Are you good at studying for exams?
What do exams usually test, and what do we usually study for them?
In many cases, I think studying means memorizing knowledge because remembering the right information leads to better scores.
So, when did this style of learning, which places so much value on knowledge, begin to be considered important? I think the flow was something like this:
- In the Kingdom of Prussia, what is now part of Germany, a system requiring children to attend elementary education was introduced in 1717.
- Later, following Prussia's major defeats in the Napoleonic Wars, the same Kingdom of Prussia began modernizing its education system and military education in the early 1800s.
- Around the same period, as the Industrial Revolution progressed in Britain from the 1760s through the 1800s, the expansion of a factory-based society increased the need to provide large numbers of people with a certain level of knowledge and discipline.
- And even today, much of education still begins with a bell and ends with a bell, with students expected to sit quietly through lectures, remember what they have been taught, and be evaluated on how well they can answer or respond.
In other words, this modern style of education, which places a strong emphasis on knowledge, has not actually existed for all that long. So perhaps education and learning do not necessarily have to follow this particular style. That question is the starting point of the values we believe in.
On the other hand, what kinds of learning existed before this modern era? There was learning by observing and imitating a master or mentor. There was also learning through philosophical dialogue and thinking, as seen in ancient China and ancient Greece. And in fact, I think we can say that the history of these older styles of learning is far longer than the history of modern education.
And now, another major transformation is happening. AI — Artificial Intelligence. Based on my own experience, I can say this with confidence: when it comes to remembering knowledge, finding the right information when needed, and providing an answer, humans simply cannot compete with AI. Even in areas such as combining things that already exist and generating something new from them, AI is becoming increasingly difficult for humans to compete with.
Given this situation, do you want to compete against AI?
We do not. We want to collaborate with such highly capable AI. That is another important value we believe in.
So does this mean that humans need to change themselves to adapt to AI in our lives? Rather than "change," a better way to describe it is to remember, strengthen, and refine those learning styles that existed before the modern era—learning driven by curiosity, imitating, thinking, questioning, and practicing. By doing so, we can truly rediscover ourselves and how to thrive in the era of AI.
As guiding keywords for this process of remembering, continuous learning, and putting learning into practice throughout life, we propose:
Curiosity — beginning with curiosity,
Thinking — deepening our thinking,
Questioning — getting to the essence through the right questions,
Proactivity — turning that into proactive communication and real action.
These are what we call CTQP.
By using CTQP as perspectives for thinking and guiding principles for action, we want to rediscover what was good about humans before the modern era, focusing on coming up with the right questions rather than simply finding the correct answer. By utilizing and collaborating with AI, we hope to contribute to realizing a new, richer, and healthier society. This, in summary, is our way of thinking and the values we believe in.