DIGITIZATION OF THE NEAREST FUTURE
The digitization of our future will lead to significant changes in labor markets, not only in individual sectors but also in work structures. These changes will require creativity and adaptability on the part of employees. The growing use of new technologies places more emphasis on the workers themselves, and on their performance and skills. However, predicting what jobs will be created is a very complex task, as variables with a high degree of uncertainty must be considered, such as recession, currency fluctuations, discoveries, innovation, pandemics, and other unforeseen opportunities.
DIGITIZATION vs. EMPLOYMENT
Every scientific and technological advance represents the transfer of our society to the next level.
Through it, there is an increase in production efficiency, as well as the level of sorting services, which contribute to saving the time resources of the productive part of the population. But what will be the impact of technological progress on future employment?
The introduction of automation applies not only to production, but also to services. More than 50% of activities are gradually transformed into a more automated form thanks to innovation. However, this change may not only have negative effects on the labor market, as the change in demand for the whole society contributes to the dynamics of the loss of some jobs, but on the other hand encourages the creation of new ones.
Retraining, a realistically predictable labor gap, can be adversely affected by a potential lack of human interest in the new labor market, leading to a more significant polarization of human society.
The changes will also affect the service sector. Digitization and automation will increasingly infiltrate banking, finance, general administration as well as retail trade, which will continue to constitute a significant part of a productive society generating treasury income through taxes. The growth in online sales of services will be more focused on meeting the needs of end customers, which will result in the projected increase in demand for new jobs in the service sector as an intermediary.
Whether or not advanced technology will replace us in the future is not a question of whether it will happen, but of when it will be. However, we should always consider that automation and robotics will take us to a higher level of development and the need to maintain and control them, which will require the constant presence of the human factor. Going back to the past is no longer possible, but society’s progress can be more beneficial for us in many ways. On the one hand, working hours will become more efficient and, at the same time, we will be able to devote the remaining time to a higher level of education. Because only hard-working and educated people will have the future of the world.
DIGITIZATION vs. EDUCATION
Education can be defined as the process of conscious and active acquisition, transfer, mediation and shaping of a system of human knowledge and / or skills. Apart from students, an inseparable element of education is the active presence of a lecturer or teacher.
Benches and chairs made of wood or plastic, boards, and rooms full of seven-year-olds, located in stone institutions with a large inscription: SCHOOL or UNIVERSITY. This is the current picture of institutional education, which will also undergo a process of transformation in a few years. It is already undergoing a transformation, as evidenced by the rise in the form of online education.
The traditional concept of education will also affect the teaching staff themselves in the future, as they are already transitioning to the online form and are likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the future. The requirements for students will gain a new scope, in which one can expect the partial or complete elimination of currently known subjects in the future. With the advent and expansion of digitization, highly targeted programs will emerge that will support everyone’s personal development and class classification within personalized predispositions. This eliminates to a large extent the insufficient generation of the number of theoretically educated people, but not professionally and practically classified.
School desks will replace a virtual reality environment in which students will only communicate with each other via internal social networks whose educational mutual communication will be controlled by artificial intelligence to eliminate distortions of information that could contain inaccurate elements. After all, what we learn once wrong in school may be missing or damaged later in life.
Certainly, some people go through the shivers of reading this and cannot imagine it, but our future generations will already be born in such an environment and therefore will see it as a natural part and process of their personal development and growth. Only we who have experienced the “smell” of the school environment, chalk-dirty hands and shared physical moments experienced with classmates will be able to recall how it used to be different — amazing …
CBDC?
The trend triggered by digital currencies is irreversible. The decrease in cash turnover dynamically changes the way we pay, as well as the perception of payment currencies and their practical use. Digital currencies have come to the fore as a potential alternative payment method. They are constantly improved in the manner and technological development, especially regarding their practical application.
Who could have guessed that the first attempt at decentralization, finding a way to break away from the traditional banking payment system, had its origins in the 90s (David Chaum — American cryptographer and creator of eCash — the first anonymous system of money transfers)? It is on the initiative of the private sector that an alternative system was created, which is currently of interest to central banks that are preparing the issue of central digital currencies, known as CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency).
It is worth to mention that the ECB (European Central Bank) is considering the introduction of a digital currency by 2025. About half of the central banks have even made progress with conceptual research on pilot projects. China plans to introduce the state-sponsored digital currency “e-yuan” by February 2022. The Bahamas introduced its “sand dollar” at the end of the year, making it one of the most developed countries in the world.
What’s the difference between cryptocurrencies and CBDC? A cryptocurrency is a type of currency that is not supported by a central bank or other public body. This differs from CBDC, which is a digital cash equivalent and, like cash, is a form of central bank debt. Acceptance of cryptocurrencies is therefore based solely on users’ trust in the technology. Unlike cash or CBDC, adopting a currency is independent of confidence in the central bank.
The practical application of CBDC will result in many different sub-forms. CBDCs may differ in their core technologies (blockchain use), the main purpose (they can serve as a safe haven in the event of a banking crisis or as a monetary policy tool).
As digital currencies continue to evolve, it is in the interest of governments to introduce publicly supported digital currencies. Thanks to the CBDC, the risk of financial instability due to dependence on purely private payment systems can be reduced and, moreover, the CBDC can theoretically also allow the central bank to maintain its monetary policy stance. Currently, central banks tend to raise interest rates in the hope that the availability of bank loans will decline, which will have an impact on the real economy. Depending on the form chosen by the central bank, CBDC may directly affect the real economy. For example, negative interest rates on central bank accounts. Governments could even decide to influence the activity of their citizens, that is, reward positive behavior with digital currencies and bad behavior by removing digital currencies.
What will be the future of digital currency development remains a hypothetical question for today? One thing is certain, digital currencies will become part of our system, because why, for example, a legislative regulation known as MiCA (The Markets in Crypto-Assets), would be created only in the European area?
GOLD: THE OLD-NEW STANDARD
Gold is perhaps the only metal that has caused military conflicts over the centuries. Its limited availability and unused reserves make it a tool of stabilization in times of recession. Therefore, gold became the basis for the creation of a gold standard in which the national currency consisted of physical coins and / or banknotes for which the issuer guaranteed the repayment of their value in gold. The advantage of using the gold standard was long-term price stability, eliminating the possibility of hyperinflation.
On this basis, after the end of World War II, the Bretton Woods currency system was established, the essence of which was to link the US dollar to gold, and all other currencies were then linked to the dollar. However, when the system disintegrated due to inequalities in the development of national economies and the increased issuance of US banknotes in exchange for real gold reserves, the system fell apart in the late 1960s. But it wasn’t until 1971 that US President Nixon decided to abandon this Golden Anchor. In the same year, the Smithinian Agreement was signed, fixing the exchange rates of selected European currencies against the dollar. However, persistent inflation in the American economy led to the collapse of this agreement, which in 1973 led to the collapse of the entire system.
It was only after the economic crisis of 2007–2008 that the world powers began to revive the gold markets more actively, thus generating new gold reserves. The United States, Russia and China have launched “races” in the supply of this raw material. While the United States currently declares gold reserves more than eight thousand tonnes, Russia is talking about lower reserves.
However, the future belongs to digitization. Therefore, it is realistic to assume that if the world powers fill their gold reserves to the highest possible level, the new (CBDC — Central Bank digital currency) will be tied to gold and other forms of assets, thus formally establishing a new Digital Standard.
