Angie Hobbs. DFE RR119. Staying Human - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016. Look 10 years into the future and make some predictions. Will we have 3D printed cars? Will we have robotic pharmacies, implantable mobile phones, 3D-printed liver transplants? Will we have machines that read our mind? We are about to witness a Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will impact every aspect of society. Will the world be better for it, or worse? So writes World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab in an article on the new technological age. “Computers aren’t competitors,” computer scientist Justine Cassell, “they’re collaborators.”
We have to make technology work for us, and not the other way around, adds Jennifer Doudna, a molecular biologist. The future of gene editing CRISPR can be used by almost any high-school student, for very little money, and could change the genome of every mosquito on the planet in just a few years. Are we ready for genetically modified animals? “Conferences like Davos play an important role: we need to talk to each other, across boundaries. Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution have a human heart? Look 10 years into the future and make some predictions. Will we have 3D printed cars? Will we have robotic pharmacies, implantable mobile phones, 3D printed liver transplants? Will we have machines that read our mind? If you believe the answer is “yes” to these questions, you are not alone. A recent poll by the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software & Society asked those very questions.
More than 75% of respondents saw many of them as realistic. To answer that question, let me start by explaining what this Fourth Industrial Revolution is and how it differs from previous ones. First, why is it the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Today we are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will affect governments, businesses and economies in very substantial ways. The first is speed. That brings us to the question of impact.
The impact on business and economies. Very importantly, will the Fourth Industrial Revolution have a human heart and soul? Primary testing regime chaotic, say head teachers. Image copyright Thinkstock The testing regime for primary schools in England is in chaos and distracting to pupils, says the National Association of Head Teachers. Heads gathering for the union's annual conference in Birmingham are urging the government to work with them to set up a new assessment system for next year. NAHT head Russell Hobby said primary tests no longer gave parents reliable information on children's progress. Tests allow teachers to spot when pupils need more help, say ministers. The NAHT highlighted issues such as a lack of time to implement the new primary curriculum and its "inappropriate content", a lack of clarity on standards and contradictory guidelines plus the late publication of materials. 'High pressure' It also highlighted the accidental publication of the content of the spelling, punctuation and grammar test and the cancellation of this year's planned baseline test for pupils in Reception following unsuccessful trials.
Discussion. Angie Hobbs. Cos’è il TTIP | Stop TTIP Italia. Che cos’è il TTIP? Il TTIP è un trattato di liberalizzazione commerciale transatlantico, ossia con l’intento dichiarato di abbattere dazi e dogane tra Europa e Stati Uniti rendendo il commercio più fluido e penetrante tra le due sponde dell’oceano. L’idea sembrerebbe buona. Perché qualcuno lo definisce “pericoloso”? Condividiamo la definizione perché, in realtà questo trattato, che viene negoziato in segreto tra Commissione UE e Governo USA, vuole costruire un blocco geopolitico offensivo nei confronti di Paesi emergenti come Cina, India e Brasile creando un mercato interno tra noi e gli Stati Uniti le cui regole, caratteristiche e priorità non verranno più determinate dai nostri Governi e sistemi democratici, ma modellate da organismi tecnici sovranazionali sulle esigenze dei grandi gruppi transnazionali.
I soliti “tecnici” che “rubano” il potere alla politica. Infatti. Le aziende citerebbero gli Stati in tribunale. Una giustizia “privatizzata”, insomma. È il primo caso del genere? Angie Hobbs. Philosophy in our schools a necessity, not a luxury. The idea of introducing philosophy to secondary schools has enjoyed some attention recently. This has been motivated, in part, by frustration with our memory-focused exam system which leaves students ill-equipped to deal with the fast-changing world we live in. A proposal submitted by the Royal Irish Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in 2012 was shelved. A petition in support of the proposal followed but, between Cabinet reshuffles and other issues, interest in philosophy for schools waned.
With new Minister for Education Jan O’ Sullivan and President Michael D Higgins’ Ethics Initiative in full swing it is apt to consider again how valuable philosophy is for the future of Irish society. By emphasising clarity, rigour and logical analysis, philosophy teaches students the structure of good arguments, a valuable transferable skill.
Studies show philosophy graduates achieve the highest scores in assessments of verbal, analytical and numerical reasoning. Philosophy students make good thinkers. What philosophy can tell Davos about educating for a better future. How do you create a generation that can think its way out of problems and face the challenges of a rapidly changing world? The Davos meeting this year is all about how we can cope with the immense challenges posed by the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” – an era of rapid and complex technological change, where our role in the world is resting on shifting sands. The next generation of workers will have to be properly equipped to meet these enormous challenges.
I believe that, if well-taught and using high-quality materials, philosophy classes can grant children, in Britain and across the world, extraordinary benefits as that era unfolds. I will be taking part in several panel discussions at the World Economic Forum 2016 at Davos and as part of this, I will be trying to convince the policy makers and power brokers at the Swiss ski resort that we must insert practical philosophy into the heart of schooling. This is true only up to a point. Questions of belief Rigour and flair. Philosophy and real life | Mark Vernon | Opinion. Warwick University is about to announce the first academic with an explicit brief to engage a wide audience with philosophy. Dr Angela Hobbs will be made senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy.
It's a great innovation. The post is analogous to those aimed at the public understanding of science, a task with which a number of academics are now charged following the success of Richard Dawkins in that role at Oxford University. But if it is clear how you and I might gain from a better knowledge of science, what's the case for philosophy? It's worth noting, at the start, that there's something quintessentially English about the implied need to justify philosophy. I often go to France, to a rural part of the south-west. The local supermarket includes a small bookshop and it is striking that alongside the latest Dan Brown and Michel Houellebecq, cheap paperbacks of Camus and Sartre sit on the shelves.
Academic philosophy is undergoing a period of soul-searching at the moment. Why should we care about philosophy? This week we are talking to Angie Hobbs, the UK’s first Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy. The world seems divided into the relevant and the irrelevant. Doctors are relevant, given how much we treasure our health. Lawyers are relevant too, given how much we value our property. Even economists are relevant, given our strangely unquenchable desire to witness the past being predicted with deadly accuracy. But philosophers? Angie believes, however, that philosophy anchors our human experience: “ it’s where we find the principles on which we build our knowledge, the tools to critical thinking and the keys to a more fulfilled life ”, she explains in this week's ReThink clip, “ My motivation is to open doors, to say, ‘Look! Perhaps philosophy is more relevant to our lives than we may have initially thought. Angie Hobbs is the Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.