1 00:00:04,466 --> 00:00:09,500 Ari Wallach: What I find so fascinating about being human 2 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:14,833 is that every generation kind of starts from zero. 3 00:00:14,833 --> 00:00:17,000 Almost every other animal can pretty much 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,700 stand up within a few seconds, 5 00:00:18,700 --> 00:00:21,133 and they can kind of make it on their own. 6 00:00:21,133 --> 00:00:23,700 We can't. 7 00:00:23,700 --> 00:00:27,866 So to be human means from the very first several seconds 8 00:00:27,866 --> 00:00:30,300 to be dependent and to be in relationship 9 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:34,000 with other humans for not just our basic needs 10 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,466 but all of our needs. 11 00:00:36,466 --> 00:00:40,233 To be human means to be in a social context. 12 00:00:40,233 --> 00:00:42,733 It means to be in relationship with others, 13 00:00:42,733 --> 00:00:45,566 in relationship with yourself. 14 00:00:45,566 --> 00:00:48,166 But our world as it's built right now 15 00:00:48,166 --> 00:00:49,866 doesn't drive us towards that. 16 00:00:49,866 --> 00:00:53,566 If anything, it actually drives us further apart. 17 00:00:53,566 --> 00:00:55,666 We set up offices with cubes 18 00:00:55,666 --> 00:00:58,566 where people actually don't see each other. 19 00:00:58,566 --> 00:01:01,766 We have these single-family homes. 20 00:01:01,766 --> 00:01:04,866 And then we take our youth and we send them 21 00:01:04,866 --> 00:01:07,400 for most of the day to one building. 22 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:09,766 And then we take our grandparents and our seniors, 23 00:01:09,766 --> 00:01:12,100 and we send them off to another building. 24 00:01:12,100 --> 00:01:15,566 While we know what led to kind of flourishing and happiness 25 00:01:15,566 --> 00:01:17,900 for tens of thousands of years, in many ways, 26 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:20,433 we're doing the exact opposite. 27 00:01:20,433 --> 00:01:22,033 At the end of the day, 28 00:01:22,033 --> 00:01:25,233 we are now realizing that this hardware that 29 00:01:25,233 --> 00:01:29,366 is the human, kind of, biological being 30 00:01:29,366 --> 00:01:32,733 is now operating in an environment, in a context, 31 00:01:32,733 --> 00:01:35,400 both in terms of politics, in terms of technology, 32 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,466 just in terms of the pace of the world 33 00:01:38,466 --> 00:01:40,366 that it just wasn't made for. 34 00:01:40,366 --> 00:01:43,066 And we're starting to actually step back and say, 35 00:01:43,066 --> 00:01:46,100 "Is this actually the way I want to be human?" 36 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:49,133 [Grimes' "Oblivion" playing] 37 00:01:49,133 --> 00:02:11,366 ♪ 38 00:02:11,366 --> 00:02:15,100 Grimes: ♪ I never walk about after dark ♪ 39 00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:17,933 ♪ It's my point of view ♪ 40 00:02:17,933 --> 00:02:19,833 ♪ 'Cause someone could break your neck ♪ 41 00:02:19,833 --> 00:02:21,933 ♪ Coming up behind you, always coming ♪ 42 00:02:21,933 --> 00:02:23,600 ♪ And you'd never have a clue ♪ 43 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,766 ♪ I never look behind all the time ♪ 44 00:02:27,766 --> 00:02:30,200 ♪ I will wait forever ♪ 45 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,333 ♪ Always looking straight ♪ 46 00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:36,300 ♪ Thinking, counting all the hours you wait ♪ 47 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:44,933 [music] 48 00:02:44,933 --> 00:02:46,966 Wallach: The modern moment we're living in 49 00:02:46,966 --> 00:02:49,500 and the rapidly changing world around us 50 00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:52,333 is forcing us to ask some new and needed questions 51 00:02:52,333 --> 00:02:53,933 about what it means to be human. 52 00:02:53,933 --> 00:02:57,033 As my journey continues, I've been thinking a lot 53 00:02:57,033 --> 00:02:59,333 about the role of Homo sapiens 54 00:02:59,333 --> 00:03:02,000 right now and in the years to come. 55 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,233 How is technology changing us? 56 00:03:04,233 --> 00:03:06,900 Can we evolve past our worst tendencies? 57 00:03:06,900 --> 00:03:09,400 And is there something sacred about who we are 58 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,000 that goes beyond just what we can achieve? 59 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,700 These questions have big implications 60 00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:16,900 for the kind of futures we choose to create, 61 00:03:16,900 --> 00:03:19,866 so today I've come to spend time with a group of people 62 00:03:19,866 --> 00:03:22,366 living together in a retirement community 63 00:03:22,366 --> 00:03:25,666 to hear a perspective that only age can provide. 64 00:03:25,666 --> 00:03:28,866 So I just want to start off by just asking anyone, 65 00:03:28,866 --> 00:03:31,666 What does it mean to be human at this moment in time? 66 00:03:31,666 --> 00:03:34,266 Resident: In this day and age where we live, 67 00:03:34,266 --> 00:03:37,433 in a 55 and older community, we are being human, 68 00:03:37,433 --> 00:03:39,233 because we take care of one another. 69 00:03:39,233 --> 00:03:40,900 We look out for one another. 70 00:03:40,900 --> 00:03:44,866 For me, I think being human is knowing that I'm imperfect 71 00:03:44,866 --> 00:03:48,266 and that the people around me are imperfect, 72 00:03:48,266 --> 00:03:52,700 and that I don't have to look for perfection in others. 73 00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:54,500 Different resident: From a spiritual point of view, 74 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:58,366 being a human is to learn a lesson in this world. 75 00:03:58,366 --> 00:04:01,666 Because we are now in a physical form 76 00:04:01,666 --> 00:04:04,800 and because a spirit could be reincarnated. 77 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,733 So here, I am learning everything that I can. 78 00:04:08,733 --> 00:04:10,333 Different resident: We want to be heard. 79 00:04:10,333 --> 00:04:12,566 We want to be seen. We want to be loved. 80 00:04:12,566 --> 00:04:14,333 We want to find someone that can really-- 81 00:04:14,333 --> 00:04:17,500 we can connect with, that can bring that true happiness 82 00:04:17,500 --> 00:04:18,966 to life for us. 83 00:04:18,966 --> 00:04:20,666 Being human is a lot of things to me. 84 00:04:20,666 --> 00:04:22,466 When I was younger, as someone else pointed out, 85 00:04:22,466 --> 00:04:24,166 it was different. 86 00:04:24,166 --> 00:04:27,266 It was moving forward in this very tunnel vision of life-- 87 00:04:27,266 --> 00:04:31,166 raising children, doing a job, doing everything else. 88 00:04:31,166 --> 00:04:33,133 I'm able to take that experience, though, 89 00:04:33,133 --> 00:04:35,133 and share it with grandchildren that I have 90 00:04:35,133 --> 00:04:36,933 that are in their 20s and 30s, 91 00:04:36,933 --> 00:04:39,633 and saying, These are the things to look forward to me. 92 00:04:39,633 --> 00:04:43,566 So being human means being compassionate, having empathy. 93 00:04:43,566 --> 00:04:48,400 How would you have answered that several decades ago? 94 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,400 I think in the past, it was all about sacrifice. 95 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,633 You sacrificed for your children. 96 00:04:54,633 --> 00:04:58,333 You sacrificed part of your own self 97 00:04:58,333 --> 00:05:03,366 to build worth so that you can have freedom later on in life. 98 00:05:03,366 --> 00:05:06,733 Different resident: I also think that years ago as a young mother 99 00:05:06,733 --> 00:05:10,333 and homemaker, my focuses were so narrow. 100 00:05:10,333 --> 00:05:12,566 It was home. It was work. It was children. 101 00:05:12,566 --> 00:05:17,033 And now today, my focus is so widened. 102 00:05:17,033 --> 00:05:18,866 It's like a freedom. 103 00:05:18,866 --> 00:05:22,900 I think about my spirituality and how I can broaden that, 104 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:26,733 what I can teach someone else, particularly my grandchildren 105 00:05:26,733 --> 00:05:28,700 and young people, and it's joyous. 106 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:30,666 Different resident: A decade ago, it was a blur. 107 00:05:30,666 --> 00:05:32,133 Wallach: Mm-hmm. 108 00:05:32,133 --> 00:05:33,666 It was just too fast. 109 00:05:33,666 --> 00:05:36,733 There was no time to reflect. Now there is. 110 00:05:36,733 --> 00:05:38,966 Residents: Mm-hmm. 111 00:05:43,066 --> 00:05:45,033 Wallach: So what we know about the conditions 112 00:05:45,033 --> 00:05:48,666 that lead us either to our best or worst as human beings 113 00:05:48,666 --> 00:05:51,033 really is situational. 114 00:05:51,033 --> 00:05:52,533 Humans at their best, 115 00:05:52,533 --> 00:05:55,033 humans at their most kind of benevolent, 116 00:05:55,033 --> 00:05:58,233 have been humans that have been in a set of conditions 117 00:05:58,233 --> 00:06:02,100 where they have felt cared for, where they have felt safe, 118 00:06:02,100 --> 00:06:04,700 and where they have had a sense of security 119 00:06:04,700 --> 00:06:07,766 not just about the present moment but what is to come. 120 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,466 Now, that's obviously gonna beg the question about right now, 121 00:06:12,466 --> 00:06:15,700 because in this kind of crossroads moment that we're in, 122 00:06:15,700 --> 00:06:17,633 a lot of us don't feel safe. 123 00:06:17,633 --> 00:06:20,433 We don't feel secure, whether it's climate change, 124 00:06:20,433 --> 00:06:23,033 racial injustice, or the headlines 125 00:06:23,033 --> 00:06:24,933 around what artificial intelligence is doing, 126 00:06:24,933 --> 00:06:26,966 coming for our jobs. 127 00:06:28,366 --> 00:06:31,100 We're kind of moving into a fear stance. 128 00:06:32,633 --> 00:06:36,566 Man: What I think we're struggling with right now 129 00:06:36,566 --> 00:06:39,933 is trying to retrieve what it means to be human 130 00:06:39,933 --> 00:06:43,266 in a digital age. 131 00:06:43,266 --> 00:06:45,533 We know something's wrong. 132 00:06:45,533 --> 00:06:48,100 Film narrator: The story you're going to see and hear 133 00:06:48,100 --> 00:06:49,766 is about science. 134 00:06:49,766 --> 00:06:53,033 It is also a story about you. 135 00:06:55,100 --> 00:06:58,266 Woman: One interesting question to ask right now-- 136 00:06:58,266 --> 00:07:00,700 What does it mean to be human? 137 00:07:00,700 --> 00:07:03,766 And I think it's good to ask that question 138 00:07:03,766 --> 00:07:07,333 because what it meant to be human 139 00:07:07,333 --> 00:07:10,500 may be different going forward. 