Cognitive creativity also boosts productivity, innovation, and happiness
In my last post I contrasted training (as technical proficiency) with education (as creative, critical thinking) in the context of a Krugman column which argued that middle class jobs are being hollowed out by technology progress which eliminates jobs that can be routinized, including legal and health analysis, which were thought to have required too high of skill levels to be replaced by technology.
The opposite of the routinization, which a machine can replicate, is creativity. This is unique to humans and the key to high wages in the 21st century. Not only is cognitive creativity good for individuals to compete, it is also a critical mechanism for firms that are devising worker incentives. Check out this (incredible visual presentation) on incentives and routinized work.
Click here to view the embedded video.
If technology is eliminating jobs based on routinized work and traditional cash incentives don’t work for the remaining jobs, what incentives and payment arrangements will we be looking at in 50 years?
