According to Kurzweil, technological singularity is the inevitable change of human civilization by all developments in technology, especially artificial intelligence. Open and distance learning systems are the systems that allow individuals to access learning materials and get education whenever and wherever they want. These systems are widely used today in programs offered by universities such as associate degree, undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as certificate programs and massive open online courses. This study discusses the technological singularity within the context of super-human and Human 2.0 concepts regarding the definition of “new human” that this phenomenon will shape, its reflections on education, and especially open and distance learning, namely open universities, and how these systems will transform. Its effects on managerial activities and managed processes in management were investigated, and suggestions have been made for restructuring management in accordance with this change and singularity in technology.
TopThe Effects Of Technological Singularity On The Management Of Open And Distance Learning
The constructivist approach that defines the teaching activities where the learners are actively involved in processes and learning by doing (Schank, 1996) will become the instrument by which the next generation will learn to join the world according to Ray Kurzweil (O'Keefe, 2016). In the constructivist approach, the emergence of a product and getting the learners to acquire the skill to present this product are important achievements. With this approach, real life skills can be taught. It is a well-known and generally acknowledged fact that learners' motivation and success increase when they actively participate in their own learning processes (Açıkgöz, 2003; Kimonen and Nevalainen, 2005; Gülbahar, 2012). Kurzweil also anticipates that the individual, like his predecessors, should learn by doing and experiencing, and that passionately involving in problems and finding solutions will shape education in the future.
From the scope of this anticipation, it is inevitable to use technology and environments such as practical augmented reality, artificial intelligence optimizations, holograms, neurocognitive learning laboratories in order to realize learning activities by doing and experiencing in open and distance learning. In addition, it is obvious that open universities that can reach large masses at once must assume the mission to cultivate individuals who have the skills to use technology and artificial intelligence in a future which will develop under the control of machines and super artificial intelligence which is predicted to be one level superior to artificial intelligence and believed to make logical interpretations and to be more intelligent than human.
When the technological singularity which is defined as the point when intelligent life is sustained beyond the existing human form and its limitations, and artificial intelligence has developed to be indistinguishable from human intelligence and integrated with it and attained the social status which is no longer seen as different from man is reached, some people will be living among us as people with artificial intelligence and the societies will be considering it normal, (More, 1990; Medium, 2017). From this perspective, as an outcome of technological singularity and super artificial intelligence, open universities that will supply information which can be downloaded, uploaded and backed up will be the educational institutions of the future. Open universities will also undertake the mission of preparing platforms where new information that will be formed according to the conditions of the day will be produced and provided.
Kurzweil stated that machines, robots and artificial intelligence make human life easier, and “they make us smarter. They may not be in our body yet; however, I think we will have been able to load our neocortex in the brain and our thoughts by connecting to a cloud whenever and wherever it occurs to us by 2030s. Kurzweil argues in an interview with SXSW that thanks to the Neokorteks loading through this technology, the characteristics that are valued and demanded to exist in people will be improved a lot better (Futurism, 2017).