What stops people from changing their minds?
A persistent barrage of information is not the best method for getting through to someone with a different point of view.
20 October, 2020
- When you want someone to see things differently and to abandon their previous stance, sometimes persistence is not key.
- "Too often we think change is about pushing," says Jonah Berger, author of the book The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind, and a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. "We think if we just come up with one more way people will eventually come around."
- Through speaking with people who have successfully changed minds of others, Berger identified five common barriers and created the REDUCE framework for finding the catalysts needed to break through: reactants, endowment, distance, uncertainty, and corroborating evidence.
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No bread, no circuses: The Olympics and climate change
Perhaps downhill and cross-country skiers don't face the fate of potters, typesetters and saddlers, but their situation is certainly unclear.
18 October, 2020
Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Global warming is making it difficult to organize sporting tournaments, but it's an even greater threat to small local clubs. Meanwhile, Big Sport is taking the lead in climate hypocrisy.
<p>This is a good time for last year's snow. Not long ago, this term was used to describe something that has no meaning, that doesn't concern us, that has no value. As the temperature has risen, the situation has changed. The 2014 Olympics in Sochi didn't happen on the freshest of snow, nor did countless World Cups in alpine, freestyle and cross-country skiing, and ski jumping. We're getting better and better at preserving last year's snow; snowfarming is helping winter sports and the resorts that live off of skiers and snowboarders to hang on. But only to hang on.</p><p>Since 1924, the Winter Olympics have been held in 21 cities. Scientists are sounding the alarm that even with a reduction in greenhouse gases, by 2050 eight of them will be unable to host the event. It's not just about the games themselves. Organizing an event once every four years isn't a problem. But who's going to compete if there's no place to train? When mass schussing and trekking on skis becomes impossible, the number of professionals will drop. Perhaps downhill and cross-country skiers don't face the fate of potters, typesetters and saddlers, but their situation is certainly unclear. "You can essentially kiss winter sports goodbye in the not-too-distant future," said Niclas Svenningsen of the UN. "You can basically only have winter sports in high-altitude alpine regions for a very limited period of time in the year."</p><p>So the sports business is one of the victims of the climate catastrophe. But at the same time, they're not doing much to counteract it.</p>
<h3>The poorest will pay first</h3><p>"It's clear that the 2020 games shouldn't be held in the middle of summer," Professor Makoto Yokohari of Tokyo University said a few months ago. After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the world's largest sporting event was postponed for a year, but was still planned for late July and early August. So Yokohari's objection remains relevant.</p><p>It's still possible to attempt to understand the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) choice of Tokyo as the athletes' destination: it made the decision in 2013, when climate awareness was lower. But since then, knowledge has increased – along with the temperature. Nobody considered changing the dates, even though already six decades ago it was clear that Tokyo is too hot and humid in the summer. That's precisely why, in 1964, the Olympics in the Japanese capital were held in October. The difference is that back then the IOC wasn't as dependent on money from television, and America's NBC (which is paying $7.75 billion for the rights to broadcast the games in 2020–2032) didn't want to hear about a change in the date. Because in October, the NFL's American football season is in full swing, and Major League Baseball is reaching the climax of the season, both of which would definitely hit viewership. But in the summer, the games don't have any competition.</p><p>So the Olympic authorities are concentrating on limiting the risk of tragedy. That's no exaggeration, considering that last year in late July and early August the average temperature in Tokyo was 33°C (topping 40° on the hottest days), and humidity reached 80%. In just those two weeks, 200,000 people ended up in hospital as a result of the heat, of whom 70 died.</p><p>The gravity of the situation is best shown by how the marathons and walking events have been moved to Sapporo, Japan's capital of winter sports. But it's not clear why these competitions were chosen, while those sentenced to compete in the heat include long-distance swimmers (the water temperature in Tokyo Bay exceeds 30° in August), kayakers, golfers and all others who compete outdoors. After last year's junior kayaking world championships – held in the same place where the Olympics will be – several competitors ended up being treated for heatstroke. "That was the warmest race I've ever done," said the Tunisian Oussama Mellouli, a three-time Olympic medallist in swimming. "It felt good for the first two kilometres, then I got super overheated."</p>
