Future Society Research Articles

Effect of AI on HI

Abstract: This paper explores the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Human Intelligence (HI), examining both the enhancements and challenges AI introduces. AI, defined as the capability of machines to perform tasks requiring humanlike intelligence, has evolved significantly, influencing various domains such as education, healthcare, and the workforce. AI enhances human cognitive processes by assisting in decision-making, problem-solving, and creativity, thereby augmenting HI. In education, AI-driven tools offer personalized learning experiences, while in healthcare; AI improves diagnostics and patient care. However, the integration of AI raises ethical concerns, including privacy, data security, and algorithmic bias. The potential for AI to surpass human intelligence, known as the singularity, poses existential questions about human autonomy. This paper underscores the importance of responsible AI development, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks to balance technological advancements with human values. As AI continues to advance, fostering effective human-AI collaboration and preparing society for an AI-enhanced future are crucial for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks associated with AI's influence on HI.

Heteroatom doping enables hydrogen spillover via H+/e− diffusion pathways on a non-reducible metal oxide

Hydrogen spillover, the simultaneous diffusion of protons (H+) and electrons (e−) is considered to be applicable to ubiquitous technologies related to hydrogen but limited to over reducible metal oxides. The present work demonstrates that a non-reducible MgO with heteroatom Al dopants (Al–MgO) allows hydrogen spillover in the same way as reducible metal oxides. Furthermore, a H+ storage capacity of this material owing to hydrogen spillover is more than three times greater than those of various standard metal oxides based on H+ transport channels within its bulk region. Atomic hydrogen diffuses over the non-reducible Al–MgO produces active H+-e− pairs, as also occurs on reducible metal oxides, to enhance the catalytic performance of Ni during CO2 hydrogenation. The H+ and e− diffusion pathways generated by the heteroatom Al doping are disentangled based on systematic characterizations and calculations. This work provides a new strategy for designing functional materials intended to hydrogen spillover for diverse applications in a future hydrogen-based society.

Understanding the Future Posthumanities: An Analytical Study of William Gibson’s Spook Country

William Gibson, who introduced the term ‘cyberpunk’ is a distinguished American Canadian science fiction writer. Gibson’s Spook Country, published in 2007, is a popular science fiction political thriller. With three interesting and intersecting plots, the novel is set against the background of the post-September 11, 2001 incident. Gibson portrays a future society that is beyond human capabilities using philosophical and imaginative posthumanist concepts such as Post-Humanism, Post-Anthropocentrism, and Post-Dualism intertwined with science fiction themes like interactive media, cyberspace, locative art, espionage and the art of virtual reality. This article analyzes the novel Spook Country based on Synthetic Theoretical Posthumanism, a typology framed by Matthew E. Gladden. The Posthuman theorists use philosophy and science fiction as a resource to re-examine the notion of “human” in a future techno cultural context. In addition, this study uses the theoretical framework of Francesca Ferrando, Rosi Braidotti, and other posthumanist theorists to substantiate how the novel represents future posthumanities.

Compatible effects of adopting imaginary future generations and systems thinking in exploring future challenges: Evidence from a deliberation experiment

AbstractWe adopted an innovative methodology that combines systems thinking with “imaginary future generations” (IFGs), a method for activating “futurability” in people, to discussions about the issues and needs of a future society, and we verified the effectiveness and value of this methodology. We conducted a series of five debate experiments in which groups comprised of company employees and university students worked to formulate a vision of the future state, social issues, and social needs of society in 2050, and to investigate policies that should be adopted in the years ahead. The results of a text analysis of group debates and questionnaire surveys of debate participants showed that (1) adopting IFGs facilitates the exploration of new issues and needs when depicting the images of the future state of society; (2) adopting IFGs gives rise to recognized cognitive changes in debate participants; and (3) combining the IFG methodology with causal loop diagrams (CLDs), a systems thinking tool, makes it possible to generate the effects of systems thinking while simultaneously maintaining a “future generation” perspective. Most importantly, the results show that the IFG methodology and CLDs could be compatible. These findings demonstrate that a combination of IFGs and systems thinking can effectively be used in discussions and decision‐making that deal with complex issues related to the future of society.

