Dr. John Psarouthakis is the Executive Editor of www.BusinessThinker.com Internet Magazine, Distinguished Visiting Fellow / Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Publisher of www.GavdosPress.com and Founder and former CEO, JPIndustries, Inc., a Fortune 500 industrial corporation

The world is a better place because of great novelists and poets and painters and musicians and sculptors and actors. We could include great chefs on a short list of specialists who add value to our cultural lives. Even such a basic need as food, after all, can be lifted above the ordinary and into the realm of art. As a voracious consumer of the arts (and occasional patron of the arts), and as someone who enjoys a wonderfully prepared meal, I obviously believe esthetic good things enrich us all. I also believe everyone’s education should include a well-guided tour of the literary, visual, and musical arts. But only a relative handful of citizens can pay the rent by knowing the difference between a sonata and a fugue, or by sharing their opinion of Moby Dick—or, for that matter, by knowing how to play a fugue or write a novel or choose the best fresh ingredients and bring them to table well enough to rent a building and start printing menus. The world doesn’t work that way. The overwhelming majority of us always have needed to make a living in the mundane realm of commerce and industry (or, via subsidy by the private sector, government). Education’s role in that familiar dynamic must be fundamentally recast, however, for the 21^st Century.

At a glance, educating young people for the 20^th Century workforce didn’t look much different than what education must accomplish in the new age. For example, all young people preparing for today’s job market know the lately fashionable acronym “STEM,” meaning “science, technology, engineering, and math.” Pointing toward a STEM career means, according to a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics essay, preparing for a job that will . . .

“ . . . play an instrumental role in expanding scientific frontiers, developing new products, and generating technological progress. These occupations are concentrated in cutting-edge industries such as computer systems design, scientific research and development, and high-tech manufacturing industries. Although educational requirements vary, most of these occupations require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Accordingly, STEM occupations are high-paying occupations, with most having mean wages significantly above the U.S. average.

Professor Dr. Rolf Pfeiffer of the University of Roetlingen, Germany is a contributor writer to The Business Thinker. He is the Director, Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg and Vice President of the INTEGRATA Foundation.

This article was contributed to the Conference of the INTEGRATA Foundation on Humane Uses of Information Technology on 14^th October 2010  in Karlsruhe, Germany

(this is a translation from the original German).

The quality of life and Information & Communications Technology (ICT) can be more usefully interlinked if researchers and experts in future think more about the possible opportunities and pay closer attention to the interconnections that already exist.  This is demonstrated by the extracts from the Handelsblatt quoted here which have almost every day reported new moves in the quality of life in relation to ICT.

The more closely we look at the question of the quality of life and ICT, the more fascinating the subject becomes.  Everyday experience shows many instances of the influence of ICT on the quality of life.  Innovative people find the introduction

The general topic in this piece concerns the interaction between technology and culture. My particular slant will be to review the various sub-cultures that are contained in the general activity of technology-intensive durable goods manufacturing. This pluralistic approach also reflects the various roles and perspectives that I have played in that context.

For over twenty years, I have been involved in the “manufacturing game”, and have witnessed many changes in that environment.   However, two perspectives have been particularly critical in playing this role of a participant-observer.

One is that I have tried to maintain the world-view of a scientist.   I have a Ph.D. level of training, which is relatively uncommon in the tough, rough and tumble world of durable goods manufacturing.   Moreover, I have tried to maintain a certain observational detachment which is a critical component of the scientific method.   I have also tried to maintain linkages to academic institutions and have seen how their internal cultures have shifted