As more industries use robots, the fear of higher unemployment is growing. The impact that new technology will have is undeniable but, Calestous Juma writes, to truly understand its effect on job creation, or loss, we must look at the overall business context as well as how social systems and technologies shape each other.
The image of the Quranic student in Africa as a victim of sinister clerics and poor, ignorant or negligent parents is pervasive. But this is far from the truth, argues Anneke Newman, who shows that many children opt to take this route for sound reasons.
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Robots are advancing exponentially while human learning occurs at a much slower pace.
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Calestous Juma, Harvard University
Jobs are not created or lost because of a single technology, but because of the business models designed to leverage the power of it.
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Education
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Anneke Newman, University of Sussex
The assumption that children’s schooling decisions are mainly decided by their parents, and their fathers in particular, is not entirely accurate.
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Health + Medicine
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Andrew Dillon, Michigan State University; Pieter Serneels, University of East Anglia; Sarah A. Kopper, Michigan State University
Health investments raise worker productivity, but firms may not observe changes in worker effort. Technology that measures physical activity demonstrates these potential gains.
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Environment + Energy
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Dirk Swanevelder, The Agricultural Research Council; Annemarie Gous, The Agricultural Research Council; Connal D. Eardley,, The Agricultural Research Council; Sandi Willows-Munro, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Pollination in South Africa's ecosystems is extremely complex. However new advances such as pollen metabarcoding help us understand interactions between pollinators and pollen.
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Business + Economy
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Dr Phumudzo S. Munyai, University of South Africa
The business of sport in South Africa is coming under the focus of the Competition Commission on concerns that some practices may be uncompetitive.
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