140 00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:13,100 Douglas Rushkoff: Back when I was a little hacker kid, 141 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,366 there was something we called an exploit. 142 00:07:15,366 --> 00:07:18,433 And that was, when you were hacking, 143 00:07:18,433 --> 00:07:20,833 you would find an exploit in the computer 144 00:07:20,833 --> 00:07:22,766 so that you could get in there and, like, 145 00:07:22,766 --> 00:07:24,666 control the thermostat at the mall, right, 146 00:07:24,666 --> 00:07:26,800 or change your grades in school. 147 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,000 What we're doing now is telling our computers 148 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,933 and digital technologies and AIs and algorithms 149 00:07:33,933 --> 00:07:37,766 to find exploits in us-- 150 00:07:37,766 --> 00:07:39,100 exploits in our psychology, 151 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:41,766 exploits in our emotional fabric, 152 00:07:41,766 --> 00:07:43,333 exploits in our neurology-- 153 00:07:43,333 --> 00:07:46,600 and to mine them for whatever purposes 154 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,933 they deem are important to them. 155 00:07:49,933 --> 00:07:51,466 So when we are living 156 00:07:51,466 --> 00:07:54,700 in a landscape increasingly populated by 157 00:07:54,700 --> 00:07:58,633 entities that are trying to exploit us, to destabilize us, 158 00:07:58,633 --> 00:08:02,166 to decalibrate our neurology and psychology, 159 00:08:02,166 --> 00:08:09,000 we are going to end up emotionally unstable 160 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,500 and cognitively compromised. 161 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:15,500 Amy Webb: There are startups. 162 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:18,533 There are established companies that are working very hard 163 00:08:18,533 --> 00:08:25,233 right now to bring machines and humans together in new ways. 164 00:08:25,233 --> 00:08:29,700 We have tools that could transform humanity. 165 00:08:29,700 --> 00:08:32,233 And we need to really think through 166 00:08:32,233 --> 00:08:34,200 how we're gonna deploy them. 167 00:08:36,500 --> 00:08:38,666 Wallach: These new tools are fascinating 168 00:08:38,666 --> 00:08:41,900 and full of incredible potential to improve our lives, 169 00:08:41,900 --> 00:08:44,100 but they also raise all sorts of questions 170 00:08:44,100 --> 00:08:46,566 about the impacts and unintended consequences 171 00:08:46,566 --> 00:08:48,700 they will bring. 172 00:08:48,700 --> 00:08:51,333 What does it mean to add on to our biology? 173 00:08:51,333 --> 00:08:54,900 And what are the implications to who and what we are? 174 00:08:54,900 --> 00:08:56,833 I've come to Cambridge University, 175 00:08:56,833 --> 00:08:59,600 where an augmentation designer named Dani Clode 176 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,266 is working on a project called the Third Thumb, 177 00:09:02,266 --> 00:09:06,133 a 3-D-printed hand extension controlled by the feet, 178 00:09:06,133 --> 00:09:10,066 exploring the impacts of body-connected technology. 179 00:09:10,066 --> 00:09:13,500 So this is my thumb. 180 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:17,900 So this is controlled with my toes. 181 00:09:17,900 --> 00:09:20,766 So there's pressure sensors underneath my big toes. 182 00:09:20,766 --> 00:09:23,000 And I'm controlling the two degrees of freedom. 183 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,966 It seems kind of bizarre to be controlling 184 00:09:24,966 --> 00:09:27,100 something on my hand with my toes, 185 00:09:27,100 --> 00:09:30,233 but there's also so many products that-- 186 00:09:30,233 --> 00:09:32,600 already utilize this really strong connection 187 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,466 between our upper and lower limbs. 188 00:09:34,466 --> 00:09:36,066 And often it's to extend the task 189 00:09:36,066 --> 00:09:37,533 that our hands are doing. 190 00:09:37,533 --> 00:09:39,166 Driving is the main one. 191 00:09:39,166 --> 00:09:40,766 Instruments, sewing machines. 192 00:09:40,766 --> 00:09:44,166 It's very frequent that we'll kind of, you know, 193 00:09:44,166 --> 00:09:48,800 lean on the toes to extend the function of the hands. 194 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:50,333 It does freak me out a little bit. 195 00:09:50,333 --> 00:09:52,633 Yeah, does it? It's a normal first response. 196 00:09:52,633 --> 00:09:55,466 Is it? Is it? I mean, what is that coming-- 197 00:09:55,466 --> 00:09:59,400 like, deep down, what is it that folks are responding to 198 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,800 when they see--it's one thing to talk about 199 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:03,766 something like this theoretically. 200 00:10:03,766 --> 00:10:06,600 It's another thing to be talking to another human 201 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:08,133 with six fingers. 202 00:10:08,133 --> 00:10:10,100 It's really important that I find that line 203 00:10:10,100 --> 00:10:12,466 and don't try to cross it too much 204 00:10:12,466 --> 00:10:14,333 in terms of the weirdness. 205 00:10:14,333 --> 00:10:16,000 Because I want it to be accepted. 206 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,633 You know, I want it to be something that 207 00:10:17,633 --> 00:10:20,000 people are intrigued about trying on. 208 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,266 Hesitant but intrigued is my sweet spot, 209 00:10:23,266 --> 00:10:25,666 and so not scared. 210 00:10:25,666 --> 00:10:27,400 So, yeah. 211 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,733 So this is what is going underneath your foot. 212 00:10:30,733 --> 00:10:32,800 The main control is 213 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,500 the dominant kind of flexion control. 214 00:10:36,500 --> 00:10:40,300 And it sits just on your palm there. 215 00:10:45,466 --> 00:10:47,800 So we usually do-- so the dominant movement, 216 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:49,766 which is flexion/extension of our thumb. 217 00:10:49,766 --> 00:10:52,100 So this is flexion, extension and adduction and abduction. 218 00:10:52,100 --> 00:10:53,833 So that's where the 2 degrees of freedom of the thumb 219 00:10:53,833 --> 00:10:55,166 that I focus on. 220 00:10:55,166 --> 00:10:56,766 I want to see if I can-- 221 00:10:56,766 --> 00:10:58,900 Yeah. You're doing good for your first kind of minute. 222 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:00,300 [laughs] 223 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:01,866 What you probably notice is that straight away, 224 00:11:01,866 --> 00:11:04,700 it's quite easy to do the big, full movements... 225 00:11:04,700 --> 00:11:06,300 Yeah. really quickly. 226 00:11:06,300 --> 00:11:08,866 And then it's, what you start to learn across the week, 227 00:11:08,866 --> 00:11:10,400 if you were a participant, 228 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,033 is there's really smaller, finer motor movements. 229 00:11:13,033 --> 00:11:15,133 And that's when kind of calibrating the sensors 230 00:11:15,133 --> 00:11:18,066 to your feet and stuff would really help. 231 00:11:18,066 --> 00:11:19,733 It's already changing the way that you 232 00:11:19,733 --> 00:11:22,700 are considering approaching an object. 233 00:11:22,700 --> 00:11:25,066 Yeah. There we go. 234 00:11:25,066 --> 00:11:26,500 [laughs] 235 00:11:26,500 --> 00:11:28,466 Have to keep the pressure on it. 236 00:11:28,466 --> 00:11:30,033 Yeah. 237 00:11:30,033 --> 00:11:33,066 I mean, but just--I mean, look, I'm a minute into it. 238 00:11:33,066 --> 00:11:34,533 But then the ability to-- 239 00:11:34,533 --> 00:11:36,000 Yeah. 240 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,366 There we go. 241 00:11:37,366 --> 00:11:38,666 I'm not as scared anymore. 242 00:11:38,666 --> 00:11:41,233 [laughs] I'm so glad. 243 00:11:42,733 --> 00:11:44,833 Wallach, voice-over: Dani's project is designed to be 244 00:11:44,833 --> 00:11:48,133 a fun and thought-provoking experience, 245 00:11:48,133 --> 00:11:50,733 but it sits inside of a rapidly-accelerating new field 246 00:11:50,733 --> 00:11:53,566 known as human augmentation, 247 00:11:53,566 --> 00:11:55,733 where designers around the world 248 00:11:55,733 --> 00:11:58,300 are working on ways to increase and expand 249 00:11:58,300 --> 00:12:01,533 our bodies' natural capacities. 250 00:12:01,533 --> 00:12:05,133 And as simple as it seems to play with a third thumb, 251 00:12:05,133 --> 00:12:07,800 what she is really doing is using this as a way 252 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,066 to learn about how our brains respond 253 00:12:10,066 --> 00:12:13,066 to tools outside our biological bodies. 254 00:12:13,066 --> 00:12:14,933 How does this change the definition of human? 255 00:12:14,933 --> 00:12:16,966 Because when we often think of the term human... 256 00:12:16,966 --> 00:12:17,966 Yeah. 257 00:12:17,966 --> 00:12:20,533 we think of... 258 00:12:20,533 --> 00:12:22,466 the very kind of classic Homo sapiens hardware set. 259 00:12:22,466 --> 00:12:23,933 But you're talking about 260 00:12:23,933 --> 00:12:25,533 something dramatically different. 261 00:12:25,533 --> 00:12:26,766 Yeah. 262 00:12:26,766 --> 00:12:28,566 How will that change how we think about 263 00:12:28,566 --> 00:12:30,433 what it means to be human? 264 00:12:30,433 --> 00:12:32,933 I mean, I think we're already playing around 265 00:12:32,933 --> 00:12:34,966 with what it means to be human. 266 00:12:34,966 --> 00:12:36,933 We're adapting ourselves already 267 00:12:36,933 --> 00:12:39,400 so much technologically, you know? 268 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,533 And even something as, like, simple and complex 269 00:12:42,533 --> 00:12:45,133 as memory with our phones, you know, 270 00:12:45,133 --> 00:12:47,400 we're already changing the way, you know, 271 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:48,966 we utilize our memory. 272 00:12:48,966 --> 00:12:50,566 I don't know if you can remember phone numbers, 273 00:12:50,566 --> 00:12:51,766 but I used to remember 274 00:12:51,766 --> 00:12:53,266 all my best friends' phone numbers. 275 00:12:53,266 --> 00:12:54,900 And now, I can barely remember my own. 276 00:12:54,900 --> 00:12:56,933 We're already shifting ourselves so much. 277 00:12:56,933 --> 00:12:59,433 And so when you start to kind of change the way 278 00:12:59,433 --> 00:13:01,366 we embody this technology 279 00:13:01,366 --> 00:13:03,466 that's implanted or removable or wearable, 280 00:13:03,466 --> 00:13:06,166 the human is gonna not stop at the skin level. 