The origins of the youth’s political trust in Southeastern Europe

ABSTRACT This paper examines the extent to which the perceived quality of institutional performance as an endogenous source of trust and political socialization as an exogenous source of trust determine the emergence of political trust among youth in ten Southeast European countries. It also sheds light on a relatively understudied factor in the formation of political trust: the relation towards the future of society, which is considered an exogenous source of trust. Endogenous origins, particularly satisfaction with democracy, dominate the formation of political trust, while exogenous aspects, presented as aspects of socialization, are less well represented, although still significant. This is especially true for interest in politics and, to some extent, societal optimism, which are important factors in the formation of political trust.

Artificial Intelligence Governance

Research on AI governance is important towards potentially useful and constraining affordable misuse, reduce new risks and economic trends that threaten to disrupt public political and economic trends, and drive off target as interest in advanced AI systems and the norms, focal points, and use of new AI research are potentially transformative and governance institutions aim to prevent. Potential public benefits from policy community re-using AI research are enormous, including reduced economic instability. A fundamental challenge in AI governance is a cognitive framing challenge: governing AI research requires understanding new kinds of safety risks, performance goals, and intended applications that advanced AI systems will make possible. Specifically, the letter focuses on how AI research could mitigate issues such as the possibility of AI capabilities getting concentrated within a small and hard-to-regulate group of actors, and ultimately recommends the prioritization of open research and collaboration, with concern for long-term social and economic looming to the forefront of coalitions if AI becomes an increasingly important aspect of the future economy and society.

Non-Perceptual Representational Immersion in Video Games: a Response to David Chalmers’ Reality+

This article criticises David Chalmers’ ‘Reality+’ by interrogating its distinction of virtual reality (VR) from 2D, non-VR video games, a distinction made on the grounds that VR is immersive and these types of video games are not because immersion is a distinct characteristic of 3D perceptually represented VR. Building on the Balcerak Jacksons’ account of ‘representational immersion’, which they acknowledge has ‘perceptual’ and ‘non-perceptual’ elements, I develop an account of ‘non-perceptual representational immersion’ and use it to critique Chalmers’ treatment of VR, immersion, and video games, indirectly problematizing his central ontological claim that ‘virtual reality is genuine reality’ and the reflections he makes about future society which rest upon it. I argue that video games are rich in non-perceptual representational immersion, which includes the representation of non-perceptual information about the structure and behaviour of a virtual world and its systems, the non-perceptual cognitive states that are generated in the player by the virtual world, and the immersion which comes from the constitutively cognitive nature of the player’s engagement with the virtual world, a cognitive engagement construed in an enactive sense. These are just as crucial to the phenomenon of digital immersion as perception. Immersion generally is a much more complicated phenomenon than Chalmers allows for, and it is better conceived as taking place on a spectrum which includes both 3D and 2D experiences of virtual worlds, not as hinging on 3D perceptual representation. I use ‘immersive simulation’ games as a case study.

Model inductive bias enhanced deep reinforcement learning for robot navigation in crowded environments

Navigating mobile robots in crowded environments poses a significant challenge and is essential for the coexistence of robots and humans in future intelligent societies. As a pragmatic data-driven approach, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) holds promise for addressing this challenge. However, current DRL-based navigation methods have possible improvements in understanding agent interactions, feedback mechanism design, and decision foresight in dynamic environments. This paper introduces the model inductive bias enhanced deep reinforcement learning (MIBE-DRL) method, drawing inspiration from a fusion of data-driven and model-driven techniques. MIBE-DRL extensively incorporates model inductive bias into the deep reinforcement learning framework, enhancing the efficiency and safety of robot navigation. The proposed approach entails a multi-interaction network featuring three modules designed to comprehensively understand potential agent interactions in dynamic environments. The pedestrian interaction module can model interactions among humans, while the temporal and spatial interaction modules consider agent interactions in both temporal and spatial dimensions. Additionally, the paper constructs a reward system that fully accounts for the robot’s direction and position factors. This system's directional and positional reward functions are built based on artificial potential fields (APF) and navigation rules, respectively, which can provide reasoned evaluations for the robot's motion direction and position during training, enabling it to receive comprehensive feedback. Furthermore, the incorporation of Monte-Carlo tree search (MCTS) facilitates the development of a foresighted action strategy, enabling robots to execute actions with long-term planning considerations. Experimental results demonstrate that integrating model inductive bias significantly enhances the navigation performance of MIBE-DRL. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, MIBE-DRL achieves the highest success rate in crowded environments and demonstrates advantages in navigation time and maintaining a safe social distance from humans.

