EP#22 | Reinventing Education for The Second Machine Age

This past year we all experienced the rapid acceleration of change in just about every area of our lives. From remote work to the news, our intimate relationship with technology raised more questions than answers.  Today I’m delighted to be joined by Erik Brynjolfsson as he helps us contextualize the changes we are experiencing and to explore in depth how might we shape our destiny, reinventing industries and creating new opportunities that bring everyone shared prosperity. 

Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) He’ also the Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

In this episode we discuss:

• Erik's move from MIT to Stanford
• A comparison between productivity gains in the First Machine Age compared to the Second Machine Age
• Why he's a mindful optimist when thinking about the future relationship between humans and machines
• The skills humans need to focus in on to be successful in The Second Machine Age
• Why it's not enough to invest and why we must reinvent education
• His experience teaching during Covid and ideas education can adapt
• A research study that allows companies to assess what skills machines do well vs humans and how they can best prepare their employees
• Policies that governments should consider so that everyone can share in the prosperity of the opportunities today's world offers.

Resources

• Learn more about Erik's research here.
• Read, "The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies."
• Connect with Erik on Twitter here.
• Learn more about Dr. Quidwai's research study here.