You need mathematics to understand democracy and bureaucracy

If you want to doubt whether programming deserves its place, listen to me and ask anywhere mathematics Advantages at school. He may be right that programming gives a better understanding of mathematics, but when it becomes the main point, he elevates mathematics to an end in itself, and loses sight of the purpose of school.

Mathematics has the same purpose as other school subjects. It’s the language I use to write everything from environmental, social, and economic laws to the rules that determine whether you get a bank loan or NAV assistance. To understand the democracy and bureaucracy in which we live, one needs to understand the mathematics that explains and regulates them.

The mathematical models that form the basis of national budget or infection spread models today are too large and complex for anyone to calculate by hand. It is programmed, and without insight into programming, mathematics itself becomes inaccessible. It has been a long time since young people who did well in school mathematics were able to get their first job Computer. Our centenary mathematics is about and requires programming.

Knowledge is power, and education is the basis of democracy and the distribution of power. If the school does not find space for programming, I risk widening the gap between those who can study mathematics and those who cannot. And those who understand the mathematical models that underlie public projects can manipulate them and use them to influence decisions. And those who do not understand how computers count will struggle more and more to get the services they need as digitization advances.

Oil Fund Manager on Artificial Intelligence: – An unimaginable revolution

Digitization makes bureaucracy more efficient, so it can cope with increasingly complex rules, and so we are more isolated than ever. Digitization is all very well, but it’s best for those who understand how it works best.

Many fear that artificial intelligence will take over the world, but it will not happen because machines start thinking, but because of humans finish To think we must be equally critical of those who avoid artificial intelligence for fear of the unknown and those who embrace artificial intelligence without questioning the unknown consequences. The bulwark against artificial intelligence is natural intelligence, and intelligence requires education.

I am confident that colleague Andreas will address many of the more important questions as well. What do students need to understand about programming? What is its relationship to power and democracy? However, we cannot rely on pioneers alone. If we have to wait for new research so politicians can write a new curriculum, before teachers can introduce it in school, an entire generation could grow up without understanding how the world around them is connected.