‘Which skills will withstand the test of time & technology?’
Over time, I have come to believe that the answer lies in our immutable skills as humans. Skills that tap into the core survival instinct of humanity. Skills that have enabled us to survive over the last centuries. Lindy skills (From the Lindy Effect). These are a sub-set of skills whose mortality rate decreases with time. They have been around so long, extinction would mean the end of the human race.
Critical Thinking, Creativity and Communication Skills will always be Lindy.
According to the Moravec paradox, developed by futurist Hans Moravec and other researchers, skills acquired a long time ago are much more difficult to automate than skills acquired more recently.
Heuristic: The older a human skill is, the more time natural selection has had to improve the design, thus the lower the likelihood of replacement by machines.
Critical Thinking
Three modes of thinking influence how good we are in critical thinking.
Convergent thinking is fueled by logic and works in linear contexts. This has its usefulness in definitive ‘black or white’ situations. But most of life is non-linear.
Divergent thinking is fueled by imagination, it promotes a thought process aimed at exploring as many possible solutions within a short period of time. It thrives on spontaneity, non-linear situations and speaks of creativity.
Lateral thinking, on the other hand, is a hybrid. It is a combination of convergent and divergent thinking based on the premise that ideas generated by divergent thinking need to be structured using convergent thinking.
A Lindy Skill is the capability to dip in and out of the three modes of thinking depending on the situation at hand.
Communication Skills
The ability to speak and write clearly and persuasively are superpowers in their own right.
Behind every good communicator lies a strong foundation of emotional intelligence and social adaptability.
Emotional Intelligence provides an umbrella of soft skills that enable one to monitor their own and other people’s thinking and action. They constitute of the dyadic interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.
Social adaptability allows the camouflaging of the external environment. It is important to tailor make thoughts and ideas to be fractally fit.
In foresight, the ability to ability to adjust to other people’s cultures’, exercise empathy, and communicate your independent thoughts will be great leverage to have in a world where new cultural societies will continue to rise.