<p>The weather during those events was also a threat to the fans, which is why the IOC has earmarked as much as $92 million to fight the effects of the heat. That will pay for water curtains and cooling tents next to the venues. The fans were to receive head coverings and bottles of water to take into the stands. That's new; earlier it was banned because of the risk of terrorism.</p><p>Let's say it again: the Olympics are a party, so every four years people think something up, clench their teeth and introduce extraordinary measures. In fact, the IOC has announced that when choosing the next host of the games, it will take into account the changes caused by the climate catastrophe. Paris, which will welcome the athletes in 2024, and Los Angeles (2028) have time to prepare. Later organizers will be required not just to ensure the competitors have stadiums, fields, arenas and swimming pools, but also to guarantee something as basic as conditions for competing.</p><p>Everyday sporting life is a much greater challenge. That's true here and now, not in some undefined future. In recent months, Hurricane Ciara caused the cancellation of football matches in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and England; heat forced the shortening and cancellation of bicycle races and interrupted tennis matches; floods destroyed pitches. Today, this last problem affects small stadiums, where amateurs or semi-professionals play. But first, such problems are adding up, and second, the destruction can be so great that it threatens the clubs' very existence, which is important for their local communities. Tadcaster Albion from northern England, who play in the seventh league, estimated the costs of repairing its flooded field at close to £40,000. The club couldn't afford it, and was threatened with bankruptcy. Its fans came to the rescue, organizing a crowdfunding campaign. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and other football corporations with turnovers of hundreds of millions of euros wouldn't even feel the costs of rebuilding a flooded pitch. And they'll certainly be able to afford to defend against the effects of global warming. Here, sport reflects a more widespread phenomenon: according to a recent UN report, the consequences of the climate disaster will be felt fastest and most deeply by the poorest.</p>
<h3>No plastic, but planes</h3><p>At the start of the year, Olympique Lyon's official Twitter account posted a picture of players boarding a plane that was to carry them to a match with Paris-Saint Germain. Lyon is barely 400 kilometres from the French capital, just two hours by train. French Green MEP Karima Delli described the clubs as: "The only ones who do not feel concerned by the climate emergency!"</p><p>And that's not even the most drastic example. Parisian footballers also flew to a match with Dijon (300 kilometres, 1.5 hours by train). At the same time, the club's bus drove that route empty – to pick them up from the airport. Real Madrid's players have even flown to matches 200 kilometres away in Salamanca and Valladolid, emitting 2.7 tonnes of CO2 each time. If they had taken the train, it would have been 0.35 tonnes.</p><p>The clubs explain that they choose to fly because that gets the players to their destination in the best form. They cite the decade-old example of how the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption meant that Barcelona had to travel by bus to Milan for the Champions League semi-final with Inter. After 13 hours on the road, they lost 1:3. But this example contains more magical thinking than rational argument. That journey was organized at the last minute; if they had decided on ground transport earlier, it would certainly have been possible to ensure comfort for the players. Nobody is demanding that clubs give up air travel overnight, but they could significantly reduce it.</p><p>That's important, because footballers spend almost as much time travelling as they do on the pitch. In recent decades, footballing authorities have been guilty of immoderation, increasing the number of games without considering the limitations of the human body and the calendar. In the early 1990s, there were eight teams in the group phase of the Champions League; now there are 32. The European Championships had eight teams; today, as many as 24. The World Cup brought together 24 teams; in 2026 there will be twice (!) as many. This has long since ceased making sporting sense, but the more matches, the more money from television, and the more participants there are, the happier the national associations are. And a happy association will gladly vote to re-elect the current authorities.</p>
