Editor’s note: I won’t get into my political or philosophical leanings in this blog post as they would detract from the question of how education will look in the year 2020, but suffice it to say that I don’t believe that American schools are failing due to poor teaching, teacher unions, or “stale” older teachers. I don’t believe that America is suffering from a STEM crisis or a “skills” gap, or that American students are being outcompeted in the world due to poor instruction and pedagogy, and only business and their leaders know what is wrong with education and can fix it if only teachers and their unions would get out of the way. I’ll save those topics for other posts.
My wife and I recently watched the movie Her, which is set in the not too distant future. The premise of the movie is that AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become a reality and the newest OS (operating system)is an AI capable entity with the ability to learn and feel emotion. Technology hasn’t radically changed how people live and use computers; instead technology fits seamlessly into the lives of people without standing out, while making their lives much better and easier. Without giving away too much of the plot, the movie chronicles the main character’s relationship with the OS, and the OS’s relationship with the main character. I really enjoyed the movie and immediately after watching pulled out my iPad and starting playing with Siri, which while not as satisfying as an AI operating system is still a pretty neat experience. Watching Her got me thinking about the future and how technology will be integrated into our future society and whether our society will be markedly different than it is today.