thing you look at Google right human
condition 38 million results awesome
right
important issue well then I looked up
the word humane and there were a lot
more right 45 million results almost but
as we all know you don’t really want to
go by that because nine out of five
times statistics can be manipulated to
say what you think they should say and
clearly they need context right so we
want to go beyond that first of all to
say okay well for time of things being
humane or inhumane what are we trying to
get at so when I sort of look through
that I sort of suggested that well
that’s not really the impetus for me I’m
not just looking at the word I’m really
trying to get a sense of what is it but
people are talking about when they say
and I think we’ve all had this when
you’ve when you’ve been on Twitter and
clearly I’m assuming some of the
presentations earlier to this they asked
you about you know people are trolling
and they have a position on stuff and
it’s often quite visceral people get
very angry about what they post against
and the word that Kate kept coming up in
my view was this notion of inhumane now
I wanted to take a step back here and
I’ve asked well okay how does how does
this sort of relate to what you would do
in political science why’d you get into
political science and I step back from
that and said okay well you know
political science for me is not about
being a politician some of you who are
in Pali so I have been asked that are
you planning to be a politician one day
not so much I didn’t think that was the
way I was gonna go for it for me I like
political science and when I thought
politics is something that needs to be
connected to when I look at the way that
the human condition is changing visa vie
technology is to really look at how I
enjoy debate how I enjoy engaging people
on those issues and how I enjoy dialogue
and discussion but a lot more of that I
do now with my friends online I do it
through watching TED videos and making
comments about them or saying hey did
you get a chance to see this and when
you do can we have a chat about it so
the way we do politics is changing our
reference points for that is changing
further to that we also want to suggest
some measure of engaging with the issues
of the day when I’m going to class and
something has happened which has
happened where somebody goes oh my god
did you hear this happen whether I like
it or not that’s what people are engaged
with and if I have the opportunity to
mention it as a part of class that’s
helpful I can go ahead and say okay this
is what
we’re talking about and it relates to
what we’re doing today now sometimes
it’s relatable sometimes it is not
sometimes it’s very difficult to make
our points and to connect with somebody
unless we have some sense of what their
trauma and other times it doesn’t make
any sense like just because somebody
cited a cat video is awesome I can’t
really turn that into why the
institutional notion of prime
prerogative in Parliament and the Prime
Minister’s power are all related to cat
videos right it’s also gonna be much
more trickier now that our Prime
Minister isn’t a pro cat person in the
way Stephen Harper was remember cuddling
the cats and stuff so clearly there’s
gonna be an attempt to sort of
disconnect in some ways but clearly
there’s gonna be a difficulty in trying
to say okay this is all connected sort
of pushing the boundaries a little too
much to get at something that may not
really be helpful further to that what I
also wanted to do is look at the
question of you know what are people
actually talking about when we think
about that nowadays it’s usually about
the internet usually about what’s gone
viral
now viral doesn’t mean everybody now I
always try to point this out in class a
hundred thousand people have viewed a
video right what’s the number for
YouTube I think it’s ten thousand then
you get like a buck or something like
that but it still matters it a bunch of
people thought this was important and
then their language and what they want
to talk about and how they speak to it
is what they talk about visa vie the
internet so our language is then getting
intermediated with what goes on on the
internet classic example of that we
Google stuff right most of us remember
when we just used to search for stuff
right but who searches for anything any
days anymore nobody yeah Google stuff
right if you’re searching for something
not quite sure what searching is did you
lose your keys maybe we can check Google
for that actually I do have an app on
Google that searches for my keys right
awesomeness but clearly the Internet is
mediating in that regard so this brought
me to the question of the bad side or
the bad things of the human condition
right as we can see David Beckham here
crying about winning a game that’s the
upside of the human condition but at the
same time it speaks to a number of
things that are important the downside
is things like there are horrible people
in the world right on the internet every
day people get put on the internets and
you know this person’s horrible because
they’re doing this or that we have all
the unconscionable acts the dark side of
the internet we don’t want to engage
with we don’t wanna get a sense of
what’s going on but further to that we
have uncaring attitudes in a disregard
for others how can somebody think this
way why would somebody
that way well how could somebody not be
worried about this or that that’s
happening over there all of these things
are there but the problem is that we
have to deal with this troubling side of
humanity now in that regard the way we
figure out what’s troubling however is
with clicks is with whether or not you
like something is whether or not you
shared something so if a picture goes
viral that is clearly the thing to worry
about and yet there are people like oh I
can’t believe everybody’s sharing
clicking and liking on this why are you
doing that this is clearly more
important people get wildly upset when
they find that stuff that they think is
