our world is a puzzle of an infinite
source of mystery diversity and eclectus
yet most of us experience it through two
eyes we see a world limited to our
immediate surroundings obscure by
DeVilles this video defined my first
company’s vision what I thought at the
time would be a worldwide sensation it
was the first plural cultural artistic
agency I was proud when the project
failed it was three years of hard work
down the drain my social identity with
it a part of my personality was so
profoundly destabilized it felt like my
worst breakup but since I never really
had relationships one can say it wasn’t
so unsettling just knew in any case it’s
good I’m not here to talk to you about
love since then I became an exhibited
artist a philanthropy events manager and
a construction site engineer you see our
work defines how we contribute to our
community the longer we’ve been at it
the more it feels like a purpose a part
of who we are so when we lose it
our self-esteem goes down we feel
redundant and replaceable so why why are
we all perceive lis watching a system
about to over and our evolutionary
abilities of adaptation artificial
intelligence is diminishing job
I’ll save you the readings assessing the
impact of this fourth Industrial
Revolution on our social ecosystems but
the underlying reality a
stork and obvious we’re gonna get
screwed no matter whether you’re a
lawyer a cashier a banker a bricklayer
everyone’s job is at risk in half a
China it takes 30 minutes for a doctor
to run through 300 scan images for an AI
it takes seconds with 91% accuracy it’s
better at spotting cancer cells than
radiologists who’ve trained yours for
the same result and now this guide
really they want to take us at Olympics
– come on we’re getting to a point where
even AI researchers might soon be a
thing of the past
large American corporations are building
AI which can build AI without human
supervision almost funny right and scary
at the same time slowly but surely in
every place of society a human will be
replaced by a machine they can work 24
hours a day seven days a week
that’s 8700 hours a year and comparison
if you work 40 hours a week you top up
at 1800 hours a year so one machine can
effectively do the job of five humans
and that’s without even counting the
artificial intelligence is the fastest
evolving technology which has ever
existed it’s flexible open source self
optimizable it’s fostered by the
research of the brightest minds on the
planet and its conception is based on
the latest advances in your science and
psychology education on the other hand
is a slow paced mechanistic system
crafted to suit national interest of the
past and it’s based on unproven ways of
measuring intelligence I mean think
about it for a second
we’re teaching machines everything we
know about the brain and we’re not
adapting it to ourselves how stupid must
we be hey let’s teach machines
everything we know about intelligence
while we just sit there and wait for
them to kick our asses come on
I’ll get most of you are learning
something at uni today but how many have
learned how to learn how many have
learned how a brain memorizes
information how to increase our
attention span how to adapt competences
you see most of us go on in life without
the user manual to appreciate the
magnificence of our intellect we all
equipped with the most powerful
processing system in the entire universe
yet no one teaches us how to use it
the rudimentary tools of cognition are
all assumed acquired it’s like playing
hockey without a stick a puck or skates
all the while being shouted at for not
getting the thing right you just get
thrown in education from 6 years old and
our current system lacks free things how
to understand our brain as tools how to
understand ourselves as humans our
emotions and passions and how to
communicate effectively with one another
thinking about thinking that’s called
metacognition
ever heard the world noise I didn’t
either until a few weeks ago and my
whole talk is on it and sometimes it
just feels so stupid in any case we need
to go from a knowledge base curriculum
to an ability based experience we need
to learn how to think practically how to
adapt our thinking to new situations
because life is their share opposite of
standardized examination when I had my
company I look more about the brain
people and myself then during four years
in a prestigious British institution I
learned more by doing than by thinking
about doing and that wasn’t easy I had
to bust myself up because I only went to
30 percent of the lectures my parents
paid for
I mean don’t tell them please but you
all know college is pretty expensive so
I had to build up tools and frameworks
to build up a certain work ethic and a
discipline which would drive my company
and my collaborators upwards I’m still
optimizing this learning toolbox but I
think its basic principles shall be
shared with everyone the idea is simple
