Life in Techtopia: Part II

This series is an effort to describe the Techtopia, short for Technological Utopia, to look forward to and work towards. My hope, is to accelerate our journey in that direction. By the end of this series, I intend to compile all the parts into an eBook, for free distribution, in PDF format. While each part is written as a standalone rather than as a continuation, you can read the previous part by clicking on the following:

Life in Techtopia: Part I

Another School Day

Brothers Bhuvan and Shravan have just finished their breakfast. It is now time for school. They get comfortable in their respective chairs and put on their respective smartglasses.

The generation of Bhuvan and Shravan no longer go through tests and examinations, with scores and grades. Basic school education for them is entirely about identifying their potential, their intelligence strength areas, their intrinsic interests, and then it is about developing their competencies along those factors, to prepare them for university education. At the end of their respective twelve year school journeys, Bhuvan and Shravan, based on their needs and aptitudes, will be matched to the most suitable university course, from anywhere in the world, for a Bachelor's degree. The artificially intelligent and autonomous internet of the day, supports such matching function.

Bhuvan is younger. The school system has identified from his combination of intelligence strengths, interests and inclinations, that he has a potential for a career in science, technology and engineering. His personalized and individually tailored education is geared towards preparing him for his dream job of innovating spacecrafts. Bhuvan wants to work in the space mining industry. He wants to design autonomous craft that could reach passing asteroids and comets beyond the boundaries of the solar system, to extract minerals from them.

The first lesson for Bhuvan today, is for mathematics. The AI enabled cloud based programme, runs equations down his lenses, at a pace he is comfortable with, instantly detecting his aptitude and ability to solve them. It saves a lot of time, compared to the times when his parents used to go to school, when it was impossible for teachers to read the minds of students, and to know if a student knew something or not, without testing with pen and paper. Not to mention, teachers back then had to cater to the differing needs of twenty to forty students in a class, at a time. Today, the teaching job is very different. Today, the teachers create and manage the curriculum, that the cloud-based system administers autonomously, personalizing it for each student, based on each student's individual unique needs.

When Bhuvan is shown an equation he is not able to solve, the system stops. Bhuvan is then visually shown the explanations for each part of the equation, guided by a simulated voice, streamed directly to his skull.

Where Bhuvan is unable to follow, keep up or remember what is explained, the system detects the lapse, by following his brain signals, and it automatically stops. The system then deciphers alternative means and methods to help Bhuvan understand the different parts and steps in the formula. Only when Bhuvan is fully comfortable with applying the equation effectively, does the system test whether his learning has been effective, by changing the variables in the equation, and letting him try it out again. When Bhuvan is successful with multiple attempts, the system brings up an equation that Bhuvan was having difficulty learning, a few days ago. Bhuvan is able to solve that equation effectively today. The system then runs another new equation by him, and helps him to master it.

Learning is a lot more efficient in Bhuvan's times, because of the direct brain-to-cloud interaction, both ways. In Bhuvan's world, it is no longer just about humans interfacing with technology. In the world of now, technology, interfaces with humans. And that saves a lot of time. What Bhuvan already knows, the system will not waste time trying to teach him that. What Bhuvan is able to learn quickly, the system will not spend more time than necessary to teach him that. When Bhuvan has difficulty in understanding or learning something, the system is able to detect the precise reason through Bhuvan's brain and thought activities, to solve the pedagogy issue, in ensuring his learning by alternative means.

If Bhuvan is found to have ineptitude for something, the system will use that information, to advise him and his parents about it, and will alter the course of his education ahead, to more appropriately prepare him for a future university programme. Bhuvan does not have to worry about failing. With direct to brain personalized education, every individual's strengths are fully recognized, utilized and optimized. The education system is no longer about filtering, fragmenting, segregating or eliminating. The education system of now, is purely about enabling and empowering.

