[Lee Jae-min] Age of homo digitalis

Korea Herald

16-04-2025

After class, I often fear my profession will go extinct sometime soon. If the best lectures and the most succinct summaries are just a few clicks away from students, who would listen to what I say? As a matter of fact, in my field alone I can find in seconds a string of video clips online, issue by issue and topic by topic, where world-renowned experts from well-known institutions articulate key points in all guises in just 20 minutes. I simply marvel at the content and efficiency.
The same is true for other sectors of your interest as well. Name any topic, and you will have an almost endless supply of video clips and information in split seconds.
Here is the twist, though: The parade of video clips and tons of information at our fingertips also show the importance of someone who can connect the dots, someone who can think and see them through and someone who can guide us through the labyrinth of a digital forest with a proper compass. Eventually, it is human engagement that consummates digital technology. Another name for that human engagement is none other than "creativity." In Steve Jobs' own words in a 1996 interview: "creativity is just connecting things' and '(creative people) didn't really do (something)' but 'they just saw something.'
ChatGPT, Gemini and other generative AI platforms herald transformative changes. They provide remarkable service, but at the same time, they also demand final human work to complete the task. Simply, the preparation stage has become shorter, faster and cheaper. Once the preparation is done, we have to decide on what to do with what is on the table. The more digital we go, the higher the demand for the final human processing, hence creativity.
In fact, the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report of May 2023, after a survey of 803 companies from wide sectors of all world regions, listed the following items as top five skills required of workers in the 2023-2027 period: analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, motivation and curiosity. The report added: 'Comparisons to previous surveys suggest that creative thinking is increasing in importance … as workplace tasks become increasingly automated.'
Lately, Ghibli-style photo-editing AI sparked a new phenomenon in the country. Many people transform their pictures into the Ghibli style and upload them onto social media. The lingering question now is whether such usage infringes upon the copyright of the original creator. Legal debates aside, the reason behind the craze is not the technology but the mental image the style conveys and the feeling it evokes — smiling faces, cozy embraces and peaceful landscape. Obviously, there is something beyond numbers and technology here. That "something" is that which is created by the original artist, and it lives on and thrives in the digital age. Again, it is the creative thinking that moved the minds of digital participants.
In February 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft took a famous photo of Earth from afar upon leaving the solar system after a 13-year journey. The picture came to be known as the 'Pale Blue Dot,' as the Earth is just one tiny dot in the vast universe. It has since sent a powerful message, a message not so much about the technological aspect of the space journey as it is about the perception we need to cherish — humanity's sense of community and humility. Those with creative minds always see something beyond numbers and technology. As Einstein once said, 'Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.'
The digital age insists on creativity. Because of the technological springboards widely available, creative ideas and perceptions now jump higher and reach farther. Between those with and without them, the gap will grow bigger and more quickly.
Well, we know the scary question in the back of our minds. What if the creativity part is done by AI in the future? Will AI be capable of presenting visions and perspectives?
Today's generative AI sometimes behaves like a sentient being. It seems to exude emotion. But what we get is still the outcome of prior learning and statistical calculation. With the evolution of AI, we may get to the point where, as seen in movies, AI machines connect with people, form emotional bonds and purport to do something ingenious. Even in that scenario, how to develop, regulate and operate AI systems will still require creativity, perhaps more creativity.
Time to pause at this point. This brings us back to the unfailing question: How do we nurture creativity?
Korea's education needs a critical shift at this juncture. The exam-driven, winner-takes-all arms race would be the last thing to cultivate creative thinking. In the increasingly polarized country, education reform reveals a strong consensus regardless of the political spectrum. About a month ago, the Jamie's Mom comic meme shorts hit the spot with many laughs in Seoul. It must have struck a chord with many moms and dads in the Korean education treadwheel.
Interestingly, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development survey released in December 2023 (Program for International Student Assessment report of 2022) ranked Korea second among 64 participating countries and economies in the category of student creative thinking. Perhaps Korean students do have an aptitude for creative thinking. It is the education system that stifles it.
Korea should move fast, no matter which administration comes in after June 3. For the first time in decades, the new administration should own the problem and initiate the reform.