[Applause]
the great Martin Luther King jr. said
the arc of the moral universe is long
but it bends toward justice
in other words justice may not be here
now and hard times may fall upon us but
ultimately it’s going to prevail our
world will get better raise your hand if
you’ve heard that quote before keep your
hand raised if you like it it’s powerful
right it makes us feel good it reminds
us of a more promising future what if I
told you this quote was misguided you
see in this particular quote King is
expressing a faith in human progress
King among many many wonderful things is
a humanist I think most of you are
humanists too I am here today to talk to
you about humanism question why we hold
so many humanistic assumptions and then
hopefully challenge you a little bit and
paint you a picture of a different
perspective or lens with which you can
view the world but before I do any of
that
what is humanism well it’s important and
influential idea that stems from Greek
and Roman thought but kind of formally
establish itself and got its name in the
Enlightenment now there are a lot of
different versions of humanism and
they’re different but they all share the
same core assumption and that assumption
is what I’m talking about today and it
can be expressed in just five words the
belief in human progress species level
progress because this is not progress
say you and I getting better at ping
pong if we work on our fore end right
now that kind of progress it’s it’s not
even progress in us coming up with an
invention and improving the lives of
people around us
this is species level it is us
humans collectively consciously and
deliberately using reason science and
technology moving our species toward a
kind of utopia its long-term human
progress to borrow from John Gray a
British philosopher who is deeply
influential to this presentation
humanism is the belief and our species
ability to free ourselves from the
limits that frame the lives of other
animals I’ll distress an important point
most of us are humanists I think the two
like most obvious units are my favorite
ones are Barack Obama and Bill Gates
these two men extraordinary men embody
and just show an unceasing undeniable
faith in humanity right humanism is
everywhere but what if we’re all wrong
what if we’re not all that special what
if humans are a component rather than
the component of our world’s narrative
now I question the humanistic assumption
for two reasons and the first one is
there are a lot of important influential
reasonable ideas that paint a picture in
direct contrast to this faith in human
progress
Darwinism Gaia hypothesis certain
Eastern religions and philosophy of
Arthur Schopenhauer in particular they
all paint this non human centric
worldview take Darwinism for example
it’s fundamental insights that one were
animals and to the importance of utter
randomness to our existence our world
the way is the way it is and we are the
way we are because of randomness now we
now know that this random evolutionary
process has been taking place among
mammals for about 200 million years
civilization has been around for seven
thousand it’s that red bar right there
now that red bar is actually a lot
smaller I just had to make it big enough
for you to see when you combine
the relative insignificance you feel
after looking at this timeline with the
insights that were animals and that
we’re kind of the process of randomness
well it starts to paint a picture of a
very non human centric worldview right
you start to kind of see what I’m
talking about
but hold on hold on hold on you might be
saying we are special
who cares about where we come from or
all that we’re clearly different from
animals right we are unique in a lot of
ways and that’s an important point and I
see exactly where you’re coming from but
I would argue that some of the stuff
that makes us really really special I
would the the major things that do make
us special science and technology well
they’re not inherently good right now
you have many many countries developing
artificially intelligent soldiers these
are machines trained to kill humans
without any human intervention at all
what could possibly go wrong
now I joke but if Bill Gates Elon Musk
and Stephen Hawking sign a letter
warning us about the eminent danger of
this weapons development we should be
concerned further we should realize that
maybe technological development isn’t
always the best for us collectively
another great example of this is the
development of nuclear technology but
maybe the first thing you’d think about
in this kind of conversation it’s been
dangerously close to having a massively
negative impact on civilization the
Cuban Missile Crisis and we’re kind of
in a situation right now to if you’ve
been looking at the news at all and
that’s not to mention the problems we
have with the wastes and domestically
and what to do with that there’s a third
point or a third kind of aspect of
technology that’s really important to
look at and that’s to do with the
impacts of climate change that our
generation and the next generation will
face it’s important really important for
us to realize this harm is the direct
causational result of
was labeled as progress in the 19th and
20th century think about that in most
science is probably our best bet to
solve all this oh definitely our best
bet maybe I can’t help but wonder what
long-term consequences will flow from
our solutions we don’t know and there
lies the problem
the people implementing the science and
technology us we are also flawed we
cannot predict the future like at all
and we make a lot of mistakes ok wait
hold on hold on look where we are now
we’ve gone through a lot for a really
really long period of time and we’re
okay our lives are better than our
parents and their lives are better than
theirs well that’s a pretty solid point
in fact that’s the point that a
brilliant psychologist at of Harvard
Steven Pinker makes and he’s probably
human isms biggest and fiercest
supporter I would say and he lays out
the evidence showing you know throughout
civilization humans you know we’ve had
been flowed but we’ve gotten better
ethically just collectively we’ve gotten
better and there’s a really good point
and it’s worth considering but the
problem with this point and one that you
simply he can’t answer and this point
can’t address is will our past be
emblematic of our future should we be
looking in the rearview mirror to see
whether there’s a turn ahead I don’t
