[Music]
partnerships are amazing the right
partner can raise you up and help you
thrive helping you to become the best
that you can be today
I’d like to speak a little bit about
what I think is the greatest partnership
of all time humanity and technology this
unique relationship began over 3 million
years ago when one of our hominid
ancestors began making the very first
edged stone tools this act set us on a
path of coevolution with technology that
we have been on ever since it’s been
responsible for our survival and
thriving as a species these millions of
years and it very well may be essential
to our success in the future as well
it’s an interesting word coevolution
it’s usually used to refer to a
reciprocal interaction between two
living species and of course we don’t
typically talk about technology in this
way but in many respects technological
evolution does follow many of these
patterns one of the big things about why
creating edge stone tools was so
important was because of how it changed
our brains people don’t give enough
credit to how radical and impact this
had on us as a species using two stones
to create a razor-sharp edge is not as
simple as it seems it takes coordination
and dexterity it takes significant
amount of patience and self-control and
it takes an ability to follow step by
step sequences not only that but this
process needed to be passed along not
for one or two generations but literally
across tens of thousands of lifetimes
for over three million years
but the most amazing thing is how it
rewired us yes creating these tools
improved our diets they protected us
from predators and rival clans but they
also changed our brains we’ve been
finding more and more evidence of this
in recent research on modern humans in
one study volunteers had their brains
scanned before and after performing
about a hundred hours practicing this
task this is about how long it takes a
modern human to become just moderately
capable at this task astonishingly they
found an enormous increase in the number
of new neural connections in those
regions of the brain specifically tied
to coordination and dexterity patience
and self-control and future planning now
can we say definitely that our hominid
ancestors with their much smaller brain
cases that they were affected to the
exact same way that a modern human was
not necessarily but a lot of the
evidence would indicate or suggest that
they probably were since that time we’ve
continued to develop technologies very
slowly initially and more and more
rapidly in recent years and in the sense
of when we say technologies this is
really a broader sense that it doesn’t
just include tools and machines and
devices but also society art culture and
all the other things we associate with
our rise as a species and all the way
along it’s been transforming us I think
this is ironic because how many times
have we heard someone say oh technology
is ruining us it’s we’re becoming more
like our machines we’re losing our
humanity this by the way is an argument
that goes back at least as far as the
Greek philosopher Plato the fact is that
we owe our existence as the species we
are today to this very relationship this
very interaction and this process we
wouldn’t be who we are without it and so
in light of all of this in light of this
coevolution
I think we have to ask ourselves what
does this mean for our future now
despite all of the amazing things that
we can do with technology it hasn’t
escaped us that many of the challenges
we face today are a direct consequence
of our success as a technology wielding
species global climate change resource
depletion weapons of mass destruction
and there are thousands of scientists
who believe that in a matter of decades
we may face even greater threats
biotechnology hazards nanotechnological
weapons artificial intelligence run amok
any one of these could be here in only a
matter of years just consider if
artificial intelligence was to become
sufficiently powerful and extremely
intelligent becoming what sometimes
referred to as a super intelligence this
is something that many scientists
believe could happen by 2050 or 2060 the
middle of this century now even if it
turns out to be impossible for a machine
intelligence to become conscious or
self-aware any number of things could
happen that could wipe out the human
race before we knew what hit us this
isn’t because we might accidentally
create a malevolent super intelligence
as we see so often happen in science
fiction novels and movies that’s fiction
a much greater concern is that this
intelligence would be so foreign to us
so entirely different that it wouldn’t
be able to identify with or share our
goals and values the things that are
important to us and so would essentially
be a stranger to us caring know more
about us than we care about an insect or
a microbe and you can see that that
might not be in our best interests
so in light of all of this in light of
the rapid change that is taking place in
their world the number of problems that
we’re creating the increased
complexities how are we going to keep up
much less deal with all of these issues
well part of the solution may lie in the
fact that even as we’ve been raising and
lifting up technology it’s been doing
the same for us put another way the
accelerating change we see in our world
has been transforming us too and therein
