Putting human beings at the center of the 4th Industrial Revolution | Nicholas Davis | TEDxCarouge

Summary

The speaker at TEDx Carew's delves into the reciprocal relationship between humans and technology, emphasizing how we shape technology and how it, in turn, shapes us. They explore the emotional responses to advancements like Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot, discussing the potential for job displacement, societal division due to unequal access to technology, and the risk of losing human connection and depth. The talk concludes with a call to action, urging the audience to be politically engaged with technology, to remain authentically human, to empower themselves with tech knowledge, and to extend this empowerment to others, especially less privileged communities.

Takeaways

• 🤖 Technology shapes us as much as we shape it, creating a reciprocal relationship that influences our identities and societal structures.
• 🕊️ The speaker emphasizes the importance of retaining a sense of humanity amidst technological advancements, suggesting that our understanding of what it means to be human is in flux.
• 👽 There's a metaphorical 'alien' feeling for some in the audience, representing the feeling of being out of place in a rapidly advancing technological world.
• 🤹‍♂️ The speaker highlights the contrasting emotions elicited by technological feats, such as a robot performing a backflip, which include amazement, fear, and a sense of connection.
• 🧠 Self-awareness and the ability to reflect on our existence are presented as key characteristics that differentiate humans from other entities.
• 🏗️ Technology affects us in profound ways, from shaping our physical environments to altering our perceptions and experiences of the world.
• 📉 The fear of job redundancy due to automation is a significant concern, with studies suggesting a large percentage of jobs at risk, although the actual impact is up to us to decide.
• 🔄 The speaker discusses the potential for technology to divide society, with a focus on the digital divide and the social injustice of leaving people behind technologically.
• 🔍 There's an emphasis on the importance of understanding the broader systems that influence our relationship with technology, rather than focusing on individual technologies.
• 🗳️ Being politically engaged with technology is crucial, as it influences societal structures and our daily lives.
• 🌐 The speaker encourages empowerment through education and the opportunity to be on the technological frontier, as well as the responsibility to empower others, especially those less privileged.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the speaker's talk at TEDx Carew's?

The central theme is the reciprocal relationship between humans and technology, and how technology shapes us as much as we shape it.

How does the speaker suggest technology influences our identities?

The speaker suggests that technology influences our identities by focusing our attention, giving us power, and shaping the world around us.

What emotions does the speaker experience when watching a robot perform a backflip?

The speaker experiences embarrassment, amazement, fear, and a sense of connection or empathy.

What are the three ways technology affects us according to the speaker?

Technology affects us by focusing our attention, shaping the world around us, and enveloping ourselves in different ways through devices.

What are the three fears the speaker mentions regarding our relationship with technology?

The fears are becoming redundant, being separated from one another, and being flattened or unable to be the full rich people we want to be.

What does the speaker suggest about the future of jobs in relation to automation?

The speaker suggests that while automation may change tasks within occupations, it often removes undesirable work and can lead to increased job satisfaction.

How does the speaker address the issue of division caused by technology?

The speaker points out the digital divide, where billions of people lack access to the internet, clean water, sanitation, and electricity, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity in technological advancement.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of being political in the context of technology?

The speaker believes being political is crucial because technology has political implications, and we need to engage with how it influences us and the decisions shaping it.

What advice does the speaker give for individuals to empower themselves in the face of technological change?

The speaker advises individuals to educate themselves, particularly through online courses and learning coding languages like Python, to be on the frontier of technological advancements.

What role does the speaker see for the audience in the city of Geneva and the canton in relation to technology?

The speaker sees the audience as having the opportunity to be political, human, empowered, and as agents of empowerment for others, especially those less privileged, in the face of rapid technological change.

What does the speaker conclude about the essence of being human?

The speaker concludes that the essence of being human is our ability to love, share, express ourselves, be curious, and wonder, which is what makes us human.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 The Co-Creation of Humanity and Technology

The speaker initiates the discussion by addressing the audience, humorously identifying non-humans among them to highlight the theme of human-technology co-evolution. They emphasize the reciprocal influence between humans and technology, posing the central question of retaining our humanity amidst technological advancements. The speaker reflects on the rapid changes in human identity over time and the need to understand and control this process. The introduction of the Atlas robot by Boston Dynamics serves to illustrate the complex emotions technology can evoke, including amazement, fear, and a sense of connection. The philosophical underpinnings of what it means to be human are touched upon, suggesting that our humanity is defined by our self-awareness, culture, and our ability to create and use technology.