Sustainable propulsion technology selection in penultimate mile delivery using the FullEX-AROMAN method

Sustainable transport is the priority for future cities and society. It is necessary to make sustainable urban transport policies to mitigate the harmful effects of current transportation systems. One of the essential issues in making cities cleaner is the propulsion technology of light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Most of the LCVs are compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel-powered. However, cleaner, sustainable power sources, such as hydrogen, hybrid, solar, and electric have appeared in the market. This paper addresses the selection of propulsion technology for LCVs up to 3.5 tones for the Czech Post vehicle fleet. In this study, three main pillars are considered: economic, socio-environmental, and technical. Czech Post currently uses CNG-powered vehicles to transport shipments in penultimate mile delivery. The integrated FullEX-alternative ranking order method accounting for the two-step normalization (AROMAN) approach selects the best sustainable propulsion technology for the Czech Post vehicle fleet. The FullEX method identifies the criteria weights, while the AROMAN method ranks propulsion technologies. The results of the integrated approach reveal that the best propulsion technology for penultimate mile delivery is electrically powered, followed by hydrogen, hybrid, and CNG. A comparative analysis with other multi-criteria decision-making methods is also performed. The results confirm that the electrically powered solution is the best. The sensitivity analysis is carried out. The FullEX-AROMAN shows high resilience.

An ecosystem approach to the development of a physically active population in the Arctic conditions

In the modern world, human well-being and his development determine the level of development of society as a whole. It is therefore important to focus efforts on creating conditions for every person to live a fulfilling life, including access to quality healthcare, education, cultural and sporting events. Investment in a person is necessary in order to ensure his successful participation in society, his self realization and the realization of potential. A healthy, educated and developed person is able to fully contribute to the development of society, improve the economy and social sphere. We must remember that man is the center of any ecosystem, and his well-being should be the main concern of society. Investment in people today is an investment in the future of society, which will bear fruit in the form of progress towards a more just and developed world. The idea is reflected that the well-being of a modern person depends, among other things, on his physical health. In this regard, an analysis of the development of physical culture is given using the example of the Arctic region, defined as part of the structure of the ecosystem of modern society. It talks about the need for a conscious approach to increasing the physically active population in the Arctic region.

The Child Protagonist: Children’s Agency in International Children’s Rights Law and in Four Francophone African Novels

In this article, I explore how the contested notion of children’s agency is represented in international children’s rights law and in four novels by francophone African authors. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child establish children as rights holding subjects within a framework of adult care, while the fictional texts position children as protagonists, deprived of adult protection amid conflict and social upheaval. In both, children are understood as acting and acted upon, forming and formed by their environment. Through the utopian vision of children’s rights law and the damaged child narratives of the fictional texts, children’s agency can be read as a critique of adult society. At the same time, children are recognized as active participants in history, their choices and actions, however determined, shaping their own future selves and society.

미래 산업사회에서 요구되는 특성화고등학교 학생의 핵심역량 도출

미래 산업사회에서 요구되는 특성화고등학교 학생의 핵심역량 도출

Navigating Change: An Analysis of Elementary School Teachers' Readiness and Implementation Challenges with the Merdeka Curriculum

Education is a central pillar in forming the foundation of society's future, and implementing a relevant curriculum is critical in ensuring the quality of learning. As a response to increasingly complex educational challenges, the Merdeka Curriculum focuses on developing competence and character with essential material. On the other hand, the Merdeka Curriculum also offers teachers flexibility in designing and implementing learning according to student needs and local context. This research aims to explore and analyze the implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum among elementary school teachers as a reflection to provide effective feedback. The survey method is used to collect data through questionnaires that have been developed and have undergone expert validation. Questionnaires were distributed to 160 state elementary school teachers in West Bandung Regency. The questionnaire includes 7 question items about teacher readiness, level of understanding of the Merdeka Curriculum, and identification of obstacles and strategies for overcoming them. The data collected was analyzed quantitatively using a descriptive statistical approach. The research results show that teachers are ready to implement the Independent Curriculum but their understanding is still limited which has an impact on the presence of challenges in its implementation. These findings have implications for the urgency of increasing teachers' understanding regarding the Independent Curriculum, skills in designing and implementing learning in accordance with the characteristics of the Independent Curriculum, including assessment. With better understanding and skills, the challenges faced will be overcome.