281 00:13:06,166 --> 00:13:09,633 What we're talking about isn't slowing down. 282 00:13:09,633 --> 00:13:12,000 It's just speeding up. 283 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,800 What are the questions that you're asking yourself 284 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,266 about where this might go, where this should go, 285 00:13:19,266 --> 00:13:20,933 where this could go? 286 00:13:20,933 --> 00:13:24,833 I'm so excited for how much it's gonna help people, 287 00:13:24,833 --> 00:13:26,466 but we also just have to-- 288 00:13:26,466 --> 00:13:28,833 I feel like we just have to move at this equal pace 289 00:13:28,833 --> 00:13:30,866 of questioning it constantly. 290 00:13:30,866 --> 00:13:32,500 And I feel like a lot of people that 291 00:13:32,500 --> 00:13:34,333 are developing this kind of technology 292 00:13:34,333 --> 00:13:36,133 aren't really truly thinking 293 00:13:36,133 --> 00:13:38,933 about the impact on our biological selves. 294 00:13:38,933 --> 00:13:40,433 Because it's technology, right? 295 00:13:40,433 --> 00:13:42,000 So we just kind of like, go, go, go, go, go 296 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:43,466 as fast as possible. 297 00:13:43,466 --> 00:13:45,966 And make it efficient, make it--you know. 298 00:13:45,966 --> 00:13:49,000 And where ability is even not included as much, 299 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,700 let's just make it work. 300 00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:52,633 And then we'll work out everything else later. 301 00:13:52,633 --> 00:13:55,833 And so we really just need to be cautious of that. 302 00:13:55,833 --> 00:13:58,500 Wallach, voice-over: What's striking about this field 303 00:13:58,500 --> 00:14:00,333 is how little is currently known about 304 00:14:00,333 --> 00:14:03,033 how our brains will respond to these new tools. 305 00:14:03,033 --> 00:14:05,233 And that's what Dani is calling for, 306 00:14:05,233 --> 00:14:07,933 a lot more study into the effects and consequences 307 00:14:07,933 --> 00:14:11,066 as new products and designs continue to roll out. 308 00:14:11,066 --> 00:14:14,033 While I was there, she let me take part 309 00:14:14,033 --> 00:14:16,733 in an MRI-based study designed to measure 310 00:14:16,733 --> 00:14:19,600 the brain's response to this kind of augmentation, 311 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,200 as participants follow simple prompts 312 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:25,566 to move the third thumb, generating valuable data 313 00:14:25,566 --> 00:14:28,566 that she and her team can analyze. 314 00:14:28,566 --> 00:14:30,933 We're just about to start, yeah? You ready? 315 00:14:30,933 --> 00:14:33,200 Wallach: I'm ready. 316 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:34,833 Man: Just touch the fingers, 317 00:14:34,833 --> 00:14:37,366 so your thumb and the other fingers together. 318 00:14:37,366 --> 00:14:39,100 Like one, yeah. OK? 319 00:14:39,100 --> 00:14:42,233 Yeah. I can already see that. 320 00:14:42,233 --> 00:14:44,733 OK. We stop now. 321 00:14:44,733 --> 00:14:46,333 Wallach: This is amazing, because it's my brain. 322 00:14:46,333 --> 00:14:47,733 Clode: It is your brain. 323 00:14:47,733 --> 00:14:50,266 Wallach: What is it that you're curious about? 324 00:14:50,266 --> 00:14:52,100 Clode: Well, we want to see the impact that 325 00:14:52,100 --> 00:14:54,900 potentially that upper limb augmentation 326 00:14:54,900 --> 00:14:56,533 is having on your brain. 327 00:14:56,533 --> 00:14:58,733 And we have to do MRI to really investigate that. 328 00:14:58,733 --> 00:15:00,233 In many ways, 329 00:15:00,233 --> 00:15:01,900 what took hundreds of thousands of years 330 00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:04,066 or maybe even millions of years of evolution 331 00:15:04,066 --> 00:15:07,466 to give us these, you know, 10 fingers and 10 toes, 332 00:15:07,466 --> 00:15:10,500 you're now doing in a matter of a couple of years. 333 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:12,166 Yeah, I mean, we're not sure 334 00:15:12,166 --> 00:15:13,933 what a couple of years using augmentation devices 335 00:15:13,933 --> 00:15:15,633 would do to the brain. 336 00:15:15,633 --> 00:15:17,633 At the moment, we're running a seven-day training study, 337 00:15:17,633 --> 00:15:19,833 which is already a lot of data collection. 338 00:15:19,833 --> 00:15:21,266 So, yeah. 339 00:15:21,266 --> 00:15:22,800 I mean, but this is technology 340 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,633 that could potentially be used for years. 341 00:15:24,633 --> 00:15:27,300 We need to see the impact that it's having on the brain 342 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:31,133 to try and investigate what's changing. 343 00:15:31,133 --> 00:15:32,933 Wallach, voice-over: The research Dani is doing 344 00:15:32,933 --> 00:15:35,966 is fascinating and feels more important than ever 345 00:15:35,966 --> 00:15:37,400 as we look ahead. 346 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,800 Augmentation is only the tip of the spear 347 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:41,633 in terms of the scientific transformation 348 00:15:41,633 --> 00:15:43,300 we are in the midst of. 349 00:15:43,300 --> 00:15:44,966 Beyond simply adding on to life, 350 00:15:44,966 --> 00:15:48,166 the rapidly-expanding field of synthetic biology 351 00:15:48,166 --> 00:15:49,666 is actually editing 352 00:15:49,666 --> 00:15:51,800 the very building blocks of life itself. 353 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,900 Webb: I like to think about synthetic biology 354 00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:57,633 as a general purpose technology. 355 00:15:57,633 --> 00:16:01,000 This is a technology that, over time, has 356 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,866 the ability to generate value, create new types of jobs, 357 00:16:05,866 --> 00:16:10,166 and basically become a invisible part of society. 358 00:16:10,166 --> 00:16:14,533 Other general purpose technologies--the steam engine. 359 00:16:14,533 --> 00:16:19,400 The internet completely transformed society. 360 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:24,300 Synthetic biology is a new general purpose technology 361 00:16:24,300 --> 00:16:28,200 that will impact just about every industry 362 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,233 everywhere on the planet, 363 00:16:31,233 --> 00:16:33,733 whether that's coming up 364 00:16:33,733 --> 00:16:36,166 with a self-healing paint for your car, 365 00:16:36,166 --> 00:16:38,300 so if your car gets scratched, you know, 366 00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:40,233 that the paint heals itself, 367 00:16:40,233 --> 00:16:44,333 or a new type of antibiotic. 368 00:16:44,333 --> 00:16:47,800 What if there was a leaf that was able 369 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,866 to suck more CO2 out of the atmosphere? 370 00:16:50,866 --> 00:16:53,166 What would it mean for a computer 371 00:16:53,166 --> 00:16:59,533 that combines human brain cells and the computer chip? 372 00:16:59,533 --> 00:17:05,266 There are reasons that we want to edit, to enhance, 373 00:17:05,266 --> 00:17:07,266 but we also have to think through 374 00:17:07,266 --> 00:17:08,933 the sort of knock-on effects, 375 00:17:08,933 --> 00:17:12,600 the unintended consequences of that enhancement. 376 00:17:17,533 --> 00:17:19,766 Wallach, voice-over: As human and nonhuman technology 377 00:17:19,766 --> 00:17:21,566 continues to speed up, 378 00:17:21,566 --> 00:17:24,466 it raises both new and very old questions about 379 00:17:24,466 --> 00:17:26,766 who and what we are as people. 380 00:17:26,766 --> 00:17:30,433 Why do we feel so disconnected from ourselves, from each other, 381 00:17:30,433 --> 00:17:33,766 and from the kind of futures we want to see unfold? 382 00:17:33,766 --> 00:17:37,066 What does it mean to not only improve the human hardware 383 00:17:37,066 --> 00:17:39,033 but the software as well? 384 00:17:39,033 --> 00:17:42,566 I came to Oakland to sit with a Zen priest named Rev. Angel 385 00:17:42,566 --> 00:17:45,766 to learn about why, even with all these new tools, 386 00:17:45,766 --> 00:17:50,533 being human today in so many ways feels harder, not easier, 387 00:17:50,533 --> 00:17:52,733 than it ever has before. 388 00:17:52,733 --> 00:17:55,966 What does it mean to be human? 389 00:17:55,966 --> 00:17:57,766 To care... 390 00:17:58,766 --> 00:18:01,433 to be connected... 391 00:18:03,033 --> 00:18:04,800 and to be compassionate. 392 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:10,133 My take is that we are in deep yearning 393 00:18:10,133 --> 00:18:12,800 and we're not comfortable with that. 394 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,533 We've created so much division and separation and connection, 395 00:18:16,533 --> 00:18:18,966 and we don't know how to get back to ourselves. 396 00:18:18,966 --> 00:18:21,333 We put everything outside, and then we're 397 00:18:21,333 --> 00:18:23,600 turning around, looking, and going, "Am I OK?" 398 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,533 We just spend our lives going, like, "Am I OK?" 399 00:18:25,533 --> 00:18:28,533 Where does the pain come from right now 400 00:18:28,533 --> 00:18:30,000 that is kind of 401 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,666 reverberating throughout society? 402 00:18:32,666 --> 00:18:34,333 Yeah, it's disconnect. 403 00:18:34,333 --> 00:18:36,133 All of that is disconnect, 404 00:18:36,133 --> 00:18:37,700 disconnect from--you know, 405 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:39,700 we have a planet that is, like, 406 00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:41,366 screaming bloody murder for us 407 00:18:41,366 --> 00:18:44,600 to either, like, get off of it or get with it. 408 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,000 We have come to accept 409 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,300 someone else's limited imagination 410 00:18:49,300 --> 00:18:51,333 of what it means to be human, 411 00:18:51,333 --> 00:18:54,166 that we are here, basically, clubbing each other to death, 412 00:18:54,166 --> 00:18:56,000 trying to get ahead. 413 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,533 We have to yield the notion that we are-- 414 00:18:59,533 --> 00:19:02,933 we are defined by what we produce. 415 00:19:02,933 --> 00:19:05,433 We have to give ourselves over 416 00:19:05,433 --> 00:19:09,766 to the understanding that-- 417 00:19:09,766 --> 00:19:12,066 that we have inherent worth 418 00:19:12,066 --> 00:19:15,500 and, therefore, let go of the ways 419 00:19:15,500 --> 00:19:18,100 in which our worth is being defined. 