultra-free society: an unstable life  

　We’ve had 20 years of digitization, and 10 years of transition to smart technology.

　This revitalized light and heavy industry and then the information industry as well, and formed the third Industrial Revolution. Actually, that wave went far belong the domain of industry, gave everyone the fruits of information sharing and transmission, and led to a revolution in culture and the democratization of information. 560 years after the Gutenberg press, this was a once-in-a-millennium event that rivaled the technology that let books be distributed throughout humanity. 

　Now, the next wave - AI/IoT - is coming.

　This is a continuous wave that adjoins digitization and smart technology, i.e. IT. However, this is a fundamentally different thing. You could call it the difference between lateral and vertical shaking in an earthquake. They have different levels of destructiveness.

　Smart technology was about human-to-human communication. AI and IoT are about things corresponding with each other. Things become intelligent through AI. Machines start to exceed the abilities of humans. This leads us towards a horizon that humans have never reached before. This is sometimes called the fourth Industrial Revolution, but the term Society5.0 used by the Japanese government - in other words, the fifth form of civilization, after hunting, agriculture, industry, and information - better captures the true size of this quake.

　The digitization that opened up virtual space has been called Atom to Bit by Professor Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab. AI/IoT, which reflects that space back onto the real world, is the reverse - Bit to Atom.

　Digitization was controlled by Moore’s Law, which was preached 50 years ago. This law stated that “the integration density of a semiconductor doubles every 18 months” - in other words, this was a “foreseeable” half-century in which we could predict what would happen and by which time.

　However, the singularity in which AI repeats deep self-learning at an ultra-high speed and exceeds humans’ abilities can be faintly seen on the horizon. The abilities of machines are now determined by layers of intelligence rather than of semiconductors, for which there is no controlling law. We are plunging into an “unforeseeable” world. That is also a world in which change is inevitable.

　AI has the reputation of having problems with creativity. However, when it comes to creativity, there are creations that turn 1 into 10, and there are creations that turn 10 into 100. Surely there are some things AI can do.

　AI that can compose songs or produce films has already appeared. The intellectual property headquarters of the government have been conducting specialized discussions for two years about how to handle rights relating to material created by AI; it has become understood that AI is creative.

　。Nonetheless, things that are difficult to learn or turn into models, and that need to closely follow human psychology - things like discovering problems, meaningfully daydreaming, or painting visions that people can understand - will probably be difficult for AI.

　What are the abilities suitable for an era like this that we should learn and acquire?

　Children can be prepared by learning programming. The expansion of programming education is something I have been involved in for 15 years, and I will continue to take measures to help the government and society work together on this issue.

　On the other hand, adults and working people in society must prepare themselves with re-education and relearning - with recurrent education - in this unforeseeable society and in this world where change is inevitable. This is learning to change oneself. I am creating iU in order to handle recurrent education in IT. Both programming and recurrence are my job.

　As this is a society that will continue to change, the ability to respond to change will become important. It seems that experiences handling change will become valuable - for instance, how many jobs have you done? How many ups and downs have you experienced? How many changeovers have you gone through? How much have you moved? How many times have you laughed and cried?

　Those who reach retirement age in government offices or in large businesses say they have had a “stable career life” and receive a bouquet of flowers. That will not work anymore. An “unstable” life is being recommended. Having gone through many ups and downs and dealt with change after change is the bouquet.

　Being prepared to enjoy change is the most important - being ready to say “come!” to unforeseen change.