Earlier this week, @naval (CEO and co-founder of AngelList) asked a question on Twitter: "The challenge of the next decade is not Artificial Intelligence, but Human Intelligence. Can we retrain the workforce as knowledge workers?"" At the heart of his question is an interesting observation. As automation and artificial intelligence replaces manual jobs, how do we retrain people in the new knowledge economy where information handling and management is in high demand? I thought I would share some experiences, observations, and recommendations based upon when I did this previously in my career. Back in 2004 I was peddling my wares as a journalist, writing for the tech press. I was living in the West Midlands in England and heard about a new organization in nearby Birmingham called OpenAdvantage. The premise was neat: open source was becoming a powerful force in technology and OpenAdvantage was set up to provide free consultancy for companies wanting to harness open source, as well as individuals who wanted to upskill in these new technologies. At the time in the West Midlands lots of industry was being automated and moved out to Asia, so lots of Midlanders were out of jobs and looking to retrain. This required, by definition, retaining the workforce as knowledge workers. OpenAdvantage was funded by the UK government and the University of Central England, had a decent war chest, and was founded by Scott Thompon and Paul Cooper (the latter of which I met when he heckled me at a talk I gave at a Linux User Group once. 🙂 ) So, I went along to their launch event and wrote a piece about them. Shortly after, Paul and Scott invited me back over to the office and offered me a job there as an open source consultant. I took the role, and this is where I cut my teeth on a lot of open source, community, and working with businesses. We had crazy targets to hit each month, so we ended up working with and training hundreds of organizations and individuals across a wide range of areas, and covering a wide berth of open source... How long after after the launch event was the author offered a new position? A. not long after B. before he left the event C. at least five years later D. not enough information
A

Is not necessarily worth two of anything, anywhere else. But it can certainly be a heck of a lot of fun. During my days as an inmate in Bridges House at the University of New Brunswick, I shared this space with about 99 other testosterone-addled 'young adults' whose charming tendency to get completely out of hand was barely held in check by the rod of authority of the Don and Resident Fellow. This is not to say that these two worthies weren't good at their jobs; more accurately, their task was more akin to herding cats -- fairly obtuse, barely socialized cats. Given the state of controlled chaos that existed, it wasn't unusual for little conflicts to arise from time to time. Being rather physically small and odd, I came in for a certain amount of abuse from someone called Scut, a large and obnoxious Newfie (hmmm, that's like saying that water is wet). I can't remember what it was he did to me, but it was serious enough that I decided to get my own back. It's been said that revenge is a dish best enjoyed cold. I think revenge is a dish best enjoyed in secret with no chance of counter-revenge to spoil the occasion. And so it was that I laid my plans against Scut. The occasion and place were set. My means of entry was secured. Now I needed material. For me, the only good fish is a live one. Even though I hale from NB, I really don't like free-swimming seafood. Considering the unimaginative cuisine of my youth, it's surprising that I eat anything at all. So with dead, smelly fish in mind, I persuaded my friend Shan to pick one up when he was down at the Saturday Farmer's Market. He returned with a four-pound shad, frozen solid. Shad has even more bones than other fish and you'll never see it featured on any cooking show (except maybe Iron Chef, where the disgusting and unusual seems to be standard). It took me all day to thaw out the fish in the lounge sink?#8364;?an activity which elicited howls of complaint from the guys trying to watch TV. After thawing out the fish A. he threw the fish away B. not enough information C. he ate the fish D. the author used it in his revenge
D

U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to reset his relationship with Africa on Monday, as he hosted Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari is the first sub-Saharan African leader to have a White House summit with Trump, who has been criticized for reportedly making derogatory comments about Africa. During his public remarks with Buhari, Trump focused mostly on common goals and shared interests, such as fighting terrorism and expanding trade. "We love helicopters he loves them more than I do," joked Trump, referring to his administration's decision to approve a $600 million military sales deal to Nigeria. Buhari thanked Trump for approving the deal, which the administration of former President Barack Obama had suspended over allegations of human rights abuses. "I worked it out so that now you can buy the helicopters that you want," Trump said, adding, "We make the best military equipment in the world, and our friends can now buy it." Human rights groups have accused the Nigerian military of torture, rape and extrajudicial killing in its almost decade-long campaign against the Boko Haram extremist group. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency, and hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped, as the group gained notoriety and spread to neighboring countries, posing one of the most severe threats to West Africa's Sahel region in recent years. Although Nigeria has been a major partner in the U.S. fight against Islamist extremists in Africa, relations have faced challenges over the past year. In January, Nigeria joined a list of outraged African countries demanding an explanation from the U.S. ambassador after Trump's reported vulgar comments referring to African countries. Asked whether those comments came up during his private meeting with Trump, Buhari declined to comment. "I'm very careful with what the press says about other than myself. I'm not sure about, you know, the validity or whether that allegation was true or not. So, the best thing for me is to keep quiet," Buhari said. Who has been criticized for making derogatory comments about Africa? A. Boko Haram B. President Muhammadu Buhari C. President Donald Trump D. not enough information
C