05:01

🌐 Technology's Impact on Human Identity and Society

This paragraph delves into the ways technology shapes our world and identities. The speaker discusses the concept of humans as cyborgs, enhanced by technology such as contact lenses, and criticizes the behavior of people who record concerts through their phone screens, suggesting it diminishes the shared experience. The paragraph outlines three societal fears related to technology: redundancy of human labor, division among people due to unequal access, and the flattening of human experience and potential. The speaker challenges common narratives around job displacement due to automation, citing studies that show increased job satisfaction and creative work as a result of technological advancements. The digital divide and the exclusion of billions from basic technological amenities underscore the need for inclusive technological development.

10:05

🔍 Navigating the Broader Implications of Technology

The speaker transitions to a broader systems perspective on technology, emphasizing the importance of understanding and influencing the direction of technological progress. They argue that technology is inherently political and that being apolitical is not an option if one wishes to have agency over the impact of technology on society. The paragraph calls for a reevaluation of educational priorities, investment incentives, and societal conversations around technology. The speaker encourages the audience to consider their roles in shaping the future of technology and to embrace the potential for positive change.

15:06

🌟 Empowerment and Responsibility in the Technological Age

In the final paragraph, the speaker outlines four roles or opportunities for the audience to engage with technology more consciously. They advocate for political engagement to influence technological development, for maintaining authentic human connections despite technological mediation, for self-empowerment through learning cutting-edge skills, and for the responsibility to empower others, especially those less privileged. The speaker concludes with a quote from the Smithsonian Institute's human origins exhibit, highlighting the essence of humanity as love, sharing, expression, curiosity, and wonder, and calls for a collective effort to preserve these qualities in our technologically evolving world.

Keywords

💡Inclusive

Inclusive refers to the act of including or involving all people or groups, often in a way that is equitable and non-discriminatory. In the video, the speaker starts by being 'inclusive,' asking who in the audience might feel like an 'alien' in the technological world, highlighting the importance of embracing diversity and ensuring everyone feels a part of the conversation.

💡Technology

Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. The video discusses how technology shapes human beings and how humans, in turn, create technology. It is a central theme, with the speaker questioning the relationship between humans and technology and how it evolves over time.

💡Human beings

Human beings are the focus of the video, with the speaker pondering on what it means to be human and how this definition changes with technological advancements. The script explores the idea that humans are not static but are constantly evolving, shaped by the technology they create and use.

💡Identity

Identity in the video refers to the sense of self or the personal characteristics that define someone. The speaker mentions that identities have changed due to technology, suggesting that as we create and interact with technology, it influences who we are and how we perceive ourselves.

💡Alien

In the context of the video, 'alien' is used metaphorically to describe individuals who feel out of place or disconnected in the modern technological world. The speaker uses this term to initiate a discussion about inclusivity and the diverse experiences people have with technology.

💡Backflip

The backflip is used as a metaphor in the video to illustrate the impressive capabilities of technology, specifically referencing the Boston Dynamics robot Atlas. The speaker's emotions upon watching the robot perform a backflip reflect the complex relationship humans have with technological advancements.

💡Cyborg

A cyborg, short for cybernetic organism, is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. In the script, the speaker humorously refers to people who use technology to enhance their experience, like contact lenses, and criticizes those who use their phones to record concerts, thus distancing themselves from the live experience.

💡Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. The speaker mentions feeling a sense of connection and empathy towards a robot when it falls, suggesting that our emotional responses to technology are complex and can mirror those we have towards other living beings.

💡Humanity

Humanity in the video is a broad concept that encompasses the qualities that define us as human. The speaker poses the question of retaining and deepening our sense of humanity over time, indicating a concern for preserving essential human qualities amidst technological change.

💡Philosophical

Philosophical in this context refers to the contemplation or exploration of fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, and the human condition. The speaker mentions philosophical answers to the question of what it means to be human, indicating a deep, reflective approach to understanding our relationship with technology.

💡Technology Politics

Technology Politics refers to the idea that the tools and systems we create have political implications and can influence power dynamics. The speaker cites Langdon Winner's concept that 'artifacts have politics,' suggesting that technology is not neutral and can shape societal structures and values.

