by Prof. Dr. Chris Dede
Science fiction often portrays “intelligence” as involving complementary roles of “reckoning” and “judgment”. For example, In the Star Trek series the wise decision making of ‘Captain Picard’ is enhanced by the reckoning skills (such as prediction and rapid operational fulfillment) of the android named ‘Data’, a machine without human capacities like embodied emotions, cultural understanding, and ethical perspectives. This partnership is “intelligence augmentation”: the human and machine work synergistically together to achieve outcomes beyond than their individual abilities. While many forecasts chart an evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) in taking human jobs, more likely is a future where AI changes the division of labor in most jobs, taking the reckoning part of the role and driving workforce development to shift towards uniquely human skills. Alongside foundational reckoning skills, learning experiences should increasingly prioritize capability building of judgment, applied wisdom, and decision making,. Schooling should recognize that emotion is a critical aspect of reasoned judgment by including attention to gut knowledge and intuition. Teachers should purposefully seek to develop intellectual character, which includes curiosity, open-mindedness, appreciation for divergent perspectives, and skepticism. Hybrid machine and human teams will achieve their greatest potential when the judgment and decision-making stay with humans who have upskilled beyond reckoning to applied wisdom.