Are we being accessorised by artificial intelligence and technology?
Digital.
Science, technology, and AI are formed around a mathematical understanding of the world. Digital evolution and practices raise significant questions for life in the 2020s. These are issues shaping humanity. As we participate in 24/7 communication and contribute to global knowledge doubling daily, how can we gain wisdom and influence the path ahead?
Artificial Intelligence.
‘Data with AI are power’, providing an explosive interactive side to Science. The genie is out of the bottle, so where next? Continued integration of technology and digital technologies into human development is sure. The predictive capacity of AI and machine learning is growing in its accuracy and reach. Can they become independent of human control?
Their application to transhumanism and the bridge between inorganic and organic life is profound. Can we manage these changes & the implications of ‘Big Tech’, surveillance and algorithmic governance, whilst ‘doubling down’ as ethical humans?
Identity.
Humans are facing multiple levels of change. Moving from absolutes to relativism, from honour-based societies to the dignity of individualism. A ‘transhuman’ era has begun through advances in neuroscience and bio-engineering – cyborgs are for real. In tandem, despite hyper-connectivity, people are lonelier than ever. This maelstrom brings into question the trajectory of human identity and personhood.
Einstein said ‘love is the heartbeat’ of social beings who crave relationships. How do we reconcile the drive to be ‘fully human’, with a sense of common citizenship?
Research.
Science and technology have brought systematic change to civilisation over the last 200 years. Thought to be the panacea for human development in the 1950s, they observe and discover but cannot assign meaning. Questions of ‘what’ and ‘how’ within the universe need to sit alongside the ‘why’ of existence, forming a kind of competing and complementary peloton.
As research continues into every conceivable thing, pressures of time, cost and commercial influence are endangering objectivity. Ultimately are we asking the right questions?