420 00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:23,400 When you get off that train and you recognize 421 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,033 that care and connection is the thing that allows you 422 00:19:26,033 --> 00:19:30,566 to be alive, to see, to taste, to feel, 423 00:19:30,566 --> 00:19:35,733 it shifts entirely what you think is important. 424 00:19:35,733 --> 00:19:38,233 What you drive towards, 425 00:19:38,233 --> 00:19:42,266 what is actually moving you is entirely different. 426 00:19:43,733 --> 00:19:45,766 Wallach, voice-over: In the face of so much change and turmoil 427 00:19:45,766 --> 00:19:49,200 in the world around us, it's beautiful to remember 428 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,433 just how simple and sacred it really is to be a human being. 429 00:19:52,433 --> 00:19:56,100 And when I actually slow down long enough to remember, 430 00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:59,400 it does fill me with a renewed sense of hope and possibility 431 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,100 for who and what we can become. 432 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:05,666 If built within us all is 433 00:20:05,666 --> 00:20:07,266 the capacity for love and compassion, 434 00:20:07,266 --> 00:20:09,533 then what does it look like 435 00:20:09,533 --> 00:20:12,333 to extend that to those around us? 436 00:20:12,333 --> 00:20:14,333 In a moment when we constantly see 437 00:20:14,333 --> 00:20:15,933 the effects of us at our worst, 438 00:20:15,933 --> 00:20:17,733 I'm interested in people who can show us 439 00:20:17,733 --> 00:20:20,400 what's possible when we come to see ourselves 440 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,566 and those around us as innately human. 441 00:20:23,566 --> 00:20:25,900 So I came to Los Angeles to spend time 442 00:20:25,900 --> 00:20:29,333 with a group of people who are using music to do just that. 443 00:20:29,333 --> 00:20:31,066 Conductor: Ready? And... 444 00:20:31,066 --> 00:20:32,733 [music playing] 445 00:20:32,733 --> 00:20:34,566 [conductor saying commands indistinctly] 446 00:20:34,566 --> 00:20:45,766 ♪ 447 00:20:45,766 --> 00:20:47,500 Cycle. Beautiful job... 448 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:49,033 So my name's Tony Brown, 449 00:20:49,033 --> 00:20:51,000 and I'm the CEO of Heart of Los Angeles, 450 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,833 and I'm the co-founder 451 00:20:52,833 --> 00:20:54,666 of the Intergenerational Music Programs. 452 00:20:54,666 --> 00:20:56,233 Wallach: Tell me how it got started. 453 00:20:56,233 --> 00:20:57,833 Give me kind of the origin story 454 00:20:57,833 --> 00:20:59,233 and what it is now. 455 00:20:59,233 --> 00:21:01,166 So when we first started thinking 456 00:21:01,166 --> 00:21:03,300 about the Intergenerational orchestra programs, 457 00:21:03,300 --> 00:21:05,966 we wanted to make sure that we were reaching 458 00:21:05,966 --> 00:21:07,633 into the African-American communities 459 00:21:07,633 --> 00:21:09,133 in Los Angeles County, 460 00:21:09,133 --> 00:21:10,900 we wanted to make sure we were reaching 461 00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:13,100 into the elder communities throughout Los Angeles, 462 00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:14,566 and we wanted to make sure, of course, 463 00:21:14,566 --> 00:21:16,333 we hit not only Latinx, Filipino, 464 00:21:16,333 --> 00:21:18,800 but our Korean brothers and sisters, too, 465 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:20,466 that this was not just going to be 466 00:21:20,466 --> 00:21:23,566 any other orchestra or every other orchestra. 467 00:21:23,566 --> 00:21:26,633 This was gonna be one that was truly intergenerational 468 00:21:26,633 --> 00:21:29,800 and, likely, truly multicultural. 469 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,833 Conductor: Piano, piano, piano, piano! 470 00:21:32,833 --> 00:21:34,266 Wallach: So why do that, right? 471 00:21:34,266 --> 00:21:35,500 Because it'd be much easier 472 00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:36,733 to just have a youth orchestra... 473 00:21:36,733 --> 00:21:37,766 Sure. 474 00:21:37,766 --> 00:21:39,400 and have an elder orchestra. 475 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,433 What's the thinking behind an intergenerational orchestra? 476 00:21:41,433 --> 00:21:46,166 This orchestra opportunity gives everyone the chance 477 00:21:46,166 --> 00:21:48,966 to dust off their instrument, right, 478 00:21:48,966 --> 00:21:52,100 and pick it back up again and go on a journey together. 479 00:21:52,100 --> 00:21:53,900 And I think for the elders, 480 00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:56,000 it's what they look forward to every week. 481 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:57,333 It's maybe the one thing 482 00:21:57,333 --> 00:21:59,400 they look forward to most every week. 483 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,200 And for the young people, the incredible wisdom 484 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,200 that they gain from their elders 485 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,033 and also the sense of empowerment 486 00:22:07,033 --> 00:22:09,200 they get from teaching an elder-- 487 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:10,900 how to remember the fingering that, you know, 488 00:22:10,900 --> 00:22:13,533 we used to know 10 and 15 years ago-- 489 00:22:13,533 --> 00:22:16,166 is pretty special to see. 490 00:22:16,166 --> 00:22:18,233 Those of us who are providing youth services 491 00:22:18,233 --> 00:22:21,033 realize that it's so critically important 492 00:22:21,033 --> 00:22:22,466 for young people to have 493 00:22:22,466 --> 00:22:25,500 caring adults in their lives. 494 00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:27,633 And for many of our young people, 495 00:22:27,633 --> 00:22:30,400 that's hard to come by, 496 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:31,900 and for, you know, of course, 497 00:22:31,900 --> 00:22:34,333 our adults, our elders, 498 00:22:34,333 --> 00:22:36,533 there's no reason they should ever have to, 499 00:22:36,533 --> 00:22:38,300 you know, live or die alone. 500 00:22:38,300 --> 00:22:42,333 They should be able to exit this great Earth knowing 501 00:22:42,333 --> 00:22:44,200 that they've touched the lives of others 502 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,833 and are loved and will be missed. 503 00:22:47,833 --> 00:22:50,033 Wallach, voice-over: Tony's love for this unique orchestra is 504 00:22:50,033 --> 00:22:54,033 evident, but even more so is his belief that human compassion 505 00:22:54,033 --> 00:22:56,233 has the ability to cut across differences 506 00:22:56,233 --> 00:22:59,466 and transform our lives and communities. 507 00:22:59,466 --> 00:23:01,200 Tony, voice-over: You look at an orchestra, 508 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,200 and it's a metaphor to me of coming together 509 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,133 and producing something beautiful, 510 00:23:08,133 --> 00:23:10,733 even though there's different types of instruments 511 00:23:10,733 --> 00:23:12,566 that make different sounds, 512 00:23:12,566 --> 00:23:14,600 you know, that are different sizes. 513 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,466 And yet, when you bring them together 514 00:23:16,466 --> 00:23:17,933 through this common experience 515 00:23:17,933 --> 00:23:20,100 of learning and developing together 516 00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:23,066 at the same time, growing together, 517 00:23:23,066 --> 00:23:24,766 lifelong learning together, 518 00:23:24,766 --> 00:23:27,700 to then produce this beautiful sound, 519 00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,900 it gives you hope that despite our differences, 520 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:33,533 we can come together 521 00:23:33,533 --> 00:23:35,200 and make something beautiful happen. 522 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:36,866 And that's what we should be doing 523 00:23:36,866 --> 00:23:39,233 not only inside of an orchestra program, 524 00:23:39,233 --> 00:23:40,900 but throughout our communities. 525 00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:43,700 [cheering and applause] 526 00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:45,933 [conductor speaking indistinctly] 527 00:23:45,933 --> 00:23:48,233 Rushkoff: Every single interaction you have 528 00:23:48,233 --> 00:23:49,700 with every other human, 529 00:23:49,700 --> 00:23:54,733 every single one of them has the opportunity 530 00:23:54,733 --> 00:24:01,033 for an experience of grace and connection and wonder. 531 00:24:01,033 --> 00:24:04,266 Woman: Empathy is our ability to perceive, 532 00:24:04,266 --> 00:24:06,666 understand, and to some extent, 533 00:24:06,666 --> 00:24:10,366 feel the emotions and pain of others. 534 00:24:10,366 --> 00:24:15,633 And it's so central to us all being on this planet, 535 00:24:15,633 --> 00:24:19,700 because without collaboration, reciprocity, 536 00:24:19,700 --> 00:24:24,000 and helping behaviors, none of us would be here. 537 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,833 Rushkoff: It's so simple to look around and see 538 00:24:27,833 --> 00:24:30,033 what actually needs to be done. 539 00:24:30,033 --> 00:24:31,500 Whose hand needs to be held? 540 00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:34,000 Who's sitting alone on a bench? 541 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,966 Helen Riess: The really burning question is, 542 00:24:36,966 --> 00:24:39,000 Can empathy be taught? 543 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,266 Because most people think it's an inborn trait, 544 00:24:42,266 --> 00:24:44,500 you know, that you either have or you don't, 545 00:24:44,500 --> 00:24:46,666 and that you can't do much about it. 546 00:24:46,666 --> 00:24:48,500 And I think that's an accepted view, 547 00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:50,866 so people don't even try. 548 00:24:50,866 --> 00:24:54,000 One of the most exciting things about our research 549 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,600 was that we really dispelled the myth. 550 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,266 We learned that empathy can be augmented. 551 00:25:01,266 --> 00:25:04,033 When we realize that there are certain ways 552 00:25:04,033 --> 00:25:07,100 to nurture empathy, that's something we can teach. 553 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:10,866 It can start when children are very young. 554 00:25:10,866 --> 00:25:15,166 Feeling with someone is altogether different. 