may lie part of the answer to our
dilemma when talking about coevolution
people will often say oh that’s fine for
biology but that’s not how technology
works to a degree they’re correct it’s
we don’t evolved the same way but
evolution is about change not about the
specific process such as natural
selection and so in many respects
technological evolution does follow many
of the same patterns as well consider
how we often take inspiration from
biological species as a inspiration for
creating a new device or some mechanism
what Scofield called biomimetics it’s
generally understood that different
origins place different constraints on a
possible solution put another way if we
have a bird and an airplane we can take
inspiration from avian flight we can
study bird mechanics for years but if
the Wright brothers had insisted on
designing a plane that flew as birds do
by flapping its wings they never would
have gotten off the ground the same goes
for technological evolution there’s this
ongoing cross-pollination of ideas this
continual transformation based on niche
opportunities available resources and
what’s come before all driven by a
marketplace of competitive forces that
are subject not to
fitness in a natural environment but in
a world driven by human end-users and
the competitive value they gain from
this so why is this important to you
because this coevolution hasn’t stopped
it’s still going on today accelerating
affecting all of us altering us
incrementally bringing us closer to our
technology just consider how much over
the past 50 years or so we’ve converged
with technology we haven’t done this to
make ourselves more machine-like but to
improve the human condition to repair
and replace lost function think about
how many millions of lives have been
improved or even lengthened by
introducing permanent technologies into
people’s bodies pacemakers insulin pumps
cochlear implants deep brain stimulator
facial bones artificial hips and so
forth this is a trend that’s only going
to continue and accelerate except in the
not-too-distant future it’s also going
to not only restore and replace lost
function but improve it as well one area
that seeing tremendous advances in
recent years our brain computer
interfaces or BCI’s these devices will
allow us to one day be able to access
vast amounts of information and
processing power with but our thoughts
and it’s not that far away we already
have work being done in the labs using
brain waves to be able to send messages
to play video games to operate robotic
wheelchairs the days not that far off
perhaps the mid 2030s when we’ll be able
to use mentally addressable software
agents that can access all of the
world’s information for us with but
thoughts these devices will act as our
intermediaries with the vast
technological landscape around us
including the super intelligences of the
world
in many respects our descendants may
become the super intelligences we so
fear today but if this happens there
will be one very very important
difference and that is that they will
still share our goals and hopes our
dreams our values they’ll still be human
years ago Marvin Minsky one of the
founders of artificial intelligence was
asked will robots inherit the earth to
which he replied yes but they will be
our children this may be the future of
our evolution no one changes themselves
unnecessarily without good cause but if
there’s a significant competitive
advantage if our survival is at stake
we’ll do it every time this is also why
so many companies and countries are
racing to develop powerful artificial
intelligence because whoever has it
first is going to have such an enormous
competitive advantage but there’s
another reason that we should embrace
this future because intelligence has
always been our superpower as a species
compared to other predators were weak
our teeth and nails are useless against
other animals in a fight and even Usain
Bolt is a slowpoke next to a cheetah or
a lion and yet our intelligence has
allowed us to become the most powerful
species on this planet time and again
it’s saved us and allowed us to survive
and thrive as a species except now we’re
up against a wall of our own making and
we’re not going to evolve enough new
intelligence rapidly enough to be able
to deal with the many complexities of
the problems we’re generating but
a blended intelligence made up of the
best aspects of machine and human
intelligence that could be a real
game-changer as well as helping to solve
many of our world’s ills this could be
our next stage of evolution as well as
helping helping us to be better prepared
for dealing with many of the
complexities will face in the future
this may actually be what allows us to
expand the civilization beyond this tiny
blue dot we call Earth in the end the
merging of the two most powerful
intelligences on this planet may one day
allow us to seed the universe with those
rarest and most precious of gifts life
intelligence and consciousness will
humanity and technology still be
thriving millions of years from now
journeying beyond this planet and
throughout the cosmos no one knows for
certain but I remain hopeful for our
shared future I believe that this
amazing partnership can continue to lift
both of us up and that in the end will
make the intelligent choice together
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