💡Jobs

Jobs in the video are discussed in the context of automation and the future of work. The speaker references statistics about job displacement due to technology, emphasizing the importance of understanding how technological advancements impact employment and the need for a proactive approach to managing these changes.

💡Division

Division in the script refers to the potential for technology to create or exacerbate social and economic divides. The speaker raises concerns about inequality and the digital divide, where some people have access to technology while others do not, highlighting the need for inclusive technological development.

💡Empowering

Empowering in the video is about giving people the ability to take control and make meaningful use of technology. The speaker encourages the audience to empower themselves and others, suggesting that education and access to knowledge can help bridge gaps and create a more inclusive technological landscape.

💡Systems View

A systems view involves understanding the relationships and interactions between different components of a complex whole. The speaker advocates for a systems approach to technology, emphasizing the need to consider the broader implications and interconnectedness of technological advancements.

Highlights

The speaker starts with an inclusive question about who in the audience feels like an alien in today's technological world.

The central theme is the reciprocal relationship between humans and technology: how we create technology and how it shapes us in return.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the evolution of human identity in the context of technological advancements.

The question of how to retain and deepen our sense of humanity in the face of technological change is posed.

The speaker discusses the emotional reactions to advanced robotics, such as the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot doing a backflip.

The idea that technology reflects different aspects of ourselves and our society is explored.

Philosophical definitions of what it means to be human are mentioned, including self-awareness and culture.

The impact of technology on our daily lives, such as how it shapes our perception and interactions, is highlighted.

The speaker critiques the behavior of 'cyborgs' who use technology to disconnect from the present moment, such as recording concerts on their phones.

Three fears related to technology are presented: redundancy, division, and being flattened out.

The potential for technology to create job redundancy is discussed, with a focus on the importance of the tasks within occupations rather than the jobs themselves.

The issue of technological division and inequality is addressed, pointing out those left out of technological advancements.

The concern of being flattened by technology, losing the ability to be bored or have authentic conversations, is raised.

The speaker calls for a systems view of technology, focusing on education, investment incentives, and priorities.

Four opportunities for action are suggested: being political, being human, empowering oneself, and empowering others.

The speaker concludes with a quote from the Smithsonian Institute's human origins exhibit, emphasizing the essence of being human.