555 00:25:15,166 --> 00:25:17,833 That means part of you-- 556 00:25:17,833 --> 00:25:21,266 part of yourself has been touched by that person's pain 557 00:25:21,266 --> 00:25:23,733 enough to want to relieve it. 558 00:25:27,566 --> 00:25:31,500 Wallach: Up until having kids, I always kind of 559 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:37,200 viewed my life very much as like a 100-yard dash, right? 560 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:38,766 Like, Ari is born. 561 00:25:38,766 --> 00:25:42,200 I do a bunch of stuff, and then Ari dies. 562 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,566 All of a sudden, I have kids. 563 00:25:44,566 --> 00:25:47,100 I remember at one point holding one of my daughters 564 00:25:47,100 --> 00:25:49,033 kind of, you know, skin to skin, 565 00:25:49,033 --> 00:25:55,166 and for the first time, felt emotion that was 566 00:25:55,166 --> 00:25:57,066 actually outside of my physical body. 567 00:25:57,066 --> 00:25:58,666 Like, I had actually, in some ways, 568 00:25:58,666 --> 00:26:02,633 transcended my biological hardware footprint 569 00:26:02,633 --> 00:26:04,566 in a way that was totally unexpected. 570 00:26:04,566 --> 00:26:08,100 The other thing was I transcended time. 571 00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:09,933 You know, they were like time machines, 572 00:26:09,933 --> 00:26:11,900 but they were these, like, gifts from the future. 573 00:26:11,900 --> 00:26:14,433 And I now for the first time saw how my actions 574 00:26:14,433 --> 00:26:19,433 were going to affect the world that my children will inhabit, 575 00:26:19,433 --> 00:26:22,433 that my grandchildren will inhabit. 576 00:26:22,433 --> 00:26:27,466 Woman: How can we expand the temporal horizons 577 00:26:27,466 --> 00:26:29,966 that we're all operating within 578 00:26:29,966 --> 00:26:32,433 and are comfortable thinking within 579 00:26:32,433 --> 00:26:34,633 and really look beyond a time 580 00:26:34,633 --> 00:26:41,100 that goes ahead of our own individual lifespans? 581 00:26:41,100 --> 00:26:43,166 How do we think about generations 582 00:26:43,166 --> 00:26:46,133 who will inherit this planet? 583 00:26:46,133 --> 00:26:48,333 And in the policies that we're making, 584 00:26:48,333 --> 00:26:50,133 in the businesses that we're launching, 585 00:26:50,133 --> 00:26:51,733 in the products that we're designing, 586 00:26:51,733 --> 00:26:55,600 how can we lead from a place of care? 587 00:26:57,133 --> 00:26:59,800 Wallach: These ideas of seeing beyond ourselves 588 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,700 and our one lifetime 589 00:27:01,700 --> 00:27:03,700 are more important right now than ever. 590 00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:07,133 If empathy is a muscle that grows when we use it, 591 00:27:07,133 --> 00:27:09,166 what does it look like to foster more of it 592 00:27:09,166 --> 00:27:12,700 in a world desperate for more compassion and connection? 593 00:27:12,700 --> 00:27:16,333 In Amsterdam, these ideas aren't theoretical. 594 00:27:16,333 --> 00:27:18,200 They're being put to use, creating 595 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,900 new ways of caring for the most vulnerable in our societies. 596 00:27:21,900 --> 00:27:23,666 Jannette Spiering: I'm Jannette Spiering, 597 00:27:23,666 --> 00:27:26,700 and I am a founder of the Hogeweyk, 598 00:27:26,700 --> 00:27:29,366 which is a dementia village. 599 00:27:29,366 --> 00:27:31,733 Wallach: I want to talk a little bit about aging, 600 00:27:31,733 --> 00:27:33,200 kind of, in general. 601 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,400 How do you see those stigmas around aging, 602 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:36,866 and how do you see those changing? 603 00:27:36,866 --> 00:27:39,800 I sometimes think that old age 604 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,200 is seen as an illness. 605 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,533 It's also maybe kind of a nuisance. 606 00:27:45,533 --> 00:27:48,166 And that really has to change, 607 00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:49,533 because there will be 608 00:27:49,533 --> 00:27:52,200 so many elderly people in the future 609 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,333 everywhere in every country. 610 00:27:54,333 --> 00:27:57,900 Many of them will become diagnosed with dementia. 611 00:27:57,900 --> 00:28:01,100 One in three people in the world 612 00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:03,800 will die with a diagnosis of dementia. 613 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:05,433 Imagine that. 614 00:28:05,433 --> 00:28:08,933 It is fearful to think of that. 615 00:28:08,933 --> 00:28:11,366 And especially when you are aware 616 00:28:11,366 --> 00:28:14,266 that we cannot segregate 617 00:28:14,266 --> 00:28:15,900 all these people from society. 618 00:28:15,900 --> 00:28:19,066 Wallach: So what are some of the characteristics that 619 00:28:19,066 --> 00:28:21,233 we'll find in this village that, for instance, 620 00:28:21,233 --> 00:28:22,800 we wouldn't find in, you know, 621 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,466 a block institutional setting? 622 00:28:24,466 --> 00:28:25,966 Spier: What we try to do is 623 00:28:25,966 --> 00:28:29,033 to get away from the institute. 624 00:28:29,033 --> 00:28:31,933 Nursing homes are-- well, as I see them-- 625 00:28:31,933 --> 00:28:35,800 awful institutes, where people are locked in 626 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,933 and segregated from society. 627 00:28:38,933 --> 00:28:42,700 Everything that you will find in the Hogeweyk 628 00:28:42,700 --> 00:28:45,900 is different from a regular institute. 629 00:28:45,900 --> 00:28:48,300 The way people live together, for example. 630 00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:51,766 We created houses where 7 people live together. 631 00:28:51,766 --> 00:28:54,366 Every meal is cooked in the houses. 632 00:28:54,366 --> 00:28:56,366 And you have to go to a supermarket 633 00:28:56,366 --> 00:29:00,966 to get your groceries to be able to create that meal. 634 00:29:00,966 --> 00:29:04,466 So we have a supermarket on the premises. 635 00:29:04,466 --> 00:29:06,366 You can decide by yourself 636 00:29:06,366 --> 00:29:08,466 if you want to go for a walk 637 00:29:08,466 --> 00:29:10,633 or if you want to become a member of a club 638 00:29:10,633 --> 00:29:14,933 or you just want to visit a concert in the theater. 639 00:29:14,933 --> 00:29:17,266 People who live here need support, 640 00:29:17,266 --> 00:29:18,866 but they are still part of society. 641 00:29:18,866 --> 00:29:21,333 This is a complete humanization 642 00:29:21,333 --> 00:29:23,000 of the care, what you see. 643 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,833 [Residents vocalizing] 644 00:29:24,833 --> 00:29:29,700 I think that we must accept that growing old 645 00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:33,666 is just part of what life is 646 00:29:33,666 --> 00:29:36,766 and that we must accept everything 647 00:29:36,766 --> 00:29:38,666 that comes with it. 648 00:29:38,666 --> 00:29:42,600 And how well-intended the institutions we build 649 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,166 to keep people safe 650 00:29:44,166 --> 00:29:46,833 actually take away everything 651 00:29:46,833 --> 00:29:48,800 that you have as a human being. 652 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,100 And I think that if we are able 653 00:29:51,100 --> 00:29:53,200 to think different about that, 654 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,166 that's a good start. 655 00:29:56,333 --> 00:29:58,666 Wallach, voice-over: This unique form of community and care 656 00:29:58,666 --> 00:30:00,833 has led to significant results, 657 00:30:00,833 --> 00:30:04,500 including greatly reducing the dependency on medication. 658 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:06,466 That's a big deal. 659 00:30:06,466 --> 00:30:08,866 In a future where the number of people with dementia 660 00:30:08,866 --> 00:30:13,633 is expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, 661 00:30:13,633 --> 00:30:16,766 the work they're doing here asks all kinds of questions about 662 00:30:16,766 --> 00:30:19,800 how we can adapt our methods of care 663 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:23,433 and even extend beyond just human care alone. 664 00:30:23,433 --> 00:30:26,366 As we train machines to be more and more humanlike, 665 00:30:26,366 --> 00:30:29,600 as AI technologies continue to accelerate, 666 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,500 what are the values we are imbuing them with? 667 00:30:33,433 --> 00:30:38,266 Webb: In the 1800s, there was a mathematician, Ada Lovelace, 668 00:30:38,266 --> 00:30:41,500 and in the footnotes of papers that she was translating 669 00:30:41,500 --> 00:30:43,666 about one of the very first computers, 670 00:30:43,666 --> 00:30:45,933 she starts describing a computer that 671 00:30:45,933 --> 00:30:49,833 someday may think just like humans. 672 00:30:49,833 --> 00:30:53,000 This is really important, because for hundreds of years, 673 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,100 we've been trying to figure out how to replicate life, 674 00:30:56,100 --> 00:30:58,866 how to replicate the human experience. 675 00:30:58,866 --> 00:31:00,733 Narrator: The machine uses 676 00:31:00,733 --> 00:31:03,366 only two sounds produced electrically. 677 00:31:03,366 --> 00:31:05,100 Say "She saw me." 678 00:31:05,100 --> 00:31:07,400 Mechanical voice: She saw me. 679 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:09,266 Webb: Slowly over time... 680 00:31:09,266 --> 00:31:10,733 Computer: Hello. I am Macintosh. 681 00:31:10,733 --> 00:31:12,700 Webb: we've started to make inroads 682 00:31:12,700 --> 00:31:16,066 developing computers that feel more human, 683 00:31:16,066 --> 00:31:18,766 that seem like they might be thinking. 684 00:31:18,766 --> 00:31:20,000 [computer chimes] 685 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,500 If you're talking to a chatbot 686 00:31:21,500 --> 00:31:25,233 and that chatbot appears to exhibit emotion 687 00:31:25,233 --> 00:31:30,000 or appears to want to connect with you on a deeper level, 688 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,566 would you say that that chatbot is human? 689 00:31:34,566 --> 00:31:37,066 AI: Boy, that really blows my digital mind. 690 00:31:37,066 --> 00:31:40,033 Now, most people would say no. 691 00:31:40,033 --> 00:31:43,566 They would describe it as a really humanlike interaction, 692 00:31:43,566 --> 00:31:47,400 but we're still using the word "human." 