Shravan, Bhuvan's older brother has been identified early, all the way back since his days in kindergarten, to have outstanding imagination and strong potential for creativity. Shravan has an intrinsic musical sense and interest. He wants to a career in the arts, particularly music. He is also quick to pick up elements in linguistics.

Shravan is starting the day, with a lesson in Italian, followed by English. He was learning French the day before. Learning five languages in total through schooling, Shravan is being prepared to be truly multilingual.

All languages are being taught to Shravan in the same manner. As words, phrases and sentences are projected for him onto his lenses, the system detects his brain's reactions, to identify gaps in memory, knowledge or logic for grammar, sentencing and so on, to correct him immediately. And for each language, he is guided along at his pace. The pedagogy used is meant to enable him to express his thoughts, effectively in any of the languages he is learning. Later in life, this will allow him to appreciate, and infuse elements from different cultures into his musical works, as well as enable him to write songs across languages.

Once his Italian and English lessons are over for the morning, Shravan, is given voice training. It is one of the few subjects in the present times, wherein school students use their actual voices. In this subject Shravan is trained to control his volume, pitch and projection, both while speaking and singing, corrected and guided by the system, where necessary.

After voice training, Shravan has a consultation session with Michael Jackson, a legendary Pop music artiste who passed away in 2009, long before Shravan was born. Yesterday, Shravan had a consultation with Frank Sinatra.

The school system generates simulated studio environments, that music students like Shravan find themselves virtually in, through their smartglasses, with legendary artistes of the past, brought to life virtually. In these simulations, the virtually depicted artistes of the past guide and coach the current students on various aspects of musical creativity, use of instruments, on dance steps and so on. Shravan's favorite sessions are with Michael Jackson, because he particularly loves learning dance moves from him. For that he needs to get out of his chair, and ensure the space around him in his room is clear so that he will not bump into anything, while seeing the virtual studio around him rather than his actual physical room, as he tries out the dance steps.

While Shravan is spending time learning in the virtual studio from Michael Jackson, Bhuvan has ended his mathematics lesson and is experimenting with acids in a virtual chemistry lab, simulated through his smartglasses. From the safety of his home, with the help of gesture recognition and tactile technology, Bhuvan is mixing chemicals in the virtual world, completely safe, from any effects of accidental spillage or chemical reaction from a wrong step. All homes today, are setup with infrastructure to support detection and recognition of the most subtle gestures, remotely, anywhere within the floor areas. The infrastructure instantly transmits the gesture information to any platform a household member is using, to support a seamless realtime experience, across the physical and virtual worlds.

Bhuvan is fortunate that the technology of the safe, supports such learning of chemistry, safely, for children his age. When his parents were that age, they not get to learn chemistry, until they were a few years older.

At lunch time, both Bhuvan and Shravan end they curricular lessons for the day. After lunch, they will have to pick up their school bags to head for their physical school campus, in the actual world. School campuses for the generation of Bhuvan and Shravan no longer require classrooms, though there are a few that each school maintains, in event that there is a technical breakdown, and offline physical facilitation of learning becomes necessary, while the technical problems are fixed.

Bhuvan and Shravan are required to go to the physical campus to use the sporting facilities, such as the running track, football field, swimming pool and martial arts dojo. For Bhuvan and Shravan, swimming lessons are compulsory. They will both have swimming lessons today, in the evening at the school's open air pool. Yesterday, both of them were attending martial arts training. Bhuvan is learning Tae Kwan Do. Shravan is learning Jiu Jitsu. Tomorrow, Bhuvan will have track practice, for the hundred and two-metre sprints, while Shravan will be playing football.

To be continued....keep a lookout for for Part III

Harish Shah is Singapore's first local born Professional Futurist and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting and Keynote Topics include EmTech, Industry 4.0, HR, Digital Transformation, Product Development, X Reality, Marketing, Strategic Foresight, Systems Thinking and Organisational Future Proofing. In an Open Letter in 2019, Harish has called on fellow Futurists around the world to emphasize in their course of work, on the need for Environmental Salvation.