Transcripts

I guess I just want to start by being a

little bit inclusive and asking who here

in the audience is not a human who's an

alien at a human pride event tonight

it's a couple of down the front thank

you who feels like an alien in today's

technological world on occasion ok a

little bit more so I want to start with

this slide because this is what we're

talking about we're talking about this

idea of how we as human beings create

technology but how technology creates us

in return

so that's the kind of key message that I

want to hammer on as to be honored as

the opening speaker for TEDx Carew's and

in particular I want you to kind of

think in the different ways in which you

are creating technology and your

identities have changed because for

those of you who are alien in the

audience if you visited a thousand years

ago the human beings you would have

encountered would have been completely

different

to those who you're going to meet

tonight and if you come back in ten

years will be completely different again

and the process of how that happens

and what control we have about this

process is I think one of the essential

questions of our rage today so this is

the main question that I'd like to pose

how can we ensure not that we stay human

human beings are always in flux but that

we can retain and deepen our sense of

what it means to be human over time and

there's a really interesting question

here about why I proudly human right now

if this is a process that's been

happening over millennia what are we

worried about

so tell me if you've seen this video

around a robot doing a back flip Boston

Dynamics latest robot it's called the

Atlas it's absolutely phenomenal when I

watch these kinds of videos I have four

or three or four really really

contrasting emotions going on at each

point in time one of them is

embarrassment that I can't

do a backflip another one is absolute

amazement at the ingenuity of the lab in

Boston that manages to combine biologic

and biological physics with materials

with artificial intelligence to do this

a third is fear fear that someday I

could be out there protesting and rather

than dehumanize people with riot shields

these could be on the other side in a

security or military context and the

fourth fourth concern offer forth

emotion I have is a curious sense of

connection particularly when you watch

the robot fall this empathy with again

the fal ability of this completely

created thing and I guess as I want you

to keep in mind this idea of when we

look at technology we're looking at

ourselves in different ways and this is

happening more and more every day so

what do we want to see and how can we

understand it if we ask ourselves what

it means to be human

this is not a new question right not

only can you find many Ted videos on

this topic but philosophers have been

asking this question for thousands of

years human beings have been asking and

one philosophical answer to this

question is humans of humans because we

can ask the question we can reflect on

ourselves we have self-awareness in

different ways another one is that

humans are humans because we have

culture because we are positioned in

different ways because we are bodily

beings we have a certain biology or

because we create institutions and we

engage in the world in a very particular

way but this is probably one of the

closest things we can think about when

we say what it means to be human

when archaeologists look in the fossil

record for when a human existed they

look for this and by the way this idea

of humans as technological beings as

being created this is something that we

in might the work that I do every day

talk about constantly and the ideas here

of framing the technological human have

really been inspired by someone who's in

the audience tonight Tom Philbeck but

also many colleagues who are starting to

bring to bear in the public

consciousness ideas that have been in

social science for many years but were

only just realizing how important they

to our daily lives there are three ways

in which technology really affects us at

least let me just give you these first

three the first one will be familiar to

any of you who have ever heard the

phrase to a person with a hammer

everything looks like a nail the objects

we create focus our attention they give

us power and we use that power as

Langdon winner said artifacts have

politics that may not look super

political to you replace it with a gun

or an atom bomb and it immediately

becomes incredibly political tools and

Technology affects us because we use it

to shape the world around us look at

this space we're in or think of the

Gothic cathedral to people entering a

Gothic cathedral a thousand years ago or

800 years ago they could not speak the

language of the institution they were

entering but they were nevertheless

immediately informed what it means to be

a human in that space and modern

technology today means we literally see

through technology I see through

technology I have contact lenses in

today which means my experience of the

world is dramatically different than it

would be otherwise so I'm a cyborg in

that respect but now we have the

opportunity to envelop ourselves in

different ways and the most annoying

cyborgs today are these people okay the

people who put their hands up and their

mobile phones at concerts and record the

concert so even if you're tall like me

and you feel like you have a natural

advantage in watching people it's now

removed by the fact that everyone's

looking through the screen don't do that

please don't be that kind of cyborg it's

not the best type of cyborg but this is

happening more and more we're literally

viewing the world through our devices

why is this a problem

let me give you three fears that we have

today number one are we becoming

redundant after millennia of using and

creating tools and we had a turning

point where we no longer needed in some

sense or is it actually more about

division are we scared of being

separated from one another through

technology or third are we being

squashed flattened out are we being

distributed and pulled too much in a way

that means that we can't be

the full rich people that we want to be

or that we think we should be so let me

just quickly delve into each of those

the question of jobs the future of jobs

I won't go in to the data except to say

I don't believe most of it because it's

up to us to decide today

how we want humans and machines to

relate but the scary figures are out

there from my friend Mike Osborne 47

percent of US jobs at risk from work

from Bruegel up to 60 percent of

European jobs are at risk

let's just focus on the fact that in all

of history

this has always been happening and it's

actually not the jobs that disappear

it's the tasks within occupations that

change dramatically and the second thing

to say here is there's great evidence

from Australian studies recently that

automation normally act takes away that

the work you don't want to do and

Australian workers in the last 15 years

alone have gained more than two hours a

week a substantial amount of time in

interpersonal work in creative work in

information synthesis work which is all

highly correlated with increasing job

