Education in a systemically actualized society extends far beyond the early childhood and early adulthood models we presently follow. Youths today are entering a world of productivity and participation where the most promising opportunities lie within the knowledge economy. Those born today will come of age in an era of automation and artificial intelligence beyond anything we can presently imagine. We can’t predict what the next paradigm-shifting innovations and organizations will be, but we can understand the type of knowledge and skills required to thrive within these circumstances, given our present trajectories. To this end, we develop the systems necessary to support continuing education throughout the individual's lifetime.
The single truth tells us that change is inevitable. Our knowledge of inhabiting an exponentially expanding relational universe hints at the intensity and degree of change yet to occur. We will undoubtedly continue to automate our work, which translates to the disruption of individual productivity and participation. Therefore, the most logical course would be to develop public networks of systems supporting continuing education in a wide variety of directions. This type of access to personal development creates an individual agency that reflects our core values of flexibility, awareness, and enthusiasm. We know that nothing we build will ever be enough, so our commitment to developing broad networks of continuing education is in many ways a promise to ourselves, others, and the many not yet with us. It is a commitment to the development of imagination so that we might always be equipped to meet the needs of the moment.
The key to developing more expansive continuing education systems is to spread the responsibility throughout society. We explored the idea of how the best DAOs will become the best schools, but education is not limited to DAOs. Advanced organizations existing within private economic sectors can be compelled to support this educational infrastructure through corporate modules, making them responsible for the financing, planning, and disseminating of the content in coordination with state education systems and the public education DAO. Any organization possessing a virtual monopoly within a vertical through its niche expertise, process, and technology bears the responsibility of training others who are interested in learning more. Organizations may choose to implement competency requirements for their more advanced methods and practice but would be required to provide access to robust training infrastructures to support such specialization of knowledge. In some ways, this is already happening. Multinational corporations offer direct certifications on their specific platforms.
The expansion of educational responsibility to the corporation and DAO provides the individual with opportunities to learn about the most advanced practices and technologies available, knowledge and experience that would be otherwise inaccessible through traditional education models and corporate secrecy in favor of protecting competitive advantages. Our present approach of information isolation ensures that organizations and groups are working on problems that have already been solved but are inaccessible to them. Continuing education addresses the crisis of productivity and participation and the crisis of information, truth, and trust. One of the often-unmentioned benefits of the continuous development of the individual in several directions is the unique ability to connect the dots between subjects that may seem unrelated on the surface. Simple to the child, we develop the adult to practice greater degrees of cooperative collaboration in their efforts. Continuing education is the tool that deepens our expertise and passions but may also be used to change the direction of our lives toward something new. A systemically actualized society empowers the individual to explore productive focus and energy in as many directions as they choose, freeing them from the limitations of hierarchical work and the visions of a career meant to enslave.
The expansion of continuing education is one of the most direct pathways toward the individual and collective transformation we seek. It creates pathways to access and agency for the disenfranchised and builds a greater mental resistance to manipulative propaganda. In many respects, the crisis draws from our failure to develop educational verticals to mitigate the side effects of our technological ascendency. Deny people the opportunity to improve or redirect the trajectory of their life and they become angry and resentful, aspects of being that pose significant threats to individual and systemic actualization. Reforming education into a lifelong component of every individual journey fuels systemic actualization with the imagination and creativity it requires to grow exponentially. It is a power source of potential that continuously resupplies itself, progressing us with each incremental improvement.