The humanities’ dance with STEM: learning in the age of AI. From the article:

[Joseph Aoun’s] new book Robot-Proof does not try too hard to rebut the end-of-days scenario related to machine learning. Jobs, we are told, will surrender to the immutable force of low-cost robots and the algorithms that drive them. But rather than dwell on these inevitabilities, he offers an educational approach to prepare for the advent of AI. For now, he points out, someone needs to write the programming for this new world of artificial intelligence. This is why education’s policymakers in the US and elsewhere have tended to focus on the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But Aoun reminds us that creative problem-solving, people management and social intelligence remain beyond the purview of machines, and no matter what, these soft skills will be needed. He suggests that we develop a new academic discipline that he calls “humanics”, a hybrid between the humanities and the STEM disciplines….

He suggests new areas of study that will better prepare undergraduates for the new world that lies ahead. His “humanics” model would cover data literacy, to manage the flow of big data; technological literacy, to understand how robots actually work, and human literacy, encompassing the humanities, communication and design. It is this last grouping that will keep the robots at bay, apparently. A mind attuned to seeing patterns in numbers, words or shapes lends itself well to systems design. That, so far, is something the machines cannot do well.

h/t HumTankSverige