<p>But organizing these bloated tournaments is hard, as demonstrated by the next European Championship (also postponed to next year), planned in 12 cities from Baku to Dublin, from Saint Petersburg to Rome. In the first phase alone, a Polish fan would have to travel at least 6000 kilometres (Warsaw-Dublin-Bilbao-Dublin). If they advance to the knockout stage, Jerzy Brzęczek's players could end up in Budapest (another 2300 kilometres). The rulers of European football say that in flying here and there the players, fans and VIPs will produce 425,000 tonnes of CO2. But after the tournament ends, UEFA will pay to plant more than 10,000 trees in the host countries. Still, bearing in mind that the last tournament, held only on French pitches, was responsible for 517,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the estimates for next year's event are, to put it lightly, optimistic, and according to climate activists, not credible. "Planting trees is great, but planting trees and then leaving does not resolve the problem," said Andrew Welfle from the University of Manchester.</p><p>The championships spread out over a dozen European countries are one of many examples of football authorities' thoughtlessness and lack of imagination. They're capable of adopting pro-climate solutions only by chance.</p><p>Take the next World Cup in Qatar, which will be different from all previous ones. The first one on the Persian Gulf, the first one planned for November-December, and finally the first in such a small space. The longest distance between two stadiums is measured in the tens of kilometres, and they're all connected by Metro lines, so this will be the first World Cup that's not only plane-less, but also car-less. But it's not like the satraps of football chose this location out of concern for the climate. They got millions in bribes from the Qatari authorities. (Thanks to investigations by German and British journalists, there isn't the slightest doubt about this.) In fact, at the start they even insisted that the tournament would happen in the summer. They gave up on that only when it turned out that neither the fans nor the players could survive Qatar's summer temperatures, which approach 50°C.</p><p>In many ways, the 2026 World Cup will be at the opposite end of the scale. The event has never been held over such a large area. The tournament in Canada, the US and Mexico will generate as much as 3.6 million tonnes of CO2. FIFA chose the hosts in mid-2018, when you had to be exceptionally knowledge-resistant not to notice what was happening.</p><p>It's worth keeping an eye on football, because it sets the trends, and other sports copy its solutions unthinkingly. In the 21st century, the European championships have swelled in volleyball, handball and basketball. Tournaments organized everywhere and nowhere have become a regular occurrence. Strewn across four countries from Finland to Turkey and from France to Latvia, they force air travel, though there's no reason not to organize these events in a smaller number of countries, over a smaller area.</p><p>To be clear: neither football nor sport in general is responsible for the climate disaster. Even if footballers, basketballers and volleyballers didn't exist, the situation would be tragic. The point is the hypocrisy. The football corporations – starting with UEFA and FIFA, down to local clubs – have calculated that the fight against global warming is good for their image, so every so often they announce that they maintain pitches using water-conserving techniques, they don't sell food in plastic packaging at their stadiums, they equip the players with green tops to remind us of the environment. Then they pack them into planes to fly to a match just down the road.</p>
<h3>Bailing out with a teaspoon</h3><p>In the Pyrenees, they say they've swung it. The authorities of Luchon-Superbagnères, which lies just above the Spanish border and a bit below Toulouse, sent helicopters to fight the climate catastrophe. Last winter, there was so little snow on the slopes (it would have been difficult with the temperature hovering around 10°C), that the resort had lost its reason to exist. When the school vacation season was approaching, local authorities rented a helicopter to bring 50 tonnes of snow to the summit. In the local budget, the operation will look like a great deal: the cost came in at €6000; without snow, the losses would have been tens of times higher.</p><p>Ecologist Patrick Jimena wrote on Facebook that this calls to mind bailing out a boat with a teaspoon during a tsunami. But this <em>bon mot</em> doesn't communicate the essence of the matter, which is that sending a helicopter with an internal combustion engine into the mountains will mean that in a few years it will have to fly even higher to find snow. And someday snow won't be found, even on the highest peak.</p><p>The way of thinking found in Luchon-Superbagnères is also in effect at the highest echelons of the sporting business. There are those who count on outdoor disciplines surviving thanks to air-conditioning. They completely fail to notice that cooling equipment only worsens the situation.</p><p>Others count on artificial snow saving winter sports. Of course, we're better and better at making it; we don't even need temperatures below freezing, but we do need water. And that's also running out, on a micro and a macro scale. Today, Poland is one of the countries with the lowest water resources in the EU; according to <em>Science</em>, in 2050 as many as five billion people may have difficulty accessing drinking water.</p><p>It's just as naive to count on bringing all winter sports indoors. There are plenty of covered ski slopes, in Dubai, Madrid, New Jersey and in Druskininkai near the Polish border. The greatest number has been built in China, which is preparing to organize the next Winter Olympics. But they're all still just a curiosity; they won't rescue professional competition.