“The
digitization of society is inevitable,” physicist, futurist, and author Michio
Kaku said in his opening keynote address at the 2017 Educause
Annual Conference this week in Philadelphia, PA. He foresees a future in which
digital connection will be so ubiquitous that it will vanish from our
awareness, just as we take electricity for granted today.
“We
won’t use the word ‘computer’ anymore,” said the professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center. “We don’t say the
word ‘electricity’ anymore, and yet electricity is everywhere and nowhere. That
is the fate of the computer.”
Advances
in virtual and augmented reality will blur distinctions between the physical
and digital worlds. “In the future, you will blink and be online,” Kaku
predicted. Humans will be able to essentially live and work at will in a
cyber-environment. That shift will drive fundamental changes to education at all levels.
Kaku
said such instant, seamless access to information will mean that instructors
can emphasize concepts and principles, reducing the need to memorize facts and
dates since such details will be immediately available in cyberspace.
Working
in tandem with “robo-professors” powered by artificial intelligence, educators
will transition to a role that involves more counseling and guidance to help
students stay in school and succeed. “Professors will gradually change more and
more into mentors,” Kaku said. “Mentoring cannot be done by a robot.”