now at the very very least we deserved a
question rather than just blindly
assumed in human progress now why am I
here am I here just to bum you out I
promise I’m not alright there are two
major important practical consequences
to the rejection of humanism and the
first one is related to public policy
when we reject our faith in human
progress
we might advocate for different kinds of
public policy when we’re used to all
right this is a dominant Western
ideology it obviously impacts the policy
we put forth a few examples that come to
mind or farm or armaments treaties maybe
regulation of certain kinds of
technology like AI which we don’t know
so much about or at least slow it down a
little bit or perhaps just the straight
elimination of our space program this is
a few possible consequences they could
be debated but it shouldn’t surprise you
that maybe what I’m advocating for makes
you feel weird or it wouldn’t be what
you traditionally want but I think as
I’ve shown we deserve to look at these
things from this new resting assumption
right maybe I’m partially wrong or maybe
it’s somewhere in the middle or
something like that but we want to look
at this from another perspective and
it’s fascinating it’s the implications
to public policy are it’s not the reason
I’m here I’m here today because the
rejection of humanism can change the way
we find meaning in our life humanism
and many followers of world religions
certain religions see meaning as
singular one big meaning or an ultimate
purpose right no we do lots and lots of
different things but ultimately what we
do what it’s for is flows into serving a
higher power in the case of religion in
the case of humanism it’s the
progression of our species
right that’s what we did that’s why we
do what we do
there seems to be something we like
about a grand narrative about stories
right they give us answers and they just
make us feel good and I’m not the first
one to point this out thinkers as far
back as Plato have recognized the
importance of this larger meaning or
narrative to life and that led him to
advocate for his famous noble lie
that’s right Plato lover of truth
thought that justice justice consisted
of lying to the vast majority of the
public about where they were coming from
and their origin and even though he knew
this was wrong he thought it was
necessary for them to find happiness and
meaning but what if he’s not right do we
need this singular meaning this ultimate
purpose to live and to be happy I think
the answer is it simply depends and it’s
up for you to decide but I think we owe
it to ourselves to make that conscious
decision because a world without
humanism is not as sad or nihilistic as
you may be thinking right
I know destruction of ultimate purpose
sounds a little bit dreary but there is
something freeing about the removal of a
grand narrative suddenly these smaller
meanings these smaller purposes they
become more valuable they elevate
themselves our day-to-day actions become
ends in themselves we shouldn’t help
people because helping people will
progress our species we should help
people because helping people is
fundamentally good do we need more than
that ask yourselves how will I find me
thank you [Applause]
the great Martin Luther King jr. said
the arc of the moral universe is long
but it bends toward justice
in other words justice may not be here
now and hard times may fall upon us but
ultimately it’s going to prevail our
world will get better raise your hand if
you’ve heard that quote before keep your
hand raised if you like it it’s powerful
right it makes us feel good it reminds
us of a more promising future what if I
told you this quote was misguided you
see in this particular quote King is
expressing a faith in human progress
King among many many wonderful things is
a humanist I think most of you are
humanists too I am here today to talk to
you about humanism question why we hold
so many humanistic assumptions and then
hopefully challenge you a little bit and
paint you a picture of a different
perspective or lens with which you can
view the world but before I do any of
that
what is humanism well it’s important and
influential idea that stems from Greek
and Roman thought but kind of formally
establish itself and got its name in the
Enlightenment now there are a lot of
different versions of humanism and
they’re different but they all share the
same core assumption and that assumption
is what I’m talking about today and it
can be expressed in just five words the
belief in human progress species level
progress because this is not progress
say you and I getting better at ping
pong if we work on our fore end right
now that kind of progress it’s it’s not
even progress in us coming up with an
invention and improving the lives of
people around us
this is species level it is us
humans collectively consciously and
deliberately using reason science and
technology moving our species toward a
kind of utopia its long-term human
progress to borrow from John Gray a
British philosopher who is deeply
influential to this presentation
humanism is the belief and our species
ability to free ourselves from the
limits that frame the lives of other
animals I’ll distress an important point
most of us are humanists I think the two
like most obvious units are my favorite
ones are Barack Obama and Bill Gates
these two men extraordinary men embody
and just show an unceasing undeniable
faith in humanity right humanism is
everywhere but what if we’re all wrong
what if we’re not all that special what
if humans are a component rather than
the component of our world’s narrative
now I question the humanistic assumption
for two reasons and the first one is
there are a lot of important influential
reasonable ideas that paint a picture in
direct contrast to this faith in human
progress
Darwinism Gaia hypothesis certain
Eastern religions and philosophy of
Arthur Schopenhauer in particular they
all paint this non human centric
worldview take Darwinism for example
it’s fundamental insights that one were
animals and to the importance of utter
randomness to our existence our world
the way is the way it is and we are the
way we are because of randomness now we
now know that this random evolutionary
process has been taking place among
mammals for about 200 million years
civilization has been around for seven
thousand it’s that red bar right there
now that red bar is actually a lot
smaller I just had to make it big enough
for you to see when you combine