</p><p>So once again, it turns out that sport is no better and no worse than the environment in which it functions. Awareness of the ongoing climate disaster is widespread; we feel its effects every day. But nothing is changing: we're putting more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere; in the centre of Europe, elections are being won by groups that pretend the problem doesn't exist; in the autumn, a climate denier may be elected for a second term as US president. The sporting authorities – regardless of whether we're talking about football, the Olympics or basketball – are also at the stage of 'it'll work out somehow'. And actually, nobody knows what more would have to happen for this 'somehow' to turn deadly. Not just for athletes, trainers and fans, but also for the organizers themselves.</p><p><em>Translated from </em><a href="https://przekroj.pl/spoleczenstwo/ani-chleba-ani-igrzysk-andrzej-kula" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>the Polish</em></a><em> by Nathaniel Espino</em></p><p>Reprinted with permission of <a href="https://przekroj.pl/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Przekrój</a>. Read the <a href="https://przekroj.pl/en/society/no-bread-no-circuses-andrzej-kula" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">original article</a>.</p>
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How income and race negatively impact children's brains
A new study shows how poor children are negatively impacted neurologically.
07 October, 2020
Credit: alexfan32 / Shutterstock
- Children in poor neighborhoods exhibit abnormal activation of motivational circuits in their brains.
- The neurological impact increases the likelihood of criminal behavior and substance abuse later in life.
- Researchers suggest focusing on shaping the environment to set up the child for success.
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103173800058" target="_blank">1973 experiment</a> produced interesting data about noise and education—and, by extension, socioeconomic status. The Bridge apartment complex sits directly over Interstate 95 in Manhattan. Researchers noticed the echo chamber effect generated by highway noise negatively impacted children's ability to read.</p><p>That isn't surprising. Higher decibels have long been known to be dangerous. Children living on lower floors experienced serious problems due to their inability to concentrate. On higher floors, which were both more expensive and subject to less ambient noise, children didn't have the same difficulties. </p><p>The longstanding myth that every American has the same opportunities needs to be abandoned. Black, LatinX, and Native American communities are being <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/30/865413079/what-do-coronavirus-racial-disparities-look-like-state-by-state" target="_blank">disproportionately affected</a> by COVID-19. Residents of economically disadvantaged neighborhoods have less access to health care and public services. This is true of anyone in these economic categories, but these categories tend to include the aforementioned communities. </p><p>A <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797620929299" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new study</a>, published in the journal Psychological Science, adds to the growing literature of socioeconomic trauma. Researchers from The University of Mexico found that children in poor neighborhoods exhibit abnormal activation of motivational circuits in their brain, putting them at greater risk for mental health and social problems. </p><p>The focus of this study was the brain's reward system. A link between reward and motivation is well established. For example, getting into Flow States <a href="https://medium.com/centered-blog/how-flow-states-help-you-find-meaning-in-work-and-life-64a5c814cfa5" target="_blank">requires</a> immediate feedback and achievable tasks. The reward—a psychological state in which time dissolves—results with regular training. The takeaway: an achievable reward awaits your effort. </p><p>Rewards are thin or nonexistent for children in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Forget Flow; mere survival is in question. The team scanned the brains of 6,396 children (ages 9-10) while they completed a task that required them to either quickly win or refrain from losing a reward. </p>
