SMG Jahrbuch 2017/18

People need not be pushed into areas not
really suited to their cognitive strengths.
In fact, to take an artist and push her to be
an actuary would only cripple her chances
of being gainfully employed – not to mention
happy.
naturally now layer artificial intelligence on
top of that analytical investment. Their
growing expertise will spill over more generally
to the talent pool from which all Swiss
firms recruit.
How do we need to adapt education
and tuition, in order to prepare the
coming generation for the changes in
the world of employment ?
Here again, my answer is a little counterintuitive
and unlike what I hear others
advocating. Most of the calls for education
reform now focus on the need for more
people with STEM skills ( science, math,
engineering and technology degrees ). Of
course, those are vital disciplines and I
would encourage anyone whose talents and
interests tend in those directions to pursue
them. But underlying a lot of this advice
seems to be a fear that other talents and
interests will not be economically rewarded
in a world full of cognitive technologies. Can
I suggest that that is exactly wrong ? With
machines now doing so much of the heavy
lifting in cognitive tasks, there will be more
value assigned to work that requires high
levels of creativity, humor, taste, and dignity.
Which courses of studies respective to
education do you recommend ?
This is a very personal and particular question
for me, as well as an abstract, intellectual
one, because I have three college-aged
children. I’m not claiming they would take
my recommendations anyway, but the truth
is that that I have not tried to steer them
based on any sense that only certain lines
of work will be available or lucrative in the
age of smart machines. What is important
is that they be prepared for decades of
work in which the pace of change will be
unlike any the human race has seen before.
Whatever they study, it must be in the
spirit that the specific knowledge they are
gaining will be obsolete or irrelevant to the
challenges they will face just a few years
into their careers. Their focus has to be on
learning how to keep learning.
Interview : Peter Hartmeier
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SMG Jahrbuch 2017 / 18 // Geschichtern