the relative insignificance you feel
after looking at this timeline with the
insights that were animals and that
we’re kind of the process of randomness
well it starts to paint a picture of a
very non human centric worldview right
you start to kind of see what I’m
talking about
but hold on hold on hold on you might be
saying we are special
who cares about where we come from or
all that we’re clearly different from
animals right we are unique in a lot of
ways and that’s an important point and I
see exactly where you’re coming from but
I would argue that some of the stuff
that makes us really really special I
would the the major things that do make
us special science and technology well
they’re not inherently good right now
you have many many countries developing
artificially intelligent soldiers these
are machines trained to kill humans
without any human intervention at all
what could possibly go wrong
now I joke but if Bill Gates Elon Musk
and Stephen Hawking sign a letter
warning us about the eminent danger of
this weapons development we should be
concerned further we should realize that
maybe technological development isn’t
always the best for us collectively
another great example of this is the
development of nuclear technology but
maybe the first thing you’d think about
in this kind of conversation it’s been
dangerously close to having a massively
negative impact on civilization the
Cuban Missile Crisis and we’re kind of
in a situation right now to if you’ve
been looking at the news at all and
that’s not to mention the problems we
have with the wastes and domestically
and what to do with that there’s a third
point or a third kind of aspect of
technology that’s really important to
look at and that’s to do with the
impacts of climate change that our
generation and the next generation will
face it’s important really important for
us to realize this harm is the direct
causational result of
was labeled as progress in the 19th and
20th century think about that in most
science is probably our best bet to
solve all this oh definitely our best
bet maybe I can’t help but wonder what
long-term consequences will flow from
our solutions we don’t know and there
lies the problem
the people implementing the science and
technology us we are also flawed we
cannot predict the future like at all
and we make a lot of mistakes ok wait
hold on hold on look where we are now
we’ve gone through a lot for a really
really long period of time and we’re
okay our lives are better than our
parents and their lives are better than
theirs well that’s a pretty solid point
in fact that’s the point that a
brilliant psychologist at of Harvard
Steven Pinker makes and he’s probably
human isms biggest and fiercest
supporter I would say and he lays out
the evidence showing you know throughout
civilization humans you know we’ve had
been flowed but we’ve gotten better
ethically just collectively we’ve gotten
better and there’s a really good point
and it’s worth considering but the
problem with this point and one that you
simply he can’t answer and this point
can’t address is will our past be
emblematic of our future should we be
looking in the rearview mirror to see
whether there’s a turn ahead I don’t
now at the very very least we deserved a
question rather than just blindly
assumed in human progress now why am I
here am I here just to bum you out I
promise I’m not alright there are two
major important practical consequences
to the rejection of humanism and the
first one is related to public policy
when we reject our faith in human
progress
we might advocate for different kinds of
public policy when we’re used to all
right this is a dominant Western
ideology it obviously impacts the policy
we put forth a few examples that come to
mind or farm or armaments treaties maybe
regulation of certain kinds of
technology like AI which we don’t know
so much about or at least slow it down a
little bit or perhaps just the straight
elimination of our space program this is
a few possible consequences they could
be debated but it shouldn’t surprise you
that maybe what I’m advocating for makes
you feel weird or it wouldn’t be what
you traditionally want but I think as
I’ve shown we deserve to look at these
things from this new resting assumption
right maybe I’m partially wrong or maybe
it’s somewhere in the middle or
something like that but we want to look
at this from another perspective and
it’s fascinating it’s the implications
to public policy are it’s not the reason
I’m here I’m here today because the
rejection of humanism can change the way
we find meaning in our life humanism
and many followers of world religions
certain religions see meaning as
singular one big meaning or an ultimate
purpose right no we do lots and lots of
different things but ultimately what we
do what it’s for is flows into serving a
higher power in the case of religion in
the case of humanism it’s the
progression of our species
right that’s what we did that’s why we
do what we do
there seems to be something we like
about a grand narrative about stories
right they give us answers and they just
make us feel good and I’m not the first
one to point this out thinkers as far
back as Plato have recognized the
importance of this larger meaning or
narrative to life and that led him to
advocate for his famous noble lie
that’s right Plato lover of truth
thought that justice justice consisted
of lying to the vast majority of the
public about where they were coming from
and their origin and even though he knew
this was wrong he thought it was
necessary for them to find happiness and
meaning but what if he’s not right do we
need this singular meaning this ultimate
purpose to live and to be happy I think
the answer is it simply depends and it’s
up for you to decide but I think we owe
it to ourselves to make that conscious
decision because a world without
humanism is not as sad or nihilistic as
you may be thinking right
I know destruction of ultimate purpose
sounds a little bit dreary but there is
something freeing about the removal of a
grand narrative suddenly these smaller
meanings these smaller purposes they
become more valuable they elevate
themselves our day-to-day actions become
ends in themselves we shouldn’t help
people because helping people will
progress our species we should help
people because helping people is
fundamentally good do we need more than
that ask yourselves how will I find me
thank you [Applause]
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