How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f423b07981d29296763866605a081b7d"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7O7BMa9XGXE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The results show that children from poorer zip codes (household income of less than $35,000 or in the $35,000-$50,000 range) suffered greater internalizing and externalizing psychological problems than children from wealthier (six-figure) neighborhoods. The internalizing-problems domain includes anxious-depressed symptoms, withdrawn-depressed symptoms, and somatic complaints (such as stomachaches), while the externalizing-problems domain includes attentional difficulties, aggression, and rule-breaking behaviors.</p><p>The team discovered decreased activation of the ventral and dorsal striatum, as well as the pallidum—motivational circuitry. Disadvantaged children were unable to anticipate rewards in the same manner as children from wealthier neighborhoods, and therefore unlikely to put in the same effort. </p><p>The team writes that this data suggest an increased likelihood of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, along with impaired reward-motivated behavior—factors that increase the likelihood of criminal behavior and substance abuse. </p><p>In sum, the team suggests changing the environment, not seeking out self-help coaches. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"This suggests that interventions to reduce externalizing in children from deprived neighborhoods would do well to focus on shaping the environment to set up the child for success, rather than providing, for example, verbal instruction to change goal-directed behavior." </p><p>Mental health is rarely an individual matter. Your environment plays a far greater role in health than your genes. We've long denied this reality as a culture, pretending the "bootstraps" mentality applies equally to everyone. Decades of data show that to be false. Until we provide environments that allow all children an opportunity to thrive, studies like this will continue to highlight the dangers of economic and racial inequality on public health. </p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://derekberes.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Substack</a>. His next book is</em> "<em>Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</em></p>
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Live on Monday: Does the US need one billion people?
What would happen if you tripled the US population? Matthew Yglesias and moderator Charles Duhigg explore the idea on Big Think Live.
28 September, 2020
Is immigration key to bolstering the American economy? Could having one billion Americans secure the US's position as the global superpower?
<p>
Is immigration key to bolstering the American economy? Could having one billion Americans secure the US's position as
<em>the</em> global superpower? What if massive population growth could nourish rural economies and strengthen our country from the inside out? Perhaps these questions are provocative fodder for more debate and contention but, for Matthew Yglesias, asking them and arguing about them is part of the American way. Join him in a conversation moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg as they explore the case for one billion Americans.</p><h2></h2><h2>STREAMING LINKS<br>
<a href="https://youtu.be/FKaApFbTpx4" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157677011223527" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://edge.bigthink.com/live_streams/111" target="_blank">Big Think Edge</a></h2>
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Survey: Half of U.S. job seekers on the hunt because of coronavirus
The survey, performed by Morning Consult and commissioned by Amazon, found a majority of those job seekers want to move into new industries to stay relevant.
15 September, 2020
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<p><a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The United States economy added 1.4 million jobs</a> this August, reducing the unemployment rate to 8.4 percent. That's terrific for the million-plus Americans who found work during these trying times, but this good news is small solace. To date, the unemployment rate remains 4.9 percentage points higher than it was in February. That means more than double the number Americans are unemployed today than when they rang in the New Year.</p><p>According to a recent <a href="https://morningconsult.com/" target="_blank">Morning Consult</a> survey, that fact is largely the fault of novel coronavirus—another of 2020's soul-crushing trends. The survey found that about half of today's job seekers are looking as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
Survey says! It's still 2020
<p><span>The survey was commissioned by Amazon in advance of </span><a href="https://www.amazoncareerday.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">its 2020 Career Day</a><span>, the mega-corporation's nationwide hiring event. Career Day provides attendees the opportunity to attend fireside chats with career experts, receive one-on-one career coaching, and apply to work at various Amazon positions, while simultaneously filling the company's coffers with resumes. According to Amazon, last year's event saw 17,000 job seekers attend across six U.S. cities. This year, the event has gone digital.</span></p><p>"COVID-19 continues to affect millions of people across the country, and people are eager for the opportunity to get back to work," Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice president of human resources, said in <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200909005618/en/Amazon-Announces-Career-Day-2020-33000-Corporate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a release</a>. "We're continuing to hire people from all backgrounds and at all skill levels, and we're glad to be able to mobilize our team of experienced recruiters and HR professionals to help job seekers across the country learn about opportunities at Amazon and elsewhere."