{"id":3197,"date":"2021-02-17T15:06:59","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T14:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/?p=3197"},"modified":"2021-06-22T14:48:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T12:48:05","slug":"the-human-imperative-extended-abstract-invitation-to-comment-by-julia-kirby-and-richard-straub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/the-human-imperative-extended-abstract-invitation-to-comment-by-julia-kirby-and-richard-straub\/","title":{"rendered":"The Human Imperative \u2013 Extended Abstract \u2013 Invitation to Comment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Julia Kirby and Richard Straub<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As exponentially advancing digital technology transforms so much of work and the world, questions inevitably arise about the place of the human being. Some warn of a diminishing role for the human, such as in decision-making, starting perhaps with the simple tasks now performed by chatbots, but soon enough in more creative problem-solving. It is easy to imagine technology\u2019s superhuman powers \u2013 its advanced algorithms, deep learning networks, and other AI strengths, its Blockchain dynamics, big data processing, and so forth\u2014taking us inexorably toward the Singularity Ray Kurzweil envisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The questions are all the more urgent given the rate of change around us. It\u2019s true that the future is always uncertain \u2013 remember the old quip, \u201cprediction is difficult, especially about the future\u201d \u2013 but today we are faced with heightened, and seemingly increasing, turbulence. Many look to technology to provide the confidence needed to navigate through uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet there is a countercurrent emerging that calls for reasserting the human role. The experience of cities and nations responding to the COVID-19 crisis has emboldened these voices, as it highlights the human creativity and judgment essential not only to balance competing social and ethical priorities but to accomplish scientific breakthroughs and overcome logistical challenges. The same countercurrent is rising inside organizations where \u201cdata-driven\u201d decision-making so often falls short of the sound judgment that, however tainted by cognitive biases, combines science with common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As economic, fiscal, cultural, and political crises escalate in the wake of pandemic, the tension between the technocratic and the humanistic forces is reaching a breaking point. The former see a time of upheaval as an opportune moment to effect a large-scale \u201creset\u201d to a system currently flawed in many ways. The latter reject any such revolutionary redesign as inimical to human nature which craves, as Peter Drucker put it, a balance between \u201cchange and continuity.\u201d Which is the best way forward, and how can we ensure that it prevails? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading thinkers at our 2021 Forum will grapple with important questions including but not limited to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n