WEEK4 “Challanges of the global information society (2004)” in hindsight

    Pekka Himanen, a Finnish philosopher, drafted the above mentioned report for the “Committee for the Future” of the Finnish Parliament. The intention was to address the necessity of changes due to the shift from an industrial society to an information society. Based on the technology existing at the time and clear trends, such as the industrial changes in developing regions in Asia, Himanen predicted the influence of innovations on society. Thus, assisting the parliamentary committee to estimate changes needed at an early stage to maintain a welfare state.

    The report thoroughly discussed the impacts of an information society on the workplace, predicting increased internationality, the changing work-ethic due to constant availability and the negative effects of a “society of emergency”. Internationality in the workplace has strongly increased since the report was written. With the internet enabling inter-continental communication and the growing aviation industry facilitating international travel, the geographical hurdle for international cooperation was breached. This has only further driven us into the mentioned “society of emergency” in which the increased information speed, requires constant immediate reactions, pressuring workers to constant availability, smudging the lines between work-time and leisure-time, causing a stressed society.

    Another aspect is the announced shift from a time-oriented to a result-oriented management culture. One example is the trend of start-ups, founding a company has never been more encouraged. Particularly Finland offers a thriving environment for start-ups, in part due to government structures, but also due to the societies view and understanding of the industry. (Finland is known to host one of the largest start-up events worldwide: slush). Start-ups rely on creative problem-solving; the value of this creativity was repeatedly mentioned in the report. The report emphasized the need to restructure the work-life of existing industries, a start-up can implement them more easily as it builds its structures according to current standard and preferences. Start-ups generally are regarded to have a progressive work environment, as well as effectively incorporating innovations into their structures. However, the Finnish government has developed programs to incentivize ‘creative’ changes in the work place and also in educational facilities. Projects such as “Liikkuva koulu” and “Liikkuva työelämä” are funded by the government, to provide more “Physical Balance” to a normal workday, by providing sports equipment. This shows that the report was noticed and changes to adapt to a new society were implemented by the government.    

    Himanen also mentioned that due to the ageing population, a trend displayed in most European demographics, the internationalization of higher education could be used to attract young people to compensate for the domestic loss in work force. This suggested change has widely been implemented, not only in Finland, but in most European higher education facilities, with increased degree programs offered in English and multiple exchange opportunities.

    Some predictions in the report were extremely accurate, therefore some of the changes that were implemented efficiently ensured the progress of a welfare state. Finland implemented the changes with positive effects, however Germany for example failed to act upon the trends on time, causing increased pressure on its society. Not only the lack of digitalization, but also the bureaucracy frustrating the process of change and holding on to traditional structures inhibits the progress of society. This is putting a strain between the governing generation that has yet to relinquish the industrial societal views and the more innovative generation that is aspiring changes.

    The intention of the report was to reduce the stress caused due to a shifting society by implementing changes at an early point of the transition, to some extent changes were implemented in Finland. One could argue that it would have been better to implement more changes earlier, however one must be aware of the effects of hindsight. It is hard to make grand political changes based on predictions, as predictions rely on trends do not incorporate events such as the economic crisis of 2008, scientific paradigm shifts or even pandemics. Therefore, acting on predictions needs to be done carefully, which still means, that it needs to be done and not postponed.