</p><p>For the event, Amazon commissioned Morning Consult to take a survey of the changing job hunt dynamics and then <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/job-creation-and-investment/amazon-announces-career-day-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted the highlights on its blog</a>. The results showed that 53 percent of job seekers are on the hunt because of the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Unless you're a <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131016-otzi-ice-man-mummy-five-facts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prehistoric ice man</a>, frozen in time since the halcyon days 2019, these results will hardly be surprising. Unemployment plunged to unprecedented levels in April of this year, a direct consequence of economic shutdowns enacted to repress the transmission of novel coronavirus. Spotty as they were, those shutdowns may have <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-economy-shutdown-coronavirus-saved-2-7-million-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saved 2.7 million lives</a>; however, many furloughed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/03/nearly-half-of-workers-believe-temporary-layoff-will-become-permanent.html#:~:text=Work-,Nearly%20half%20of%20all%20furloughed%20workers%20now,temporary%20layoff%20will%20become%20permanent&text=In%20April%2C%20roughly%202%20in,jobs%20within%20a%20few%20months." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">workers believe those temporary layoffs have become permanent</a>. For others, they have.</p>Did coronavirus kick start the future of work?
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e86d207511b7cf45dca553b1e0812a0e"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AO0B2onfP9I?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The survey's more interesting findings inform on how job seekers have been approaching their search. About a third of those surveyed believe their current work did not utilize either their skills or training, and 61 percent are actively looking for work in a different industry. Industries singled out include healthcare and technology.</p><p>To stay relevant, these job seekers are also seeking opportunities to gain new skills. The survey found that nearly a third of them believe technical skills will a key factor in a successful search. Nearly half would change jobs if their new employer offered upskill training.</p><p>These results provide a clue that <a href="https://bigthink.com/coronavirus/universal-basic-income-coronavirus" target="_self">the pandemic may have accelerated predicted employment trends</a> of the 21<sup>st</sup>-century. Many experts have warned that automation and other technological advancements have the potential to take millions of jobs from human workers. Kalus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, dubbed this seismic shift the Fourth Industrial Revolution. </p><p>As noted by the World Economic Forum in its "<a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf" target="_blank">The Future of Jobs Report 2018</a>": "There are complex feedback loops between new technology, jobs and skills. New technologies can drive business growth, job creation and demand for specialist skills but they can also displace entire roles when certain tasks become obsolete or automated."</p><p>Preparations and prescriptions recommended by these experts have varied. Former Democratic president candidate <a href="https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/andrew-yang-2639022603" target="_self">Andrew Yang</a> proposed a <a href="https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/universal-basic-income?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">universal basic income</a>. Others, <a href="https://bigthink.com/kenzie-academy/software-engineering-school" target="_self">like the World Economic Forum and Kenzie Academy</a>, support innovative education and upskilling efforts to teach workers the hard and soft skills necessary to compete in a tech-driven market. </p><p>This forecast looks eerily similar to <a href="https://bigthink.com/coronavirus/skills-needed-for-a-job?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">a post-COVID-19 one</a>. With the pandemic scattering employees to the four winds, and home offices, employers are increasingly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/22/small-business-tech-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">turning to technology to survive</a>. Tech-focused companies, like Amazon, are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/technology/coronavirus-facebook-amazon-youtube.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">thriving</a>. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">These companies need workers</a> who can work alongside technology and cultivate the skills machines and AI cannot easily replicate.</p><p>This survey suggests that many of today's job seekers have intuited this paradigm shift. Hopefully, the resources and infrastructure will be available to help people develop their capacity and make the post-COVID-19 job market a more promising one.</p>
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