Review of "Challenges of The Global Information Society"

 At the beginning, Himanen brings out 10 global trends that he has noticed. I must say, pretty much all of these are still important topics today. I think the problem of population ageing is also very prevalent in Estonia. I also agree with all the reform values of the European model - however, I think that trying to keep up with all these values may be a rather difficult chore. In this part Himanen compares some of the values of those of Christian religion. I would say that yes, Europe and especially the EU is built on those standards, however, I think religion and basing standards and morals on it has become less prevalent.

I´ve heard a lot of people in Estonia saying that they are unsure whether they can ever stop working and retire - because the population of Estonia is ageing very quickly. To add, some professions have the problem of no young people wanting to join (teachers, for example). I think Himanen´s worries on the topic are thus very much still prevalent today.

He also talks about how education is the key to equalizing the society and how for example in Silicon Valley, the education gap between families of different financial backgrounds has become prevalent. I could not agree more, to be honest. I feel that education obviously is a huge privilege, but at the same time giving the privilege to someone should not be based on finance. 

I think that Finland has very much succeeded with their education system. They are always very high on the PISA test, usually following Estonia. To be fair, I find it hard to understand why Estonia keeps topping the charts of the PISA test... Sometimes it feels like our country is not putting enough effort and resources into education. I guess it proves that not everything is about money, however, it does help a whole lot...

Himanen does not only want to ensure that education (in the traditional sense) is available to everyone, he also wants to further promote self-learning by giving free access to as much information as possible.

He also analyzes work-life balance issues and how to have people be able to work until retiring age. I have not found this to be too much of an issue. Finland has more issues with problems like obesity and such, however, I think that may be due to Estonia´s Soviet period having lessened the amount of consumption. Thus, Estonia will probably be in a similar situation in a few years´ time. I found the sex bit hilarious, however, I think that if a country ever tried to advertise having more sex directly, I would personally take it more as a call to reproduction...

I think in general all of these issues very much still apply to Finland, Estonia and even the wider world. However, as there are so many issues, there is also no easy solution. Himanen does say what a government should do to avoid these problems, however, he does not specify how it should be done. This probably is not the goal of this writing either way, but I think that most of these problems are even more complex than they may seem at first glance.