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BECOMING A DABAWENYO: Important Skills

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 22 August) — COVID-19 pandemic resulted to many businesses to close and many people are experiencing joblessness or no income status. On the other hand, some businesses maintain, glow, and new business ranch up, some people increase their income. We are now in small scale paradigm shift. Paradigm shift is an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.

What are key factors between persons who grow and those who lost their income? These three factors are: “Was not affected by these changes and competitors from other business are down (gain from another pie),”and “Already expected and planned changes may happen (prepared).” Lastly, they’re “Able to find and provide needs (generation)”. These are what we could see in current business society. We can also look what we could learn from there, given the opportunity to grow, maintain, or start.

If your business or job is not affected by this paradigm shift, it is lucky and given time to prepare another change may come. However, luck does not always come and surely not continue forever. If already prepared business or job (income source) was fit to what is new needs from market is lucky. But, still not provide assurance to continue in future. Even you may have prepared financial saving for no income time to survive and gain the time to find out could give you maintaining status. If you are able to generate a business with finding out the current needs. This is called “Skill.”

Nowadays, automation of work is getting final stage as using sensor and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to replace not only manual work, include sensory and decision making which previously only assigned to human. However, some industry or profession cannot cover yet due to high cost to develop program or impossible term of ROI (Return on Investment). Remember, when we are introduced to technology as Windows 95 from Microsoft that non-professional programmer also can operate Computer to use personal needs. And it was still very expensive for everybody to have.

I bought a 64MB USB memory instead of floppy disk with amount of 25,000 pesos / piece and now we could not find that low memory USB. Now, we can buy 8GB (8,000MB) at 300 pesos per piece.  The cost has depreciated to 0.0096% or 1/10,000. Please imagine the cost of AI installed machine costing now 100M pesos and in a few year’s time, it drops to 10,000 pesos only. Every store, office, factory can purchase and use instead of hiring people and pay the compensation. This movement is aggressively in progress. In other words, Machine and AI are getting near to replace human-only work.

And with technology development, especially Internet, world became one of top sources of providing opportunity to access knowledge, information you need and answer, or solve your problem. Yes, we are happy to have alternative source of learning in low cost and short period of time instead of reading several books, daily newspaper, listening from others, physical visit to site, hands on experience which may not address to answer or solve 100% or directory from each of solo source unlike search on Google.

One example is in this COVID-19 pandemic, school education shifted from manual or physical classes to online of which the primary purpose of education may deliver to students as knowledge. However, we are losing other key elements from school life like human relation development through classmates, traveling experience from home to school, many other opportunities cannot be provided by just staying in the comfort of your home.

Even exam, some teachers find article from internet and copy and paste, cut and edit to lessen the time of preparation. Students also go internet to find answer and do same as copy and paste. This is purely lower version of AI doing for human. Even adult choose source of information through internet instead of adding their experience and actual knowledge which stops their children’s growth process.

Unless we as human totally disappear, there are several needs from Market and there are various kind of resources can capable to satisfy the needs. However, during the time of changes, there are none of ready-made program, judging AI, machine to produce, even not combination of readily made services which can build model as LEGO blocks.

Observe the situation by yourself not from internet to give the answer, identify what exactly are needed in the market, look to similar resources and you function as paste or adopter to cover up short or too long or not regular shape to attach. This is called Creation or Generation from ZERO to ONE –  major businesses like Apple and Microsoft adopted this process. AI can actually produce better results than the humans, in terms of production.

Now go back to skill to survive or glow in paradigm shift or any changes in future. This may need little preparation to identify while you to start movement. And make an action based on your own observations from past various experiences which you may not learn intentionally since there was not clear vision what will happen in future.

At end, we can provide knowledge to our children and can check their growth through exam score. But, actually that itself will not work for their future. Time they spend time to make effort, experience to read, emotions from success or failure, disappointment to recover. 1 + 1 = 2 does not apply totally in life and if it’s correct now, there is no assurance that it will be still correct in the future with the changes.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Keisuke Nakao is a Japanese National who runs a food processing export business. He has been staying in Mindanao for 17 years, and he fondly identifies himself as a Dabawenyo or a Mindanawon. Keisuke is a former President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Inc. He can be reached through keisuke.nakashin@gmail.com)

 

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