Why We Should Teach More Digital Creativity
Prepare for the Digital Renaissance and The Imagination Society.
There have been precedents set from pandemics past, that after the contagion borns out a new golden age of human creativity and achievement. The black death gave way to the Italian Renaissance, The Plagues of the 17th Century gave way to the Age of Enlightenment, The Spanish Flu gave way to the Roaring Twenties.
First Things First, History is Repeating Itself and The Old World Is About To Come To a Dramatic End.
From a sociological point of view, a recent journal article was published in Frontiers of Public Health (Hashimoto et al 2021). Has suggested the ugly shadow archetypal behaviour of denialism, distrust in experts, the spread of misinformation was as present during the black death, as it was during this pandemic. Meaning despite all of our technological advances, our human instincts have not changed much since antiquity, we have neglected history and now it seems doomed to repeat it. As pointed out by Yale Sociologist Nicholas Christakis in his book Apollo’s Arrow.
Christakis would also go on to point out that wars reshape nations, pandemics would go on to reshape whole civilisations. Expect the immediate aftermath to be chaotic, as recently reported in The Economist. All of this vent up frustration, sorrow and anger get let out by the population like one giant release valve. We are talking of civil disobedience, general strikes, uprisings and even revolutions. The general public has been locked up and have time to reflect on the type of society they want to live in, and will hold governments around the world to account. Why? Because it has happened before after major pandemics, typically on average lasts for periods of around 2 years.
After which a massive party, the likes we have never seen. Not in just an endless hedonistic bacchanalia, rather an explosion of arts and culture. Why? Because we are following the exact pattern of pandemics past to the letter, it would be foolish to think that this time around it will be any different.
We are already rebuilding society as we speak: Enter Society 5.0 and the realm of the Metaverse.
The Japanese Government has already got a term for this post-pandemic world: Society 5.0. An imagination society, where humans and artificial intelligence co-exist. A world where AI and robotics take away the mundane, unskilled jobs freeing up humans for creative pursuits.
The Metaverse, and the plethora of projects building it, have this philosophy at heart. It is creating the ultimate escapism, worlds that are at the forefront of human imagination and beyond. What is amazing about the metaverse, unlike webs 1 and 2. There is no need for coders as such, as engines powered by AI, like Unity and Unreal and their successors perform the coding for us, at advanced levels beyond human capabilities. Instead, the human element is left to create. The Metaverse or Web 3 comes to fruition likely in 2027 by then websites will longer be read, they will be experienced, with many inbuilt realities including Virtual, Extended and Augmented.
Nevertheless, there is one piece of the puzzle, that needs to be addressed: We need now to start teaching and encouraging the up and coming generations of Arts and Humanities, the same way we have been encouraging STEM subjects. Lessons from the ongoing Great Resignation, shows that people are quitting en masse low paid, unskilled meaningless jobs for pursuits that give them a sense of purpose. Again teaching creativity, even to mature aged students will encourage the imagination society.
We need to encourage human imagination and let this new world flourish. Arts can reveal hidden truths, and remind us what it is like to be human. Art can also heal, and through times of hardships can give rise to new artistic movements, the world has yet to see.
Add the growing scene around NFTs, which present a monetisation pathway for budding digital artists. And perhaps a strong case for the introduction of a UBI or Universal Basic Income, that allow people to concentrate on creative endeavours without falling through society’s cracks.
So What Will the Imagination Society Look Like?
If you imagine it, it can be created. That will be the new mantra for the imagination society. It will be the convergence of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, information technology and biotechnology. In his book, “The Singularity is Near”, Chief Engineer at Google, Raymond Kurzweil states it will be a world where anything we can imagine, can be made possible. Live forever? Sure! Recreate a whole new planet in the metaverse? Why Not! Solve Climate Change? The answer is sitting there in front of us. The possibilities are endless. All we need to do is to reconnect with our imagination.
I can truly envision a new golden age on the horizon.
Who is with me?
Viva la revolution!
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Why We Should Teach More Digital Creativity was originally published in CryptoStars on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.