every job position can be simplified as
a set of competences take photography
for example you need curiosity the
exploration of reality from a multitude
of angles to question perception you
need patience waiting relentlessly for
the perfect moment you need rest taking
venturing into unknown places getting
out of your comfort zone and from then
each work experience becomes the
referential of acquisition of a capacity
though one capacity is acquired in a
specific framework
it doesn’t mean its applications are
constrained to its original context
going back to my company and specific
expertise branding identity and
marketing when you shape a company’s
vision you do so by reframing reality
looking at its problems from different
angles
then you build up an image which is
going to carry its purpose effectively
well photography isn’t too far I then
took up a position organizing the annual
galas of the foundation and Paris London
and New York and I had zero experience
in that field I had no idea what to do
what the job was about but but breaking
the position into manageable subtasks I
was able to go through it at the end we
managed to raise 1 million dollars for
disadvantaged children all around the
world that was my first encounter with
project management the ability to
coordinate actions in time and space to
achieve a design the intent after that I
thought I was on top of my game
since I managed events I thought
construction management wasn’t too far
off
sometimes you can’t believe how naively
optimistic you are when in your twenties
so I changed industries once again and
have since been coordinating the
refurbishment of a spa for Palace in
London
has anyone dreamt about someone pursuing
them no matter how fast you run how far
they always manage to catch you well
that’s exactly how construction feels
every time you achieve a milestone they
get thousands of others to happen in
electricity plumbing marble paints if
you forget something or fuck it up the
whole sequence has to be reorganized you
does anyone know how a hamon works how
to light up an area or how to dispatch
hot water to a tap
well I didn’t either you see I had no
idea but anything I was building yet
I have a master’s in civil engineering
amazing so I had to learn as I was going
making mistakes along the way an
expensive marble top from Zimbabwe gone
during demolition was one of them a
pretty expensive mistake and as if the
project wasn’t hard enough for a
complete newbie the hotel had to stay
live with guest rooms and restaurants
active during construction and the spa
was located right in the middle of the
hotel with no access to sight whatsoever
so I had to convince the hotel
management that it was a good idea for
us to break up open and massive hole and
the ballroom floor
were the Queen learn to dance the Queen
me a man with zero construction
experience I had to tell our client how
we were gonna break up open a massive
hole in the ballroom floor and put a 17
meter long beam Choni on top of it
I was terrified this project challenged
me like never before pushing me to the
limits I had to completely redefine past
competences while acquiring new ones on
that’s a blank that doesn’t happen with
robots sorry about this one in any case
when I come back to it and I know some
of you might say as Lauren said I’m
pretty young even super young as well
but your science told me how to put all
this together
by understanding how the brain works how
we learn we’re able to see life as a
game and just like in a game you have to
level up just like Mario eating
mushrooms to power up his abilities I’m
not telling you to eat rooms though
don’t get the message wrong
we’ll start in life from a specific
level of competences dependent on luck
and mental equity a learning tool box of
own from which we can pick and choose a
set of cognitive qualities specific to
the task at hand just like a
construction tool box where you have a
knife a hammer and a drill each item is
designed with a specific action in mind
when you learn how to use one you can
reuse it in a similar setting or adapt
it to a completely new situation combine
all together these tools enable you to
build a house or stop artificial
intelligence pushes us to revisit our
understanding of intelligence of what it
means to be human we all the miraculous
outcome of 3.8 billion years of
evolution the most advanced beings in
the known universe so if we are to avoid
this black mare dystopia which awaits we
must start looking at ourselves through
the lens of metacognition this concept
of transferability of competences across
different work configurations mesmerizes
me and i’m still contemplating the
immense beauty of reframing abilities to
contexts of altering intelligence with
intent and I think you should too each
one of us has their own personal tree of
competences deep in our mind lies a gold
mine of adaptable tools all we need to
do is learn to be human thank you
[Music]
they saw fall you