important it’s not important to a lot of
other people and in the grand scheme of
things philosophical you might say yeah
that should have been more important we
should have paid attention to that so
what are some of these sorts of things
well we had the situation and call him
what a while ago where a dog was run
over three times because it was assumed
to be a rabid coyote
and we were very upset about that right
lots of the trooper a ssin towards the
police forces lots of anger towards and
some of it directed at the owner why did
you let this happen etc but this caught
the attention and it went viral then we
had the situation of the Markham bear
getting shot people in the neighborhood
taking pictures of the police saying are
you happy are you happy and then all
sorts of you know finger-pointing about
why did you do this why did you do that
don’t people care about Public Safety
other people coming out and arguing well
I think human safety is more important
than animals safe all of these sorts of
things started to emerge off of that one
incident further to that we had the
dogfighting rings that were recently
busted in Chicago and in Chatham around
here a little a few weeks ago those were
again another situation where people are
very concerned about what’s happening
and also discussions around what should
be the appropriate course of action
people are looking what are the actual
laws around this so all of those sorts
of things
then we had the question of the movement
in the United States black lives matter
and others this is the picture of Eric
garner was taken down put in a chokehold
that died as a consequence of that and
again raising lots of different forms of
questions that people want an answer in
different ways of approaching those same
questions we had the Kunduz Hospital
bombing the one that was initially all
was a military site now it was the place
where the Taliban was holed up sort of
no that wasn’t the case it was a
steak but now we’re finding out that you
know individuals that were fleeing the
hospital were gunned down or attacked or
bombed on their way out of the hospital
trying to get out of there people are
very upset about that and then we have
the Syrian refugee crisis as well lots
of anger about what’s going on there
lots of concern the famous image of the
soldier picking up the young boy and the
impact of that and the map itself shows
you the great distance that is being
covered by this refugee crisis it’s in
Syria but it is across a very large
territory and that’s just the one on the
map we’re not even talking about the
Diaspora of Syrians that are now all
around the world fleeing this crisis now
when we look at all these things you
could say well obviously as a political
scientist you must have the answer
that’s why we pay you the big bucks
right that’s not the point
the point is not about the answers it’s
about the questions that people were
raising and the questions that I thought
were emerging from this was this idea of
people claiming it’s not humane right
and then there’s my good friend and yes
I may be a believer in one level or
another but I believe he’s asking the
right question what do you mean right
those people would say it’s not humane
and then in this not humane we’re
throwing in so many things and just like
the song and some of there’s so many
things to answer but it is the question
of what do you mean when you say not
humane when different people are
describing different things and saying
this was inhumane the way it was being
handled this is inhumane that this was
happening it’s inhumane that this is
going on so when I looked at that I went
to the Deaf dictionary by that I mean
dictionary calm I looked up the
definition right again who searches for
stuff you google it right search it in
any dictionary the term humane will
refer to questions of compassion
questions of pity caring right further
to that we would also suggest that it
has relationships to questions of
empathy or suffering and distress we can
turn to Jeremy Bentham Peter Singer lots
of other authors talk about animals lots
of people writing about the situation of
refugees international law you can read
all those folks as well and further to
that we can also look at it in terms of
reducing harm and inflicting less pain
right
that is something that we also deal with
as well lots of veterinarians doctors
dealing with assisted suicide etc all of
those sorts of matters also lead us to
that same question but from another
instance even if that is the dictionary
definition there are still ways that I
think that we can look at the human
condition and the humane condition to
say there’s a couple of different things
that people are getting at I think the
first of those things would be that they
are talking about an end an end that
they perceive to be a sort of horrible
outcome and this outcome that will be
horrible at one level they foresee as
being something that is not avoidable it
is going to be bad whatever the outcome
to this is right but there has to be an
outcome that has to be somewhat more
humane than what we currently have so if
we take a look at this year in refugee
crisis and the refugee camps in refugee
camps are places where there are people
of tremendous resilience people of
tremendous capability people eke out
lives in those for decades or people
that develop skills they learn education
they learn all sorts of or all sorts of
different coping mechanisms they figure
out a way to grow from that in a way
that is unimaginable for many of us
sitting here but for them those
experiences are very lived very real and
very fruitful in some ways yet at the
same time I don’t want to suggest a
refugee camps are a way to go we do
realize that refugee camps have a
tremendous amount of problems there is
violence in them tremendous amounts of
violence right there’s significant
issues of uncertainty am i leaving am I
going is there an opportunity for me to
have an education to do this right a lot
of people suffer under a lot of stress