partnerships are amazing the right
partner can raise you up and help you
thrive helping you to become the best
that you can be today
I’d like to speak a little bit about
what I think is the greatest partnership
of all time humanity and technology this
unique relationship began over 3 million
years ago when one of our hominid
ancestors began making the very first
edged stone tools this act set us on a
path of coevolution with technology that
we have been on ever since it’s been
responsible for our survival and
thriving as a species these millions of
years and it very well may be essential
to our success in the future as well
it’s an interesting word coevolution
it’s usually used to refer to a
reciprocal interaction between two
living species and of course we don’t
typically talk about technology in this
way but in many respects technological
evolution does follow many of these
patterns one of the big things about why
creating edge stone tools was so
important was because of how it changed
our brains people don’t give enough
credit to how radical and impact this
had on us as a species using two stones
to create a razor-sharp edge is not as
simple as it seems it takes coordination
and dexterity it takes significant
amount of patience and self-control and
it takes an ability to follow step by
step sequences not only that but this
process needed to be passed along not
for one or two generations but literally
across tens of thousands of lifetimes
for over three million years
but the most amazing thing is how it
rewired us yes creating these tools
improved our diets they protected us
from predators and rival clans but they
also changed our brains we’ve been
finding more and more evidence of this
in recent research on modern humans in
one study volunteers had their brains
scanned before and after performing
about a hundred hours practicing this
task this is about how long it takes a
modern human to become just moderately
capable at this task astonishingly they
found an enormous increase in the number
of new neural connections in those
regions of the brain specifically tied
to coordination and dexterity patience
and self-control and future planning now
can we say definitely that our hominid
ancestors with their much smaller brain
cases that they were affected to the
exact same way that a modern human was
not necessarily but a lot of the
evidence would indicate or suggest that
they probably were since that time we’ve
continued to develop technologies very
slowly initially and more and more
rapidly in recent years and in the sense
of when we say technologies this is
really a broader sense that it doesn’t
just include tools and machines and
devices but also society art culture and
all the other things we associate with
our rise as a species and all the way
along it’s been transforming us I think
this is ironic because how many times
have we heard someone say oh technology
is ruining us it’s we’re becoming more
like our machines we’re losing our
humanity this by the way is an argument
that goes back at least as far as the
Greek philosopher Plato the fact is that
we owe our existence as the species we
are today to this very relationship this
very interaction and this process we
wouldn’t be who we are without it and so
in light of all of this in light of this
coevolution
I think we have to ask ourselves what
does this mean for our future now
despite all of the amazing things that
we can do with technology it hasn’t
escaped us that many of the challenges
we face today are a direct consequence
of our success as a technology wielding
species global climate change resource
depletion weapons of mass destruction
and there are thousands of scientists
who believe that in a matter of decades
we may face even greater threats
biotechnology hazards nanotechnological
weapons artificial intelligence run amok
any one of these could be here in only a
matter of years just consider if
artificial intelligence was to become
sufficiently powerful and extremely
intelligent becoming what sometimes
referred to as a super intelligence this
is something that many scientists
believe could happen by 2050 or 2060 the
middle of this century now even if it
turns out to be impossible for a machine
intelligence to become conscious or
self-aware any number of things could
happen that could wipe out the human
race before we knew what hit us this
isn’t because we might accidentally
create a malevolent super intelligence
as we see so often happen in science
fiction novels and movies that’s fiction
a much greater concern is that this
intelligence would be so foreign to us
so entirely different that it wouldn’t
be able to identify with or share our
goals and values the things that are
important to us and so would essentially
be a stranger to us caring know more
about us than we care about an insect or
a microbe and you can see that that
might not be in our best interests
so in light of all of this in light of
the rapid change that is taking place in
their world the number of problems that
we’re creating the increased
complexities how are we going to keep up
much less deal with all of these issues
well part of the solution may lie in the
fact that even as we’ve been raising and
lifting up technology it’s been doing
the same for us put another way the
accelerating change we see in our world
has been transforming us too and therein