693 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,666 All of these different philosophical questions, 694 00:31:50,666 --> 00:31:52,700 they actually matter a lot, 695 00:31:52,700 --> 00:31:55,566 because these are the very research ideas that are 696 00:31:55,566 --> 00:31:58,433 being pursued as we're building out these technologies 697 00:31:58,433 --> 00:32:01,600 that eventually are gonna impact all of our lives. 698 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:11,066 [music] 699 00:32:11,066 --> 00:32:13,066 Wallach, voice-over: Someone who has been 700 00:32:13,066 --> 00:32:16,933 at the forefront of this work is musician Grimes, 701 00:32:16,933 --> 00:32:18,500 and I wanted to get her perspective 702 00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:20,966 on where we are in this evolution, 703 00:32:20,966 --> 00:32:23,300 the creative potential she sees, 704 00:32:23,300 --> 00:32:26,333 and the importance of hope in what comes next. 705 00:32:27,833 --> 00:32:31,133 Wallach: As an artist, what do you feel is, like, 706 00:32:31,133 --> 00:32:34,633 the moral imperative of this moment in time? 707 00:32:34,633 --> 00:32:36,100 I did a poll recently on Twitter 708 00:32:36,100 --> 00:32:37,633 where I asked people, like, 709 00:32:37,633 --> 00:32:39,433 if they had any purpose in their life... 710 00:32:39,433 --> 00:32:41,133 And, like, it was like, 711 00:32:41,133 --> 00:32:42,800 70% of people said no or something. 712 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,466 Wow. Like, if there's 713 00:32:44,466 --> 00:32:46,233 ever a moment to have a feeling of purpose, 714 00:32:46,233 --> 00:32:47,800 I think it would be now, 715 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,833 because what we do and the things we create 716 00:32:51,833 --> 00:32:55,633 over the next few decades will probably shape, like, 717 00:32:55,633 --> 00:32:59,166 all minds going forward for the rest of time. 718 00:32:59,166 --> 00:33:02,000 And so if there was ever a time to have purpose, 719 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,366 I think it's really, yeah, like, right now. 720 00:33:05,366 --> 00:33:08,466 How should artists, then, be thinking about 721 00:33:08,466 --> 00:33:10,700 how they work with technology, 722 00:33:10,700 --> 00:33:14,366 and, really, in many ways, specifically AI? 723 00:33:14,366 --> 00:33:16,700 I really think there is actually, like, 724 00:33:16,700 --> 00:33:19,666 a beautiful amount of opportunity here right now. 725 00:33:19,666 --> 00:33:21,366 [Grimes vocalizing] 726 00:33:21,366 --> 00:33:23,000 Grimes, voice-over: When I started making music, 727 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,533 there was sort of 728 00:33:24,533 --> 00:33:26,166 this revolution happening in music production. 729 00:33:26,166 --> 00:33:27,966 More people were being able to make music 730 00:33:27,966 --> 00:33:29,566 at home on their computers. 731 00:33:29,566 --> 00:33:31,966 And I think there was a massive democratization 732 00:33:31,966 --> 00:33:35,500 of who was allowed to make music that, like, 733 00:33:35,500 --> 00:33:37,200 I took huge advantage of, that was 734 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,066 fully the byproduct of technology. 735 00:33:40,066 --> 00:33:42,366 And I think this is about to extend to all of art. 736 00:33:42,366 --> 00:33:44,166 You know, when I see some of the new stuff coming with AI, 737 00:33:44,166 --> 00:33:46,033 like video to video and text to video 738 00:33:46,033 --> 00:33:47,533 and all this stuff that, 739 00:33:47,533 --> 00:33:50,000 like, is about to explode. 740 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,466 And I think it's so beautiful that, like, 741 00:33:52,466 --> 00:33:55,533 when everyone has the same tools 742 00:33:55,533 --> 00:33:57,966 that can make professional quality stuff, 743 00:33:57,966 --> 00:34:00,233 then, like, you get to see the actual talent, 744 00:34:00,233 --> 00:34:01,933 like, really rise to the top. 745 00:34:01,933 --> 00:34:03,566 You've said consciousness is sacred. 746 00:34:03,566 --> 00:34:04,600 Yeah. 747 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:05,766 Tell me more about that. 748 00:34:05,766 --> 00:34:07,266 I think because we're all alive, 749 00:34:07,266 --> 00:34:08,900 we all, like, take it for granted 750 00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:10,933 that, like, I can think 751 00:34:10,933 --> 00:34:12,800 and I have agency and I can feel. 752 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,800 You know, if we're really alone in the universe, 753 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,733 which it seems like, I think the thing 754 00:34:16,733 --> 00:34:18,600 that's happening here right now, 755 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,266 like, this is, like, literally God or something. 756 00:34:20,266 --> 00:34:21,633 This is, like, 757 00:34:21,633 --> 00:34:23,733 the universe waking up and perceiving itself. 758 00:34:23,733 --> 00:34:26,700 I think the single most important thing is 759 00:34:26,700 --> 00:34:29,766 to make sure that this spark that exists 760 00:34:29,766 --> 00:34:33,066 here on planet Earth gets to be elsewhere. 761 00:34:33,066 --> 00:34:35,100 And I don't even really care if it's biological life 762 00:34:35,100 --> 00:34:37,433 or digital life or something like that. 763 00:34:37,433 --> 00:34:39,100 I--I'm really a proponent of, like, 764 00:34:39,100 --> 00:34:40,466 keeping the humans alive. 765 00:34:40,466 --> 00:34:42,766 But, like, if it's silicon-based life 766 00:34:42,766 --> 00:34:46,200 that goes out there, I think that's just as good. 767 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:50,633 I just--I think the universe is empty and quiet, 768 00:34:50,633 --> 00:34:52,466 and it wants to be woken up 769 00:34:52,466 --> 00:34:54,600 and filled with beautiful things. 770 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,266 Wallach, voice-over: It makes me excited to think that 771 00:34:59,266 --> 00:35:03,100 we really are on the threshold of wild and wonderful new ideas 772 00:35:03,100 --> 00:35:05,766 about who and what we can become. 773 00:35:05,766 --> 00:35:07,933 But if we're gonna create the futures we want to see 774 00:35:07,933 --> 00:35:10,166 for our kids and grandkids, 775 00:35:10,166 --> 00:35:12,833 new technologies will only take us so far. 776 00:35:12,833 --> 00:35:15,666 How we choose to use them matters more than ever. 777 00:35:15,666 --> 00:35:18,666 In Brooklyn, a group of artists are using AI 778 00:35:18,666 --> 00:35:21,166 to create an immersive-art experience 779 00:35:21,166 --> 00:35:23,933 aimed at examining our relationship with these tools 780 00:35:23,933 --> 00:35:26,000 in fascinating new ways. 781 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,633 What we're seeing today is a collected work of 782 00:35:29,633 --> 00:35:33,833 what Ouchhh collective calls data generative painting. 783 00:35:33,833 --> 00:35:37,500 What that fundamentally means is that they in their studio 784 00:35:37,500 --> 00:35:40,833 took enormously large data sets-- 785 00:35:40,833 --> 00:35:43,833 millions of lines of text, millions of paintings, 786 00:35:43,833 --> 00:35:46,133 petabytes and petabytes of data-- 787 00:35:46,133 --> 00:35:47,600 fed them into a computer, 788 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,366 and let the computer seek out patterns within it. 789 00:35:50,366 --> 00:35:54,166 The computer then generates new data. 790 00:35:54,166 --> 00:35:56,166 And then the folks at Ouchhh collective 791 00:35:56,166 --> 00:35:58,033 feed that into software, 792 00:35:58,033 --> 00:36:00,566 and the software puts it on the walls. 793 00:36:00,566 --> 00:36:04,200 Through these powerful algorithms that they built, 794 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,700 they could take the human experience in toto, right-- 795 00:36:07,700 --> 00:36:11,366 massive data sets-- and you could learn something. 796 00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:15,066 Jacob Feldman: So this is the server room. 797 00:36:15,066 --> 00:36:16,833 This is where all the stuff lives 798 00:36:16,833 --> 00:36:19,066 that operates all the stuff in there. 799 00:36:19,066 --> 00:36:23,900 So the EEG takes six different types of brainwave data. 800 00:36:23,900 --> 00:36:26,066 Each of those different dimensions 801 00:36:26,066 --> 00:36:29,400 gets assigned something to manipulate 802 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,166 within the visual palette, right? 803 00:36:31,166 --> 00:36:33,733 So it could be that, you know, the amplitude of the wave is 804 00:36:33,733 --> 00:36:36,266 the thing that changes the color frequency. 805 00:36:36,266 --> 00:36:40,233 All it takes is a little bit of human input 806 00:36:40,233 --> 00:36:42,400 to say, "OK, we'll make a scene with these shapes 807 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:43,900 or with this patterning." 808 00:36:43,900 --> 00:36:45,666 But the possibilities are endless. 809 00:36:45,666 --> 00:36:48,733 It's only a matter of sort of the length of your creativity. 810 00:36:48,733 --> 00:37:21,633 ♪ 811 00:37:21,633 --> 00:37:23,266 Feldman: When we have a large audience, 812 00:37:23,266 --> 00:37:25,066 we'll have the audience wear heartbeat monitors 813 00:37:25,066 --> 00:37:26,633 on their wrists. 814 00:37:26,633 --> 00:37:28,566 Those get fed into the computer, 815 00:37:28,566 --> 00:37:32,133 and those start to manipulate the visuals as well. 816 00:37:32,133 --> 00:37:35,600 If the goal is great collective experience, 817 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,100 which I would hope immersive art should be, 818 00:37:38,100 --> 00:37:40,133 we get ever closer to it 819 00:37:40,133 --> 00:37:45,333 when we incorporate audience into performance as well. 820 00:37:45,333 --> 00:37:47,966 What we've really been able to do is 821 00:37:47,966 --> 00:37:52,300 tap into the feedback loop of the human soul. 822 00:37:52,300 --> 00:37:55,666 That musician is having an emotional response 823 00:37:55,666 --> 00:37:57,566 to whatever they're doing in the moment. 824 00:37:57,566 --> 00:37:59,300 Whether that's the music itself, 825 00:37:59,300 --> 00:38:01,833 whether that's the audience's reaction to the music, 826 00:38:01,833 --> 00:38:03,866 whether it's the visuals on the wall, 827 00:38:03,866 --> 00:38:06,333 they're having an emotional reaction. 828 00:38:10,466 --> 00:38:12,900 Wallach, voice-over: It's a profound feeling to experience 829 00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:16,033 both humans and machines collaborating in real time. 830 00:38:16,033 --> 00:38:18,233 This is just the beginning. 