simply because of the uncertainty of
their existence further to that there is
oftentimes xenophobia this is happening
right now for some of the refugees that
are crossing to parts of Europe they are
now facing the brunt of nationalist and
other movements that are coming at them
and saying get out we don’t want you
here go away then we can also see
similar things when we go to the area of
Nan human species right the end for many
animals in different shelters is going
to be certain death they believe the
city of Los Angeles and a number of
others you can look up statistics but
there’s into the tens of thousands right
we saw
this were the course of the Olympics etc
in different places animal rights groups
working non-stop
over time as animals were cleared out of
different neighborhoods etc but the
reality is that we know that that is
coming can we do that in some meaningful
way that goes against the idea of just
sort of willful neglect and murder can
we do it in a humane way to treat
non-human species and I think further to
that it raises the question of are there
times which was raised in the earlier
presentation as well that we are sparing
someone something or some situation a
far worse outcome and that is sort of
what people I think are getting at the
question of things that are sort of
humane or inhumane and that’s at the end
we know the end is coming at some level
and what sort of end what sort of
landing if you will we’re gonna have to
some very affordable situations of the
human condition then there’s the middle
part now the middle is about not making
things worse right sorry these come up
all at once but basically the idea that
we should not try to inflict further
injury whatever we’re doing don’t make
it worse for people if people are going
through stuff don’t pile on to that
right I just finished an exam a little
while ago right when it’s over I want to
make sure that people are okay even
within to say come on you know you can
do it smiles let’s go let’s keep going
all right
why would I just be mean of them like
guy hurry up come on I got to go I got
to talk to do I gotta eat lunch before
that let’s move it I don’t want to do
that I want people to feel comfortable I
understand it’s a tough situation so any
situation where we can avoid inflicting
further pain like not putting mr. Garner
into a chokehold arresting him in some
more reasonable manner that wouldn’t
have put his life in jeopardy further to
that unacceptable justifications clearly
are becoming ease efficiency and even
necessity even when we say it was a
necessity that we do this people no I
don’t think so I still think was
inhumane the way that was handled and we
should have tried something else and
we’re seeing a lot of attempts to
rewrite and rethink systems that people
in authority use to deal with all sorts
of problem we at the University have
seen all sorts of changes in the way we
deal with questions of mental challenges
personal relationships and so forth like
that again
every institution is grappling with this
to figure out ways to do things and
if occations that simply suggests ease
efficiency and necessity don’t seem to
cut the mustard in that regard and
people are putting that as a challenge
that we must face so just to give you an
example of this in the case of the
Syrian refugee crisis the Croatians even
though they weren’t doing anything to
really help with the refugee crisis
we’re Louden for their Pacifica specific
role in choosing to provide buses and
provide transit from Croatia to wherever
else we’re planning to go Austria
Hungary Germany you wanted to go but
they weren’t inflicting any further
suffering upon those people you could
come through have some water or get your
family together get organized maybe wait
for so-and-so to show up etc but then
you can be on your merry way and they
were being loud it for that but didn’t
solve the problem they didn’t help out
with trying to deal with the mess they
aren’t saying well you can stay here and
yeah we’ll give you a house or something
like that we’ll let you build your life
no we just suggest that’s better
but the other side to this is that the
beginning in a sense is increasingly
something that if we sit down and say
what would happen what causes the Syrian
refugee crisis what leads to a situation
where we have individuals engaged in
horrible acts to non-human species if we
ask ourselves what happened Mike okay I
want to find that out I mean I’m a
researcher as are many of you and others
but even if you’re not people just want
to punch into the internet and see
what’s going on but let’s say that you
find out what happens increasingly the
question is well I can’t stop to help so
that’s not in the car I cannot stop
Syria and Isis alone even if I donate
and stuff like that governments need to
do stuff about it people need to do
stuff about it so the beginning is sort
of not so useful in that regard further
to that we could also suggest that’s
almost non contextual what people think
to be inhumane things on the internet
etc do we really know the context
there’s all sorts of videos that are on
the internet that are entirely bogus
right you can go to what is it
snopes.com you can go to all sorts of
websites and the debunk oh this picture
is wrong that’s from 1995 they’re
showing it as being 2005
things like that but it’s almost the
context doesn’t matter right and in fact
at some points it’s not even relevant
regardless if we think of all the things
that have happened in terms of
relationships between in civilians and
different forms of Authority military
please all the rest of it does the
context matter for the authorities it
does for the individuals it does but
when it goes on the internet we sort of
lose it right as Eric Schmidt famously
has pointed out you know
content is king the content is its crown
problem is are a lot more Kings and a
lot fewer crowns in that regard so what
we end up with is a situation where
individual talk is about I saw something
in how inhumane and with what they’re
