Not everyone agrees with Thomas Friedman’s descriptions of our networked world in his best seller, The World is Flat. However, most would agree that human-kind is indeed on a journey from our agrarian past, through our industrial and post-industrial 20th century, into our present 21st century techno-savvy culture.

And many – at least those who have studied the history of education – agree we have traveled a long way from our behaviorist past (focusing on reward and punishment), through the cognitive 20th century (brain centered learning), to our constructivist present (knowledge is constructed both within and without; both personally and socially).

The crystal balls of those in the know seem to be affirming the same conclusion: We are at a critical nexus with regard to technology innovation in just about every possible arena of social interaction whether medical, governmental, educational, business or military as depicted below…

Medicine … Nano- and Bio-tech advances
Education … Online and Mobile delivery platform migration
Government … OpenGov2.0
Business … Relationship economy driven by social media platforms
Military … Drone technogies

Just how far have we come? We cannot measure how far we’ve come unless we know how far we can go. Futurists (wfs.org) use various trend detecting techniques to peer into the future. Based on current research, where we are today is in keeping with Thomas Friedman’s claim that we are at the end of the beginning. In other words, where we are today with our emerging tech-culture and nearly five decades of Internet under our belt, is only at the end of the first phase of the tech revolution. When it comes to merging the electro-chemical human with electro-mechanical technology, we are just getting started.

It is precisely this initial transitory phase that has kept us disoriented; in the beginning due to future-shock (fear and resistance) and now due to future-disconnect (denial and reckless abandon). How will we enter this next phase of innovation that will lead us beyond the so-called Web 2.0 with its community-encouraging connectedness, into an age where the real is augmented (AR), intelligence is supplemented (AI), and human needs are predictably anticipated rather than simply computed?

The human culture vessel has been sailing for some decades across this ocean of change from industrial to technological. There have been and still are many in the crows nest with an eye on the horizon. The good news is, land is in sight. However there remains the unnerving prospect of uncertainty regarding the promise and/or peril that awaits. And we can’t control all of the events with which we will collide. Therefore, we owe it to ourselves to arm our most powerful weapon over which we do have control; the mind. A mind trained to think critically is a formidable opponent.

The explorers of centuries past faced the same plight that stares us down today. Uncertainty was the common lot, then as now. To educate and equip the next generation to face their unknown future is our prime directive. But the education I’m speaking of goes beyond being social-media adept or rich in cultural experiences. It requires more than tolerance and understanding. These qualities would be sufficient if we only faced increasing interactivity among the human race. But the human is merging with its technology.

Just as the industrial era produced machines to mimic and exceed human physical power, so tech advances will mimic and exceed human cognitive power. How will we engage these innovations for the common good? How will we increase human capability (education) and skill (training) within the new paradigm?