Writing in the Era of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of Transformative Competencies

With the recent development of artificial intelligence technology such as ChatGPT, various discussions have been raised regarding writing education in the era of artificial intelligence. Therefore, this study aims to explore the direction of writing education from the perspective of transformative competencies. To this end, this study examined the meaning of transformative competencies presented in the OECD's Future of Education and Skills 2030 Project and suggested the direction in which writing education in the era of artificial intelligence should be heading.The ‘transformative competencies’ presented in the OECD's Future of Education and Skills 2030 Project focuses on the ability of humans to do better when matched against artificial intelligence. In the future society, it is necessary to be able to cope with fluctuating and uncertain situations by having a flexible attitude toward new technologies and an attitude that encourages the continuous acquirement of new knowledge or skills through transformative competencies.Based on transformative competencies, this study set the direction of writing education in the age of artificial intelligence as ‘creative writing to create new values’, ‘practical writing for individuals and communities’, and ‘heuristic writing to awaken a sense of good writing and responsibility’. The direction of writing education in this era of artificial intelligence is not limited to the education of required college writing subjects, but is also the direction of overall college education as well as that of the humanities. Through the establishment of this direction, writing education should be aimed at actively responding to changes in the future era of artificial intelligence, while still allowing students to maintain certain human qualities.

Formation of Ukrainian National Identity: Means and Value Orientations

The article emphasizes that the youth of Ukraine is a key factor in the future of society, requiring support and encouragement for the formation of national consciousness and patriotism. Currently, Ukrainians realize that during times of war, the formation of national identity is of special significance, as the country faces complex challenges threatening its territorial integrity, sovereignty, and distinctiveness. The scientific article reveals contemporary aspects of the formation of Ukrainian national identity and indicates that such a movement is a complex process involving various means and value orientations. Among the means of forming Ukrainian national identity are language policy, education, media, cultural events, political reforms, monuments, and memorial sites. Language policy aims to protect the status of the Ukrainian language as the state language and ensure its use in all spheres of public life. Education is one of the key means of forming Ukrainian national identity as it transmits values, traditions, and cultural customs, promotes the development of civic consciousness, and supports identification with one’s own country. Cultural events play a significant role in shaping national identity as they contribute to the awareness and appreciation of the uniqueness of the cultural heritage, language, traditions, and values of the nation. Monuments and memorial sites play a significant role in shaping national identity as they are material symbols of history, culture, and important events for the nation. In the conclusions of the scientific article, it is emphasized that Ukrainian national identity is an important factor in the formation of civil society based on the principles of democracy, human rights, and equality. Ukrainian national identity is an important element of self-identification and self-awareness of the Ukrainian people, which contributes to its preservation, development, and prosperity.

Динамика культурно-политического развития ингушского народа в 1920–1930 гг.

The dynamics of the cultural and political development of the Ingush people during the 1920–1930s is examined in the article, focusing on the gradual elimination of their statehood. It presents an overview of the contradictory policies of Soviet power in the region. On one hand, processes of modernization and Europeanization were pursued under a unified Soviet policy, while on the other hand, they exhibited regional specificities. The inherent contradictions in the Soviet power’s national policies were inevitable within the totalitarian model of command-administrative systems. Despite declaring internationalism as the basis for a future communist society, the practical process of autonomization often involved the territorial division along ethnic lines, which sometimes did not align with the local population’s national composition. Territorial administration was arbitrary, leading to land disputes that remain relevant today. The Soviet government, pursuing a policy of cultural development of the Ingush Autonomous Region, creating a network of educational institutions, forming national personnel from among the Ingush, simultaneously carried out repression of the Ingush intelligentsia. This process was accompanied by territorial disturbances, resulting in the loss of established infrastructure alongside the loss of statehood. The policy of “korenizatsiya” (indigenization) was marked by excesses; however, the struggle for the cultural development of the Ingush people, as an integral part of the ideological work of the Soviet state, ultimately achieved significant successes.