referring to in my view when the
Internet age is one they see a recording
of something a technology that records
it in the interpretative and that
interpretation then over time inevitably
becomes part of social media so it gets
distr dispersed and it gets really will
replicate it it gets to be sent all over
to a number of places and if never ibly
it becomes entrenched in means right I
have a couple of memes about me I guess
on the internet you probably all do as
well some of them you probably don’t
ever even know about right I’m pretty
sure when you go to meme generator the
people that are there unless it’s Keanu
Reeves didn’t probably give their
permission to be a part of those needs
but those memes are entrenched and the
people and people are replicating them
left right and center so technology
becomes the truth but I would suggest
hear the word from Stephen Colbert
famously truthiness is the way to go
right it has that sense and we know it
to be true because it’s in our gut we
have that says it’s inhumane because we
feel it right and not so much logically
understand it but we feel it so if we
see some of this sort of collateral what
I call atom image in the sense the means
that caused the damage this young lady
was the one trying to help out Eric
garner trying to figure out what
happened EMF she was not even involved
in the incident but this is a meme with
her face on there right what’s she
really gonna do about that but this is a
meme that’s on the Internet it’s posted
on people’s sites right after the whole
Eric garner thing happened and so now
her face is attached to that if she is
out there her family’s out there then we
had the one about the bear right and
that one of course crossed the number of
lines released in relation to other
civil rights issues that are going on in
our society which led to a lot of people
arguing about what was the point of
making memes like that what is the point
of crossing between a debate about black
bears and other people and so forth like
that but the reality is is that the
memes then entrench some of our
understandings of
is inhumane in the age of the internet
so what would be the humane thing right
let’s pose it in terms of Rob for I used
to make tons of jokes about Rob Ford
when he was mayor I would point out all
the foibles there were all of the
different quirks we could make I’m gonna
talk about the impact of that in Toronto
politics being a mayor when he ended up
on Jimmy Kimmel but I don’t anymore
right this is a man whose family is in
crisis this is a man who is going
through cancer even when he was on the
campaign trail lasted a while a lot of
toning down about what people had to say
about Rob Ford and probably rightly so
right this is a guy who’s facing a
significant amount of problems at this
juncture health-wise and otherwise even
if we find out more stuff that finds
that gets us to think okay what’s up
with this fellow doesn’t mean that maybe
this is the right time to do and so
technology can have an impact then on
how we modulate our understanding of
what is inhumane but it also clearly
sets the tone for it right clearly you
would not want to be the person that did
those nasty things about Rob Ford while
he’s in the second state while he’s in
the hospital but clearly if you had done
some of those things earlier when he was
doing fine as the mayor and he’s in the
position of authority but now he’s a
public he’s no longer a public person he
is out of the public eye so in this
regard
what would he Humane politics look like
well first of all we would want to
suggest that we have to start thinking
about conceptions of things like the
humane suffering and all the other stuff
I talked about and even what it is to be
inhumane with some of the popular
understandings because there are a lot
more people even our sense of concepts
is democratizing further to that we have
to have a wider set of skills and
knowledge if we are in positions of
authority because when we face questions
about did we do the right thing or did
we do something that was inhumane etc
then those questions are going to come
up and those questions are going to come
up partly because of the way the
Internet has had an impact on what we do
further to that I would suggest at one
level it’s a moving target as to what is
inhumane on one instance there is a case
of the young lady who did a little
Twitter post about people behind her
doings things and then she posted that
consequence of which three people lost
her job then people went after the young
lady for what she had posted
and said you know this was inhumane why
did you make them lose their jobs etc
etc so it was a moving target she
thought she was doing the right thing
and instead it turned out it was final
point I would raise is the problem is
clearly relational and it’s the
distinction between the agent and not
the subject or the object but the agent
and the viewer there are many anonymous
vocal voices that then as viewers tell
you what you are doing and as a
consequence of which you have to
obviously modulate what you’re doing and
that will then in the sense determine
whether or not you’ve done something
that’s amido main or not so that leads
to the final words of wisdom that I will
leave for you and I am you’re gonna use
a little bit of words of wisdom that I
actually coined and I put this in the
internet to make sure that nobody else
stole my work right because that’s
really what we do so I googled it turns
out it wasn’t but this is something I’ve
been saying for a little over a decade
before Facebook was even invented and
things were already on the rise don’t do
anything in real life you wouldn’t you
would not do on the Internet
because at the end of the day that’s
really where it’s coming around that the
human condition is actually discussed
talked about an assess so with that I
thank you in multiple languages unlike
the previous presenter I’m not capable
of saying so but I do wish you all the
best – thank you very much the TED talk [Applause]