831 00:38:18,233 --> 00:38:20,533 And as these tools continue to evolve, 832 00:38:20,533 --> 00:38:23,700 expanding our ability to imagine and create, 833 00:38:23,700 --> 00:38:26,066 what will we choose to use them for? 834 00:38:26,066 --> 00:38:28,966 What new possibilities will we unlock? 835 00:38:28,966 --> 00:38:31,666 And what kind of human and nonhuman potential 836 00:38:31,666 --> 00:38:34,466 is waiting to be unleashed? 837 00:38:37,233 --> 00:38:40,566 But as limitless as these new tools are proving to be, 838 00:38:40,566 --> 00:38:42,700 we are still finite beings. 839 00:38:42,700 --> 00:38:45,200 And one of the things that holds us back 840 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:47,700 from imagining creating better futures 841 00:38:47,700 --> 00:38:51,633 is we often work so hard to deny our own mortality. 842 00:38:51,633 --> 00:38:54,666 But what would change and what could be possible 843 00:38:54,666 --> 00:38:57,200 if we didn't see death as the end? 844 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,033 How much bigger could our imagination 845 00:38:59,033 --> 00:39:00,733 about the future become 846 00:39:00,733 --> 00:39:02,900 if we were comfortable thinking further forward 847 00:39:02,900 --> 00:39:05,933 than our own single lifetime? 848 00:39:05,933 --> 00:39:08,766 I came to Arizona to meet Alua Arthur, 849 00:39:08,766 --> 00:39:10,933 someone who has spent her life helping people 850 00:39:10,933 --> 00:39:13,433 face death with grace and dignity. 851 00:39:13,433 --> 00:39:15,933 She is what's called a death doula, 852 00:39:15,933 --> 00:39:17,933 and in addition to working with her own patients, 853 00:39:17,933 --> 00:39:20,066 this weekend, she was here to train others, 854 00:39:20,066 --> 00:39:24,200 who are embarking on this unique form of service themselves. 855 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,133 Life is an utter gift. 856 00:39:26,133 --> 00:39:30,066 To watch life leave a body, 857 00:39:30,066 --> 00:39:31,900 the utter stillness that happens 858 00:39:31,900 --> 00:39:34,100 after a death has occurred, 859 00:39:34,100 --> 00:39:38,266 is a really poignant reminder 860 00:39:38,266 --> 00:39:40,600 that life hangs on the breath. 861 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:42,933 You know, that it's here one minute and gone the next. 862 00:39:42,933 --> 00:39:45,766 And so by virtue of continuing to have it, 863 00:39:45,766 --> 00:39:48,066 I am still partaking in this tremendous gift 864 00:39:48,066 --> 00:39:49,733 that I've been given-- 865 00:39:49,733 --> 00:39:51,533 that I'm still alive, 866 00:39:51,533 --> 00:39:54,266 that I still get to talk to people 867 00:39:54,266 --> 00:39:56,933 and feel cold on my skin and eat delicious food 868 00:39:56,933 --> 00:39:59,233 and hug and laugh and dance 869 00:39:59,233 --> 00:40:01,766 and just be here while I'm here. 870 00:40:01,766 --> 00:40:06,533 I've also learned that humans are extraordinary. 871 00:40:06,533 --> 00:40:08,266 We're such a miracle. 872 00:40:08,266 --> 00:40:09,966 It takes so many katrillion of functions 873 00:40:09,966 --> 00:40:11,600 just to keep our bodies going. 874 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,733 And so when the body can no longer and it's time to die, 875 00:40:14,733 --> 00:40:17,600 that's also really awe-inspiring, 876 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,566 that it carries on for so long, and then when it can't, 877 00:40:20,566 --> 00:40:22,066 we have no choice 878 00:40:22,066 --> 00:40:23,766 but to surrender to the fact that it can't. 879 00:40:23,766 --> 00:40:26,600 What is it that, in your experience, 880 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,933 leads to the level of kind of death anxiety 881 00:40:29,933 --> 00:40:32,766 or the fear of death in our society right now? 882 00:40:32,766 --> 00:40:35,966 At its root, I think, is the very fragile human ego 883 00:40:35,966 --> 00:40:37,766 that thinks of itself 884 00:40:37,766 --> 00:40:39,933 as the main character in the story 885 00:40:39,933 --> 00:40:43,766 and is so afraid of it not existing anymore, 886 00:40:43,766 --> 00:40:45,900 and so we shun it. 887 00:40:45,900 --> 00:40:48,933 We recoil against that idea. 888 00:40:48,933 --> 00:40:51,566 We want to stay alive. We want to be around. 889 00:40:51,566 --> 00:40:53,600 We want to do all the things because we are 890 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:57,566 so attached to who we are and our being alive. 891 00:40:57,566 --> 00:41:00,300 We're afraid of it. It's a big unknown also. 892 00:41:00,300 --> 00:41:02,333 Like, nobody knows what happens after we die, 893 00:41:02,333 --> 00:41:04,166 and that makes us really uncomfortable. 894 00:41:04,166 --> 00:41:06,166 We feel powerless in the face of the unknown. 895 00:41:06,166 --> 00:41:08,433 We also feel powerless against death itself, 896 00:41:08,433 --> 00:41:11,200 and that makes us want to avoid it at all costs. 897 00:41:17,266 --> 00:41:19,333 Wallach, voice-over: Rather than avoiding it, 898 00:41:19,333 --> 00:41:23,366 Alua has spent years now helping those who are dying 899 00:41:23,366 --> 00:41:26,133 as well as the loved ones they are leaving behind. 900 00:41:26,133 --> 00:41:29,000 She's come to believe that a relationship to death 901 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,633 is directly connected to our relationship to the future 902 00:41:31,633 --> 00:41:33,933 and to life itself. 903 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:40,433 [Indistinct conversations] 904 00:41:40,433 --> 00:41:42,833 Alua Arthur: Welcome. 905 00:41:42,833 --> 00:41:45,833 This evening, we're going to do a death meditation. 906 00:41:45,833 --> 00:41:47,700 This next time that we have together 907 00:41:47,700 --> 00:41:49,833 is about you and your death, 908 00:41:49,833 --> 00:41:51,333 you with you-- 909 00:41:51,333 --> 00:41:53,866 one on one, one on one-- you and your body 910 00:41:53,866 --> 00:41:56,266 and the journey that you're gonna go on with your own body. 911 00:41:56,266 --> 00:41:57,966 All right? 912 00:41:57,966 --> 00:42:01,400 So get comfortable, as much as possible. 913 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,933 [clears throat] 914 00:42:03,933 --> 00:42:05,666 Get cozy. 915 00:42:09,533 --> 00:42:13,400 Death is inevitable. 916 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,566 All of us will die sooner or later. 917 00:42:17,566 --> 00:42:19,566 In about a hundred years, 918 00:42:19,566 --> 00:42:22,900 all the humans currently on the planet will be gone, 919 00:42:22,900 --> 00:42:26,033 except for the few who are just being born 920 00:42:26,033 --> 00:42:29,366 and will live long lifespans. 921 00:42:29,366 --> 00:42:31,066 No one has escaped death, 922 00:42:31,066 --> 00:42:35,866 not even the great masters and teachers of our time. 923 00:42:35,866 --> 00:42:41,000 Every person and every creature on the planet will die. 924 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,733 When it's time to actually die, 925 00:42:43,733 --> 00:42:48,266 it will be in an ordinary moment just like this one. 926 00:42:48,266 --> 00:42:52,033 Your breathing is getting shallower. 927 00:42:52,033 --> 00:42:54,200 Your energy is draining. 928 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:56,900 Your body temperature begins to drop. 929 00:42:56,900 --> 00:43:02,133 Your connection to this earth beneath you is slipping. 930 00:43:02,133 --> 00:43:06,333 You are aware now that you are dying. 931 00:43:06,333 --> 00:43:09,066 Your body is no longer relevant. 932 00:43:09,066 --> 00:43:12,966 Your material possessions cannot help. 933 00:43:12,966 --> 00:43:15,633 Your loved ones cannot save you. 934 00:43:15,633 --> 00:43:18,500 You will speak no more words. 935 00:43:18,500 --> 00:43:23,266 You begin to experience a sense of expanding, 936 00:43:23,266 --> 00:43:28,266 connecting with all that ever was and all that ever will be. 937 00:43:28,266 --> 00:43:32,333 See yourself as a candle, 938 00:43:32,333 --> 00:43:34,900 a small flickering flame. 939 00:43:34,900 --> 00:43:37,000 And with a gust of wind, 940 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,833 see that flame now extinguished. 941 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,633 Now take another deep breath in. 942 00:43:45,633 --> 00:43:46,666 [inhales] 943 00:43:46,666 --> 00:43:49,233 Bring in strong, holding it, 944 00:43:49,233 --> 00:43:52,466 and release. [exhales] 945 00:43:54,933 --> 00:43:57,600 You are very much alive. 946 00:43:57,600 --> 00:43:59,466 Bring awareness to your body. 947 00:43:59,466 --> 00:44:01,400 Wiggle your toes. 948 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,533 Rotate your feet. 949 00:44:03,533 --> 00:44:06,300 Life forces are swirling inside of you. 950 00:44:06,300 --> 00:44:08,666 Everything is functioning. 951 00:44:08,666 --> 00:44:10,700 You just did a death meditation, 952 00:44:10,700 --> 00:44:13,200 and I'm very proud of you. 953 00:44:14,733 --> 00:44:16,866 Wallach, voice-over: I will never, ever forget the feeling 954 00:44:16,866 --> 00:44:19,800 of being in the room there that night. 955 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,566 It's counterintuitive, but facing our own mortality 956 00:44:23,566 --> 00:44:25,833 holds a key to seeing ourselves 957 00:44:25,833 --> 00:44:28,033 as just a part of the larger human story, 958 00:44:28,033 --> 00:44:32,166 one piece of the future that we can both build 959 00:44:32,166 --> 00:44:34,800 and soon leave behind. 960 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:39,900 What does it mean to live like we're dying? 961 00:44:39,900 --> 00:44:42,900 It means to live presently. 962 00:44:42,900 --> 00:44:45,700 It means to be with where I am today, 963 00:44:45,700 --> 00:44:48,300 recognizing that everything I have in this moment, 964 00:44:48,300 --> 00:44:50,800 what I've done so far, what I've given so far, 965 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,866 who I've been so far has been enough, 966 00:44:53,866 --> 00:44:55,900 and that, if tomorrow is it, 967 00:44:55,900 --> 00:44:58,133 I can go satisfied. 968 00:45:01,433 --> 00:45:06,633 Rushkoff: I think we have to change the register 969 00:45:06,633 --> 00:45:11,533 at which human activity is taking place, right? 970 00:45:11,533 --> 00:45:14,366 Where right now, we're really stuck 971 00:45:14,366 --> 00:45:17,033 in an industrial register, 972 00:45:17,033 --> 00:45:21,600 where we understand ourselves in terms of our utility value, 973 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:23,100 right? 974 00:45:23,100 --> 00:45:25,600 How much work can I get done? How valuable am I? 975 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:27,733 How much money can I make? There's always a metric. 976 00:45:27,733 --> 00:45:29,733 How many likes did I get? How many of this? 977 00:45:29,733 --> 00:45:31,566 How many followers do I have? 978 00:45:31,566 --> 00:45:34,600 It's very utilitarian. 