may lie part of the answer to our
dilemma when talking about coevolution
people will often say oh that’s fine for
biology but that’s not how technology
works to a degree they’re correct it’s
we don’t evolved the same way but
evolution is about change not about the
specific process such as natural
selection and so in many respects
technological evolution does follow many
of the same patterns as well consider
how we often take inspiration from
biological species as a inspiration for
creating a new device or some mechanism
what Scofield called biomimetics it’s
generally understood that different
origins place different constraints on a
possible solution put another way if we
have a bird and an airplane we can take
inspiration from avian flight we can
study bird mechanics for years but if
the Wright brothers had insisted on
designing a plane that flew as birds do
by flapping its wings they never would
have gotten off the ground the same goes
for technological evolution there’s this
ongoing cross-pollination of ideas this
continual transformation based on niche
opportunities available resources and
what’s come before all driven by a
marketplace of competitive forces that
are subject not to
fitness in a natural environment but in
a world driven by human end-users and
the competitive value they gain from
this so why is this important to you
because this coevolution hasn’t stopped
it’s still going on today accelerating
affecting all of us altering us
incrementally bringing us closer to our
technology just consider how much over
the past 50 years or so we’ve converged
with technology we haven’t done this to
make ourselves more machine-like but to
improve the human condition to repair
and replace lost function think about
how many millions of lives have been
improved or even lengthened by
introducing permanent technologies into
people’s bodies pacemakers insulin pumps
cochlear implants deep brain stimulator
facial bones artificial hips and so
forth this is a trend that’s only going
to continue and accelerate except in the
not-too-distant future it’s also going
to not only restore and replace lost
function but improve it as well one area
that seeing tremendous advances in
recent years our brain computer
interfaces or BCI’s these devices will
allow us to one day be able to access
vast amounts of information and
processing power with but our thoughts
and it’s not that far away we already
have work being done in the labs using
brain waves to be able to send messages
to play video games to operate robotic
wheelchairs the days not that far off
perhaps the mid 2030s when we’ll be able
to use mentally addressable software
agents that can access all of the
world’s information for us with but
thoughts these devices will act as our
intermediaries with the vast
technological landscape around us
including the super intelligences of the
world
in many respects our descendants may
become the super intelligences we so
fear today but if this happens there
will be one very very important
difference and that is that they will
still share our goals and hopes our
dreams our values they’ll still be human
years ago Marvin Minsky one of the
founders of artificial intelligence was
asked will robots inherit the earth to
which he replied yes but they will be
our children this may be the future of
our evolution no one changes themselves
unnecessarily without good cause but if
there’s a significant competitive
advantage if our survival is at stake
we’ll do it every time this is also why
so many companies and countries are
racing to develop powerful artificial
intelligence because whoever has it
first is going to have such an enormous
competitive advantage but there’s
another reason that we should embrace
this future because intelligence has
always been our superpower as a species
compared to other predators were weak
our teeth and nails are useless against
other animals in a fight and even Usain
Bolt is a slowpoke next to a cheetah or
a lion and yet our intelligence has
allowed us to become the most powerful
species on this planet time and again
it’s saved us and allowed us to survive
and thrive as a species except now we’re
up against a wall of our own making and
we’re not going to evolve enough new
intelligence rapidly enough to be able
to deal with the many complexities of
the problems we’re generating but
a blended intelligence made up of the
best aspects of machine and human
intelligence that could be a real
game-changer as well as helping to solve
many of our world’s ills this could be
our next stage of evolution as well as
helping helping us to be better prepared
for dealing with many of the
complexities will face in the future
this may actually be what allows us to
expand the civilization beyond this tiny
blue dot we call Earth in the end the
merging of the two most powerful
intelligences on this planet may one day
allow us to seed the universe with those
rarest and most precious of gifts life
intelligence and consciousness will
humanity and technology still be
thriving millions of years from now
journeying beyond this planet and
throughout the cosmos no one knows for
certain but I remain hopeful for our
shared future I believe that this
amazing partnership can continue to lift
both of us up and that in the end will
make the intelligent choice together
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: