Society 5.0 and the role of Data

Not hunter- gatherers anymore

In February 2020, Professor Harayama Yuko?(Professor Emeritus at Tōhoku University, Director of the Elsevier Foundation, ORCID and a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the French National Research Agency) delivered an address to Japan House, London titled "Society 5.0 - A new model for an ageing society?".

The concept of a Society 5.0 stems from the notion that we are moving into a new type of society, enabled by the economic & technological circumstances of our time. Following on from the hunting society (Society 1.0), the agricultural society (Society 2.0), the industrial society (Society 3.0), and the information society (Society 4.0), the Society 5.0 will be human-centred and focused on enabling every person to lead an active & enjoyable life.

And this is particularly important in Japan, as its rapidly ageing society and burgeoning public debt have created a desperate need to introduce more automation & efficiency into how public services are delivered, as well as to address a myriad of chronic social problems that has arisen as a result of Japan's rapid industrialisation and urbanisation (e.g. loneliness).

Japan's ambition

The challenge of creating a prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive future requires an enormous amount of creativity and inspiration, but it also needs the strategic application of game- changing innovations at scale. Society 5.0 aims to do this by employing innovations like IoT, RPA and AI into all aspects of human life- whilst ensuring humans stay in charge.

And the Japanese government (as well as Japan's private sector) is leading the charge on this. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe?described Society 5.0 at CeBIT 2017 in Hannover, Germany as achieving economic advancement and solving people’s problems by enabling everyone to wield the latest technology in every aspect of their lives. And he wasn't shy about stating just how central Society 5.0 is to Japan's socio- economic future:

1. "Japan has no fear of AI. “Machines will snatch away jobs”- such worries are not known to Japan..."
2. "Japan aims to be the very first to prove that growth is possible through innovation even when a population declines..."
3. "We are now witnessing the opening of the fifth chapter, when we are able to find solutions to problems we had been unable to solve..."

And in the private sector, companies like Sony are integrating AI into every kind of home electronics device (e.g.?wi-fi-controlled kitchens), fighting competition from South Korea's Samsung to be one of the first vendors to offer a seamlessly integrated vision of the future.

And so, Society 5.0 is not just a corporate slogan, or academic thesis. It is already the basis of Japanese long- term planning and a challenge that its current Prime Minister has set to the public & private sectors alike. It is not hyperbolas to say that the future of Japan as an advanced, industrialised and economically vibrant population depends on this vision.

True Freedom

A super-smart Society 5.0 will free people from everyday burdensome tasks and serve the needs of every person, whilst retaining human control over the machines. This is strikingly similar to Oscar Wilde's vision of an artistic, Socialist society rooted in heavy automation:

"... there is something tragic in the fact that as soon as Man had invented a machine to do his work he began to starve. This [is] of course, the result of our property system and our system of competition... machinery competes against Man. Under proper conditions machinery will serve man".

"There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery; and just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while humanity will be... enjoying cultivated leisure... Machinery will be doing all the necessary and unpleasant work... The fact is that civilisation requires slaves… Unless there are slaves doing all the ugly, horrible, and interesting work, culture and contemplation becomes almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure and demoralising. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends." Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism.

If we consider some of the enabling products of Society 5.0, we can see that the vision of Oscar Wilde, rooted in the artist's desire for a freer, more empowered humanity that was no longer limited by the necessities of our natural state of dependency, vulnerability and obligation, is very much what Shinzo Abe had in mind when he spoke in Germany:

1. Online shopping that is easier, safer and cheaper than every before, as well as being effortlessly personalised to the extent of being able to proactively procure essentials!
2. Automated homes that prepare our meals, keep us safe at night, manage our affairs while we are on holiday and manage our internal environments for pollution & allergens
3. Autonomous vehicles that increase our collective safety, maximise energy efficiency and time- optimise our lives by integrating personal & public transportation experiences
4. Logistical networks operated by autonomous cargo trucks & aerial drones that can deliver to the most hard-to-reach regions of earth, particularly in the event of disasters

Not only will this free us of mundane tasks that prevent us from pursuing our more noble and rewarding aspirations as a species, but it also frees us from many of the physical obstacles that oblige us to live in ways we wouldn't choose to (i.e. having to live in crowded cities to be near shops), as well as alleviating the bane of modernity- economic insecurity.

One particular area of freedom in in health & social care. Around the world, people are living longer lives, but especially so in Japan (the?world’s fastest aging society) where an estimated ? of the population will be 65 years of age or older by 2050. The country needs 24/7 caregivers and unflagging, reliable personal assistance in remote regions (Japan is composed of many islands) to assure the life- satisfaction and security of elderly citizens.

Data is key

It doesn't take much to see how crucial data is to all of this. From ensuring that devices & applications stay connected, to making sure that the humans stay in charge, the ability of governments, private bodies and individuals to share, store and use their data is key.

As Shinzo Abe noted in his "Hannover Declaration" in 2017, there are three underpinning changes to how we think about Data & Digital that Society 5.0 requires:

1. We will need to rethink what a "machine" is, because the machines we will need are not limited to narrow, singular functions. Instead, issues like Energy and Health will require machines that solve millions of problems across national & organisational boundaries. As a result, "manufacturing" will become “solutioning” as our industries evolve.
2. Because this is not achievable by a single machine, company or nation alone, we will need to embrace connectedness and openness on a global scale like never before. We need to ask how machines can be connected to each other across traditional boundaries (physical, jurisdictional, political, etc.) and how a machine in one country can benefit humans in another. This is an unprecedented level of integration that goes against everything we know about how human societies are organised, as well as our most basic instincts of tribalism and nationalism as we seek to collaborate with one mind.
3. Finally, educational achievement, life-long learning and shared technology standards will be absolutely key to this future. I have spoken in the part about Data Literacy, but it is really key that we collectively promote digital & data literacy at all ages, as well as data protection & ethics literacy within the average citizen whose data is being used.

These are really quit radical changes, and the ability to harness Data in advanced architectures, with seamless modes of security & governance, with robust ethical oversight and with a constant search for better quality will be key to the realisation of this vision.

As Data people, we should be very excited about what the future holds for our profession.

You can also read this on Medium: https://medium.com/@mhhsyed/society-5-0-and-the-role-of-data-166472d00d27