satisfaction so the question is what

kind of stories can we tell each other

to make that keep going as opposed to a

CEO announcing they're laying off 20

percent of their workforce in advance of

automation just because they're worried

and we need to get the story straight

because just in May this year these are

three different takes on the same set of

data robots are going to take all our

jobs actually robots are not going to

take all of our jobs or my favorite The

Wall Street Journal robots aren't taking

enough of their jobs

the second big issue here is really

around this question of division it's

this idea that somehow the world is not

only becoming more unequal but the

technology is driving it this is turqu

Avera a fantastic Brazilian photographer

famous photo of his of a slum in New

Buenos Aires quit Paris operas it really

illustrates this idea that the built

environment is already dividing us but

what about the point when we talk about

emerging technologies that we have 4.1

billion people around the world that

don't have access to the inter

yet 2.4 billion without access to water

and sanitation 1.2 billion without

access to energy to electricity and

almost 600 million smallholder farmers

who haven't even gone through the first

Industrial Revolution the greatest

social injustice of any technological

revolution is those who are left out so

let's keep that in mind as we move

forward and understanding where what the

system is where we want them to take us

and this galaxy image also in honor of

Tom in the audience is to show that

we're being flattened and if you're

interested in this topic look at sherry

turkle's videos on Ted or the books that

she's written but there are three big

concerns who's in control of our

attention today when we work through

digital networks when we see the world

through the devices we carry what

happens when we lose the ability to be

bored or to have conversation and if we

don't understand each other how can we

be like Confucius and the philosophical

kind of history truly reflective and

understanding ourselves as human beings

what might we lose all of this is not

about individual technologies it's not

going to be solved by saying platform

designer why you should redesign your

front page to look like this or robotics

designer X you should build a robot that

does y&z because all of this is part of

a broader system and when we zoom out

and think about the relationship of

humans and technologies we have to pay

attention to these things who and how

are we educating around technology and

more broadly what are the incentives for

investment in different types of

technologies what are our priorities

what conversations do we do we want to

have should we be having so taking this

systems view should it mean that we all

sit here and say oh gosh this is a

really hard problem if we want to change

our relationship to technology to be

more inclusive we need to change

everything from tax from social

relationships it's true but it's also

incredibly empowering

because if we are really now as I

believe on a cusp of an entirely new set

of

amazing empowering technologies the

question is what do we want to make what

does this next system look like and

what's our role so let me finish by

giving you four roles for opportunities

for you here in the city of courage in

the canton of geneva

in your organization's can grasp to

start to focus more on this topic and

make it very conscious but hopefully

also to take us all to a far better and

more inclusive space number one be

political

if technologies are political you cannot

afford to not be political okay it

doesn't mean you have to go left or

right it means you have to engage with

the fact that we are being influenced by

the things that are created and if we

don't have power over those decisions at

the end of the day we are entirely at

the mercy of those designing and

investing in those systems so get

political like the revolutionaries here

in 1847 in Geneva and have the

conversations ask the questions what do

we really want and how do we influence

to get there the second question is at

the other end of the spectrum be human

the anciently human stop as I am tempted

to do stop taking photos of your kids

and be with your kids think about the

fact that if you put a mobile phone on a

table between the two of you that

changes a conversation it changes your

memory of a conversation and your sense

of connection with them be as human and

find the points in time where technology

can bring that more to you the third

option

our third opportunity is to empower

yourself and this is a World Economic

Forum young global leader called Jeremy

Howard jeremy has an online course in

deep learning where if you have about a

year's worth of coding experience in

some of the very accessible coding

languages like Python you can apply the

latest deep learning techniques

available open source today a were

literally a world-class level so if you

are privileged enough to sit in this

room have access to the Internet know

about Ted videos know about the way that

you can engage

in online learning taking this

opportunity to actually say right now

it's still the opportunity for me to be

on the frontier myself that's something

that I would urge all of us to do and

I'm a lawyer currently going through

this deep learning course and it is mind

blowing the final thing is if we live at

a point in time where the systems of

technology are changing so rapidly the

rules are being written we have an

absolute responsibility to engage in

empowering others our revolutionary is

not a revolutionary just for themselves

or for their family they're a

revolutionary for a broader sense of

community and ideal for future

generations and so to think about the

way that here in Geneva connecting with

others in Carew's connecting across the

international organizations the business

community civil society all the

different parts of the innovation

ecosystem here that make Geneva so

unique that means that you can then

connect with people all over the world

communities who are in a far less

privileged position than us to bring the

same sense of empowerment and the same

sense of opportunities over time and I

want to finish then with a quote from

the Smithsonian Institutes human origins

origins exhibit so starting in about

2011 the Smithsonian had this idea of

looking back in time and asking the

question what is human through the the

artifacts of that we've created over

time and more than 10,000 people put

ideas our answers to the question what

does it mean to be human I love this one

this is just a random from the first

page of about you know a thousand pages

but it says to love to share to express

ourselves to be curious and to wonder

the exact question what does it mean to

be human that's what makes us human so

if you're an alien today or you feel

like an alien this is what to look out

for with one another and also this is

what I really hope that we can do

together here in Courage here in part of

the the TEDx and Ted

and thank you so much for giving me the

chance to raise these issues raised

these questions I look forward to B to

being proudly human with all of you

thank you

you