Eng. Emilio Lopez Gabeiras, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Austral, participated in the Business of the Future series of La Nación + | The formula of those who understand what's coming.
Credit: Fabián Malavolta and Fernanda Mastrangelo for LN
During her presentation, entitled Educating in times of singularity: knowledge, meaning and technology, she invited listeners to reflect on the role that universities play today in the training and support of young people to prepare them for a world that is constantly changing.
Emilio emphasized that the challenge is to educate in times of singularity, in a world that changes faster than our understanding. He cited examples of technological advances in recent years, some quite striking: while electricity took 40 years to reach 80% adoption, ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months.
Moreover, cell phone adoption is now higher than electricity usage; so much so that there are regions in the world where people own a mobile phone but travel to a nearby location to charge it. Paradoxical, but true.
These advances show that the rate of change has accelerated exponentially over the last 50 years. In Emilio's words, "we no longer grow linearly, we live exponentially ." We are approaching a point of technological singularity, where things will escape our understanding.
The question Emilio invites us to consider is whether we are teaching what truly matters. In this regard, universities play a fundamental role, as they are responsible for cultivating free-thinking individuals with critical thinking skills and the ability to redefine new technologies. “Education must foster ethical judgment, empathy, and a sense of purpose,” Emilio emphasized.
Moreover, the future of work demands a human-centered approach, where machines play a leading role, but humans imbue technology-assisted work with meaning. It is in this challenge that universities come into play. Why do we go to university today? Because it prepares us to process information critically and find a balance between technology and humanity.
On the other hand, the teacher's role is to become a guide and facilitator, empowering students with information they often obtain from other sources. It's no longer just about imparting knowledge; those in the classroom must go a step further. The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering emphasized: "The university should be a human space where experiences can be shared at a deeper level than AI can provide."
The challenge isn't technical, but rather profoundly human. Technology advances, but we decide its direction and purpose. We must adopt new technologies, but, most importantly, we must know where we want to go.
If you want to relive the Future Business chapter, we share the video with you: YouTube.
