Source : National Diet Library
In the previous two installments, I discussed how the development of artificial intelligence (AI) will shorten the work day to 3 or 4 hours. Since the work day will become shorter, more people will probably worry about how they should spend their lives, thinking they will have more free time than they know what to do with.
I have a clear answer in response to this, or at least a suggestion. That is for citizens to get involved in various social activities.
This is called civic engagement. Through social activities such as regional volunteering and NPO (non-profit organization) activities, people should be able to find a sense of belonging.
I think that in Japan, it is difficult to get social approval for volunteering. It has been over 6 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, but there are still people using their holidays for outreach activities. It is precisely these people who say, “Well, it’s not my main job,” or “I’m just a layperson.” Because they are just volunteering, they find it difficult to gain approval from those around them.
But from our perspective, these people have been doing the same outreach activities for 6 years, so they should already be called experts. The problem is that people assume only a job they earn money from can be their main job.
