Education Fever Is Source of Bright Future
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Futurist Jose L. Cordeiro, 45, sees the education fever of the Korean people as a significant driving force for a brighter future. While overzealous enthusiasm for education here produces social conflicts and national losses, the Venezuela futurist foresees the fever bringing positive influences on Korea’s future.
``Education will be the main source of wealth in the future. Having an education is more important than having money or land. So I think the tradition of Koreans, which places so much emphasis on education, is very positive for the future,’’ Cordeiro said in an interview with The Korea Times during his visit to Korea.
Specifically, Cordeiro emphasized the importance of English education saying that the English skills of Koreans are poor compared to other countries.
``When I deliver lectures here, I need an interpreter. I think Koreans and Japanese are very parochial in their mentality rather than the Chinese. The Chinese are more open and they are learning English like crazy today,’’ he said.
This is the third trip here for Cordeiro to give a lecture on future studies. The rapid change he sees always impresses him whenever he visits.
``I’m interested in the technological change here. I think Korea today is a world leader in many fields. It is a world leader in cloning, robotics, telecommunications and memory chips,’’ he said.
In his opinion, Korea seems to be doing very well in technology but the problem lies in conflicts between South Korea and neighboring countries over the North Korea issue.
This is why Cordeiro believes that Korea needs a president who can deal properly with North Korea in the future. ``If you have a visionary president who could convince the North to reunite, that would be fantastic,’’ he said.
``Now, the secretary general of the United Nations is Korean and this is a fantastic opportunity for the new president of Korea to become a voice for a better world,’’ he said.
``Transhuman’’ is a core term when Cordeiro talks about the future. The term indicates transcending human limitations. We can transcend many of the human limitations _ biological, physical and even spiritual _ according to him.
His theory says that evolution keeps on improving and humans can be improved. We can cure diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s soon in his future report.
He also brings out another term ``transhumanism’’ which stems from transhuman. It is about how to eradicate all diseases, how to create better humans through science and technology, not by biological evolution, which he believes is continuing along with human history.
``We will continue evolving biologically but that takes millions of years. Now with technology we can do it quicker. We can improve our children and many people will do that if they could, for example, select the sex of their child, or the color of their hair, or if they are going to be fat or thin, tall or short,’’ he said.
Based on the idea, Cordeiro believes that Korea doesn’t need to worry about the decreasing population due to the low birth rate thanks to the development of future technologies.
The scientist expects that nano-technology will be one of the biggest industries from 2015 producing value of about 5 trillion won, although the manufacturing industry will suffer.
He forecast that studies of the brain would be also a popular field in the future. ``You will even be able to buy an extra brain in the future and put it in your head. Computers will also have a mind and soul by 2029.’’
Lastly, Cordeiro noted that it is time for Korea to promote future studies at universities. ``Among Asian countries, Taiwan is the most advanced in future studies. They started it 20 years ago in one university and future studies then spread to other universities. So, for Korea, the best is to begin. If one university initiates this study, other universities will do the same.’’
``Think about this in historic terms; when biology was recognized as a discipline or when economics was recognized; economics was started 200 years ago. Before that time there were no economics studies. So I mean it started in a very few universities and then it kept spreading and spreading.’’
Who is Jose Luis Cordeiro?
Jose Luis Cordeiro was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1962. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, where he received his bachelor and master of science degrees in mechanical engineering, with a minor in economics and languages.
During his studies, Cordeiro worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in Vienna, Austria. His thesis consisted of a dynamic modeling for NASA’s ``Freedom’’ Space Station.
Following his graduation, Cordeiro worked as an engineer in petroleum exploration for the French company Schlumberger. That activity allowed him to travel to and live in more than 100 different countries around the world. For over six years, he served as an advisor for many of the major oil companies in the world, including Agip, BP, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, PDVSA, Pemex, Repsol, Shell and Total.
At present, he is an independent consultant, writer, researcher, professor and ``traveler.’’ He teaches as a guest professor at the Institute for Higher Studies in Administration (IESA) and at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he created the first formal course in futures studies (``prospectiva’’). He is founder of the World Future Society, cofounder of the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association, chair of the Venezuelan Node of the Millennium Project of the American Council of the United Nations University (UNU) and is also engaged in many other futurist associations.