Envisioning sustainable rural development: A narrative on accessibility and infrastructure from a Swedish region

Infrastructure developments depend on decision makers' perceptions of the particular policy issue and a preferred future state. The complex relationship between accessibility and rural development and the long periods from problem recognition to transport infrastructure realisations bring further uncertainty into regional planning. Therefore, government and public administration tend to rely on narratives to explain the policy issue and to transfer their perspectives into the policy process. However, oversimplified narratives unduly limit the understanding of the problem and so the choice of solutions. This paper aims therefore to contribute to an understanding of the recognition of accessibility and transport infrastructure as a policy problem for sustainable regional development in rural areas. It investigates the narrative that emerges from local officials' perceptions about a future society, reasons for sustainable growth and the collaboration at the local and regional levels in central Sweden. The analysis details the four key perspectives of the narrative: local people, work and leisure, an urban neighbourhood and public transport services. The findings stress the narrative's lack of oversight and inclusion that accounts for societies' heterogeneity. In particular, the analysis expounds a remarkable faceless story that conveys a prevalent lack of understanding of stakeholder needs and the role of critical infrastructure for societal development in rural areas.

Deep-time patterns of sustainability and resilience in socio-ecological systems: An Introduction to the Special Issue

As we stand on the precipice of unprecedented global challenges, understanding the deep-time patterns of sustainability and resilience is no longer just a scholarly endeavour but imperative for the future of our planet and its inhabitants. The collection of papers in this special issue brings together archaeologists, historians, and environmental scientists around four main topics: (1) social-ecological modelling, (2) long-term human-environment interactions, (3) modelling diachronic landscapes and (4) sustainability and resilience from past to future. Our aims are to come to a better understanding of socio-economic resilience and sustainability in past, present and future societies. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, we aim to forge new conceptual frameworks for understanding complex, long-term socio-ecological dynamics. Through the case studies, theoretical reflections and methodological innovations presented here, this special issue seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on sustainability and resilience and offer fresh insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in building a sustainable future.

A negative dialectics of climate change destruction: Reflecting on climate futures with Adorno

This paper offers a brief overview of the negative dialectical turn in Adorno's post-war writings when he began to give more serious attention to the type of ‘subjective possibilities’ generated by encounters with adversity. The analysis below explores the relevance of Adorno's work to current efforts to make sense of an increasingly felt contact with climate change harm. In particular, Adorno's insights on the paradoxical relationship that emerges between scenarios inspiring despair and hope for a better future. Rather than ignore contradiction and focus only on the possibilities and potentials that inhere in the good, Adorno's preference was to examine those that also emerge from a crisis ridden present. Similar to other Frankfurt School adherents, Adorno drew attention to an important distinction between inner and outer worlds and their critical mediation via the thinking process – the bridging of inner worlds of intuition, feeling, sense perception, the free flow of thought and imagination, and the outer world, episodes of violent destruction and ongoing change, noting how insights generated by the meeting of these worlds are never singular or straightforward in a positivist sense but are often marked by plurality, contradiction and transformation. The focus in this instance will be on how thinking about the climate present can also generate a thinking beyond to other possibilities (e.g. imaginaries of a future degrowth society). It will assess current moves to institutionalise new geo-engineering technologies to stabilise climate conditions and protect capitalism's growth imperative, noting how the contradictions inherent in such proposals can trigger a dialectical turn towards other futures and other relations with nature.

Practice-Integrated Study Programs in Agriculture Sciences for A Better School to Work Transition in Albania and Kosovo: A Stakeholders Overview

The quality of study programs in higher education plays a crucial role in helping graduates transition from university to the labor market. There is a risk of losing qualified human resources in a knowledge-based society and economy if the education provided does not meet the needs of the labor market. This has led governments and higher education institutions in Albania and Kosovo to reconsider their academic offerings and study program curriculums to better integrate graduates into the labor market. This study examines how stakeholders, both private and public institutions, perceive the practical orientation of higher education study programs in agricultural sciences. A structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions using a Likert rating scale was used to analyze the views and expectations of employees in the public and private sectors about the practical skills that graduates in agricultural sciences should possess. The total number of analyzed questionnaires was 294. Employers in the labor market consider work-based placements, continuous training, and international training of students as "very important" to meet the demand for skills in the labor market. More than 91% of public institution executives stressed the importance of "practice" in reducing the practical skills gap for students, compared to 78% of private sector employees. The findings revealed that public employees are more aware than private sector employers that close cooperation between HEIs and work-life partners is crucial for producing a “university product” that meets future society's needs.