979 00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:36,933 I mean, I was raised on "Mr. Rogers," right? 980 00:45:36,933 --> 00:45:39,533 And Mr. Rogers, at the end of every show, would say... 981 00:45:39,533 --> 00:45:43,933 I like you exactly as you are. 982 00:45:43,933 --> 00:45:45,600 Rushkoff: I took him seriously. 983 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:50,700 I took that to mean I am OK just the way I am. 984 00:45:50,700 --> 00:45:55,066 I don't need to do anything to justify my existence. 985 00:45:56,866 --> 00:46:01,133 The positive human future involves 986 00:46:01,133 --> 00:46:05,366 us recognizing and retrieving 987 00:46:05,366 --> 00:46:08,800 what matters about our existence. 988 00:46:12,100 --> 00:46:16,333 Wallach: So if you could give yourself some advice, 989 00:46:16,333 --> 00:46:19,966 you know, talk to yourself when you were in your 20s, 990 00:46:19,966 --> 00:46:23,300 what would you say to your 20-something self, 991 00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:25,166 knowing what you know now? 992 00:46:25,166 --> 00:46:26,533 I would tell myself 993 00:46:26,533 --> 00:46:28,533 "Everything's going to be OK," 994 00:46:28,533 --> 00:46:31,466 because I worried so much in my youth, 995 00:46:31,466 --> 00:46:34,000 in my 20s, my 30s, also as a single mom, 996 00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:35,666 and a lot of different things, 997 00:46:35,666 --> 00:46:37,433 but it was very difficult, 998 00:46:37,433 --> 00:46:39,166 and I worried about everything. 999 00:46:39,166 --> 00:46:41,633 Instead of living for the days, 1000 00:46:41,633 --> 00:46:43,366 I was surviving through the days. 1001 00:46:43,366 --> 00:46:46,500 I would tell myself, "You did good, girl." 1002 00:46:46,500 --> 00:46:47,833 [laughter] 1003 00:46:47,833 --> 00:46:49,500 You got--you got to this point. 1004 00:46:49,500 --> 00:46:50,766 You got it. Yeah. 1005 00:46:50,766 --> 00:46:52,333 I would tell 1006 00:46:52,333 --> 00:46:55,466 my 20-something-year-old self that there is time. 1007 00:46:55,466 --> 00:46:57,600 "Experience life, 1008 00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:00,533 "and don't be in such a hurry to be put 1009 00:47:00,533 --> 00:47:05,833 into that task-oriented, day-to-day existence." 1010 00:47:05,833 --> 00:47:08,500 I would tell myself that I'm not invincible 1011 00:47:08,500 --> 00:47:10,233 and I'm not exempt. 1012 00:47:10,233 --> 00:47:13,366 "You're gonna get through this, and you're gonna be OK, 1013 00:47:13,366 --> 00:47:16,900 and, you know, it's gonna be all right down the road." 1014 00:47:16,900 --> 00:47:19,566 I would tell myself, "You are enough. 1015 00:47:19,566 --> 00:47:21,266 "You are wonderful. 1016 00:47:21,266 --> 00:47:22,933 You are precious." 1017 00:47:22,933 --> 00:47:24,533 "Be patient." 1018 00:47:24,533 --> 00:47:26,666 I'd go, "You will learn everything you need 1019 00:47:26,666 --> 00:47:29,066 to get to the destination you want." 1020 00:47:29,066 --> 00:47:33,000 I would say, "Stop and smell the flowers. 1021 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:34,833 "Go visit your grandparents. 1022 00:47:34,833 --> 00:47:36,600 Listen to their stories." 1023 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:40,600 You know, go pay those ones respect and time, 1024 00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:42,400 'cause you don't have them anymore now, 1025 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,066 and it would have been nice to have 1026 00:47:44,066 --> 00:47:46,666 a little more time spent with them. 1027 00:47:46,666 --> 00:47:49,766 [birds chirping] 1028 00:47:57,766 --> 00:47:59,900 Wallach, voice-over: You know, on the one hand, 1029 00:47:59,900 --> 00:48:03,800 visiting your parents' gravesite is really intense, 1030 00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,633 because it's, like, where they are, 1031 00:48:05,633 --> 00:48:07,633 but it's also not where they are, right? 1032 00:48:07,633 --> 00:48:09,500 I was thinking this earlier. 1033 00:48:09,500 --> 00:48:11,333 Like, when I tell, like, an off-color joke, 1034 00:48:11,333 --> 00:48:13,400 that's where my dad is. 1035 00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:14,900 Or when I see, like, 1036 00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:17,133 47 different colors in a sunset, 1037 00:48:17,133 --> 00:48:19,066 that's where my mom is. 1038 00:48:19,066 --> 00:48:24,133 So on the one hand, it feels like this is the place, 1039 00:48:24,133 --> 00:48:26,633 but then, like, the whole planet feels like 1040 00:48:26,633 --> 00:48:28,933 the place when certain things happen. 1041 00:48:30,166 --> 00:48:32,766 You know, I was 18 years old when my father passed away. 1042 00:48:32,766 --> 00:48:38,066 But the love was very thick in the home. 1043 00:48:38,066 --> 00:48:42,600 I don't see such a stark line between, like, 1044 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:44,600 his life and my life. 1045 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:47,300 Like, different biologies, different names. 1046 00:48:47,300 --> 00:48:50,966 But there's a kind of-- 1047 00:48:50,966 --> 00:48:54,300 there's a thread, both with my father 1048 00:48:54,300 --> 00:48:56,666 and my mother, that just feels like it 1049 00:48:56,666 --> 00:49:00,066 is just going through me and going into the kids. 1050 00:49:00,066 --> 00:49:02,366 And so whereas I feel like, yes, 1051 00:49:02,366 --> 00:49:08,333 there are different bodies, that thread, whatever that is, 1052 00:49:08,333 --> 00:49:11,300 feels very deep and continuous. 1053 00:49:11,300 --> 00:49:15,566 [son giggling] 1054 00:49:15,566 --> 00:49:17,833 The future is not set in stone, 1055 00:49:17,833 --> 00:49:20,566 and I don't believe in destiny. 1056 00:49:20,566 --> 00:49:25,533 I know that at any moment, we can change course. 1057 00:49:25,533 --> 00:49:29,200 We just have to make a decision that we're gonna do that, 1058 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:31,666 which means that we have agency. 1059 00:49:31,666 --> 00:49:34,800 We have the ability to create a future that we want. 1060 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,300 I will be honest. Um, I-- 1061 00:49:38,300 --> 00:49:40,133 you know, I am seeing 1062 00:49:40,133 --> 00:49:44,233 some pretty, pretty dark things on the horizon. 1063 00:49:44,233 --> 00:49:46,700 There's no turning these things off, 1064 00:49:46,700 --> 00:49:50,800 but we can forge a path forward. 1065 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,066 Brown: Even though I read the paper, like many people do, 1066 00:49:54,066 --> 00:49:57,866 and see so many challenges that we have in cities, 1067 00:49:57,866 --> 00:50:01,200 counties, our country, dysfunction, you know, 1068 00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:04,566 what motivates me is that I know that I'm helping 1069 00:50:04,566 --> 00:50:07,566 to develop young people into making the future 1070 00:50:07,566 --> 00:50:09,300 a heck of a lot brighter 1071 00:50:09,300 --> 00:50:12,300 than sometimes the things I read in the paper. 1072 00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:14,333 Grimes: It's the greatest luxury in the world 1073 00:50:14,333 --> 00:50:17,700 to be able to intelligently design the future. 1074 00:50:17,700 --> 00:50:20,000 Like, this is something that is new. 1075 00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:21,700 This is something that is, like, 1076 00:50:21,700 --> 00:50:23,733 really just, like, a product of modernity. 1077 00:50:23,733 --> 00:50:26,666 And I think we should definitely take that opportunity. 1078 00:50:26,666 --> 00:50:29,366 A lot of what we need to do right now is 1079 00:50:29,366 --> 00:50:32,066 actually evolve our tools to better fit 1080 00:50:32,066 --> 00:50:35,366 how our minds work with the technology that we have. 1081 00:50:35,366 --> 00:50:39,500 Creativity is the fuel for all of this. 1082 00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:42,133 Rushkoff: There should be a place for humans, 1083 00:50:42,133 --> 00:50:45,833 for human life in the digital future. 1084 00:50:45,833 --> 00:50:49,500 Not revolution but renaissance, 1085 00:50:49,500 --> 00:50:52,666 the rebirth of old ideas in a new context. 1086 00:50:52,666 --> 00:50:56,966 Then we can begin to live sustainably 1087 00:50:56,966 --> 00:50:59,500 as a form of human flourishing 1088 00:50:59,500 --> 00:51:04,866 rather than sustainably as some negation of human need. 1089 00:51:05,933 --> 00:51:10,866 Riess: The Dalai Lama said that love and compassion 1090 00:51:10,866 --> 00:51:14,100 are necessities, not luxuries 1091 00:51:14,100 --> 00:51:18,433 and without them, humanity will not survive. 1092 00:51:18,433 --> 00:51:21,133 Rev. Angel Williams: I think the primary story is 1093 00:51:21,133 --> 00:51:22,766 about our connection 1094 00:51:22,766 --> 00:51:25,933 rather than the story about our disconnect. 1095 00:51:25,933 --> 00:51:28,766 It is true that we are suffering from disconnect. 1096 00:51:28,766 --> 00:51:30,766 But understanding the reason that we 1097 00:51:30,766 --> 00:51:32,900 feel so much pain from it is because we have 1098 00:51:32,900 --> 00:51:35,200 a yearning to be connected. 1099 00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:37,233 Alua Arthur: I think part of the magic of being human 1100 00:51:37,233 --> 00:51:41,133 is that the mundane is where all the juice is. 1101 00:51:41,133 --> 00:51:45,100 When I know that this time that I have here is finite, 1102 00:51:45,100 --> 00:51:49,033 then every breath matters more, 1103 00:51:49,033 --> 00:51:50,966 every birthday matters more, 1104 00:51:50,966 --> 00:51:52,733 every hug matters more. 1105 00:51:52,733 --> 00:51:55,266 Wallach: We're at this inflection point 1106 00:51:55,266 --> 00:51:57,366 for Homo sapiens, 1107 00:51:57,366 --> 00:52:00,300 and a lot of folks are basically focusing on 1108 00:52:00,300 --> 00:52:04,300 the external future's environment. 1109 00:52:04,300 --> 00:52:07,166 Super important, obviously-- artificial intelligence, 1110 00:52:07,166 --> 00:52:10,500 bioengineering, climate change, inequality. 1111 00:52:10,500 --> 00:52:15,333 A host of issues, conundrums, problems, and opportunities 1112 00:52:15,333 --> 00:52:17,933 that manifest in the external reality, 1113 00:52:17,933 --> 00:52:20,166 the external world around us. 1114 00:52:20,166 --> 00:52:21,800 But at the same time, 1115 00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:25,533 we have to focus on internal futures. 1116 00:52:25,533 --> 00:52:28,100 How do we evolve the internal 1117 00:52:28,100 --> 00:52:30,533 as much as we evolve the external? 1118 00:52:30,533 --> 00:52:31,800 [music] 1119 00:52:32,366 --> 00:53:00,933 ♪