EDITORIAL: The Next War

The next war will not be between and among the superpowers. The US, Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan perhaps other defense-oriented countries have each their own nuclear war deterrent. They know that a third world war will be devastating for the whole of mankind, they know that there will be no winners, all will be losers.

Browsing international media reports, articles, and expert opinions, and from the point of view of development management, the most imminent war will be between and among regulated and unregulated companies engaged in designing hardware and software of Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies.

The victims of both wars will be different. Nuclear war will affect innocent civilians. It will wipe out the present civilization. On the other hand, the victims of AI war will be the techno-savvy people, it will be directly alarming only to the formal economy.

Where will the marginalized population and informal economies be in either case? That is the challenge among new leaders and managers of the next Alpha generation.

The world is going digital, affecting the global social and economic systems. The rate of change in science and technology is blinding and accelerating. The competition for skills and talent is increasing. Systems in education, commerce, government, and workplace are on tests. But the commercial marketing of IT and AI technologies will not stop as long as people enjoy using them, unmindful of their negative consequences.

According to recent data 59.4% of the world population are social media users, while 63.7% are in Asia. In the Philippines 60%, or 70 million of the 116 million Filipinos are cell phone users, but only about 40% are digital literate. The rest are just plain cell phone users of SMS, calls, FB and games. How we can educate them on the benefits and dangers of smart devices will be another challenge.

The demand of the digital world includes the acquisition of devices such as smart phones, personal computers, tablets, home Wi-Fi. Knowledge and utilization of the internet, Wi-Fi, computer platforms, basic information tools and AI-powered Apps.

Access to government and private business transactions are now required to be online. Only those who has the technical knowledge and skill in utilizing the systems can accumulate more wealth and power. Those who have little IT education and training will suffer from intellectual poverty and bullying.

What can we do to help? Education and training institutions can offer technological literacy seminars for communities, CSOs, POs that will cover what is digital world, living in the digital age, productive uses of smart phones, personal laptops, coping with the digital age, preparing the youth on for the new world.

Stakeholders can also do awareness raising campaign not only on the power, but also on and dangers of digital devices, free and downloadable IT software’s, AI-powered Apps, as responsible users of digital tools, and cautioning people of the unlawful use, or becoming victims of dubious applications that are free, downloadable and implanted in smart phones.