Most of us know that the widespread use of robotics, particularly artificial intelli­gence robots, will most likely have an adverse effect on the workplace and that the new jobs that emerge will require new thinking skills that the current educa­tional system does not provide. It is also becoming clear that communities seek­ing to attract and nurture those most qualified for the new jobs must also renew themselves if they are to be successful. Most important, the emerging workforce must be able to engage both right and left hemispheres of the brain in order to solve complex problems, in increasingly creative ways. This central imperative, has resulted in the increasing demand for both artistic and creative skills along with technological and science-based skills. This treatise makes those arguments for reinvention and while it is not yet known precisely what makes people cre­ative, many ideas about fostering creative people and institutions are discussed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated our use of technology and our responses to changes we must make in education, the workplace and the workforce that have been lying dormant for too long. At the heart of the changes we must make is the vital realization that art and technology are the new bench­marks of the global economy, an economy where creativity and innovation are shaping a new world order. We are entering a new era and we must act now to prepare for a very different future.

John M. Eger is Emeritus Professor of Communication and Public Policy at San Diego State University, and Director of The Creative Economy Initiative, a non­profit educational organization founded to promote the concept and facilitate the implementation of "smart and creative communities". Earlier, he was Senior Vice President of the CBS Broadcast Group. From 1973-1976, he was Advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and Director of the White House Of­fice of Telecommunications Policy (OTP). He also served as Chairman of Califor­nia's first Commission on Information Technology; and San Diego's "City of the Future" Commission.

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