Folks, We’re Home Alone

Folks, We’re Home Alone
We’re going through a change in the “climate” of globalization — going from an interconnected world to an interdependent one, from a world of walls where you build your wealth
by hoarding the most resources to a world of webs where you build your wealth by having the most connections to the flow of ideas, networks, innovators and entrepreneurs.
But any book about Washington today would have to be called “Absent at the Creation.”
Surely one of the most cynical, reckless acts of governing in my lifetime has been President Trump and the G. O.P.’s attempt to ram through a transformation of America’s health care system — without holding hearings with experts, conducting an independent cost-benefit analysis or preparing the public — all to erase Barack Obama’s legacy to satisfy a few billionaire ideologue donors and a “base” so drunk on Fox News
that its members don’t understand they’ll be the ones most hurt by it all.
Because we’re going through three climate changes at once:
We’re going through a change in the actual climate — disruptive, destructive weather events are steadily on the rise.
We’re moving into a world where computers and algorithms can analyze (reveal previously hidden patterns); optimize (tell a plane which altitude to fly each mile to get the best fuel efficiency); prophesize (tell you when your elevator will break or what your customer is likely to buy); customize (tailor any product or service for you alone);
and digitize and automatize more and more products and services.
“Now that the velocity of change has accelerated, due to a combination of exponential growth in technology
and globalization, learning can no longer be a set dose of education consumed in the first third of one’s life.” In this age of accelerations, “the new killer skill set is an agile mind-set that values learning over knowing
“When work was predictable and the change rate was relatively constant, preparation for work merely required the codification
and transfer of existing knowledge and predetermined skills to create a stable and deployable work force,” explains education consultant Heather McGowan.