A Brief History of the Future (2024) s01e04 Episode Script
Human
1
What I find
so fascinating about being human
is that every generation
kind of starts from zero.
Almost every other animal
can pretty much
stand up within a few seconds,
and they can kind of
make it on their own.
We can't.
So to be human means from
the very first several seconds
to be dependent
and to be in relationship
with other humans
for not just our basic needs
but all of our needs.
To be human means to be
in a social context.
It means to be
in relationship with others,
in relationship with yourself.
But our world
as it's built right now
doesn't drive us towards that.
If anything, it actually
drives us further apart.
We set up offices with cubes
where people
actually don't see each other.
We have
these single-family homes.
And then we take our youth
and we send them
for most of the day
to one building.
And then we take our
grandparents and our seniors,
and we send them off
to another building.
While we know what led to kind
of flourishing and happiness
for tens of thousands of years,
in many ways,
we're doing the exact opposite.
At the end of the day,
we are now realizing that
this hardware that
is the human,
kind of, biological being
is now operating in
an environment, in a context,
both in terms of politics,
in terms of technology,
just in terms of
the pace of the world
that it just wasn't made for.
And we're starting
to actually step back and say,
"Is this actually the way
I want to be human?"
The modern moment
we're living in
and the rapidly changing world
around us
is forcing us to ask
some new and needed questions
about what it means to be human.
As my journey continues,
I've been thinking a lot
about the role of Homo sapiens
right now
and in the years to come.
How is technology changing us?
Can we evolve past
our worst tendencies?
And is there something sacred
about who we are
that goes beyond
just what we can achieve?
These questions have
big implications
for the kind of futures
we choose to create,
so today I've come to spend
time with a group of people
living together in
a retirement community
to hear a perspective
that only age can provide.
So I just want to start off
by just asking anyone,
What does it mean to be human
at this moment in time?
In this day
and age where we live,
in a 55 & older community,
we are being human,
because we take care
of one another.
We look out
for one another.
For me, I think being human
is knowing that I'm imperfect
and that the people
around me are imperfect,
and that I don't have to look
for perfection in others.
From a spiritual point of view,
being a human is to learn
a lesson in this world.
Because we are now
in a physical form
and because a spirit
could be reincarnated.
So here, I am learning
everything that I can.
We want to be heard.
We want to be seen.
We want to be loved.
We want to find someone
that can really--
we can connect with, that can
bring that true happiness
to life for us.
Being human is
a lot of things to me.
When I was younger,
as someone else pointed out,
it was different.
It was moving forward in this
very tunnel vision of life--
raising children, doing a job,
doing everything else.
I'm able to take
that experience, though,
and share it with grandchildren
that I have
that are in their 20s and 30s,
and saying, These are the things
to look forward to me.
So being human means being
compassionate, having empathy.
How would you have answered
that several decades ago?
I think in the past,
it was all about sacrifice.
You sacrificed for your
children.
You sacrificed
part of your own self
to build worth so that you can
have freedom later on in life.
I also think
that years ago as a young mother
and homemaker,
my focuses were so narrow.
It was home. It was work.
It was children.
And now today,
my focus is so widened.
It's like a freedom.
I think about my spirituality
and how I can broaden that,
what I can teach someone else,
particularly my grandchildren
and young people,
and it's joyous.
A decade ago, it was a blur.
Mm-hmm.
It was just too fast.
There was no time to reflect.
Now there is.
Mm-hmm.
So what we know
about the conditions
that lead us either to our
best or worst as human beings
really is situational.
Humans at their best,
humans at their
most kind of benevolent,
have been humans that have
been in a set of conditions
where they have felt cared for,
where they have felt safe,
and where they have had
a sense of security
not just about the present
moment but what is to come.
Now, that's obviously gonna beg
the question about right now,
because in this kind of
crossroads moment that we're in,
a lot of us don't feel safe.
We don't feel secure,
whether it's climate change,
racial injustice,
or the headlines
around what artificial
intelligence is doing,
coming for our jobs.
We're kind of
moving into a fear stance.
What I think
we're struggling with right now
is trying to retrieve
what it means to be human
in a digital age.
We know something's wrong.
The story
you're going to see and hear
is about science.
It is also a story about you.
One interesting
question to ask right now--
What does it mean to be human?
And I think it's good
to ask that question
because what it meant
to be human
may be different going forward.
Back when
I was a little hacker kid,
there was something
we called an exploit.
And that was,
when you were hacking,
you would find an exploit
in the computer
so that you could
get in there and, like,
control the thermostat
at the mall, right,
or change your grades in school.
What we're doing now is
telling our computers
and digital technologies
and AIs and algorithms
to find exploits in us--
exploits in our psychology,
exploits in our
emotional fabric,
exploits in our neurology--
and to mine them
for whatever purposes
they deem are important to them.
So when we are living
in a landscape
increasingly populated by
entities that are trying to
exploit us, to destabilize us,
to decalibrate our neurology
and psychology,
we are going to end up
emotionally unstable
and cognitively compromised.
There are startups.
There are established companies
that are working very hard
right now to bring machines
and humans together in new ways.
We have tools
that could transform humanity.
And we need to really
think through
how we're gonna deploy them.
These new tools
are fascinating
and full of incredible potential
to improve our lives,
but they also raise
all sorts of questions
about the impacts
and unintended consequences
they will bring.
What does it mean
to add on to our biology?
And what are the implications
to who and what we are?
I've come
to Cambridge University,
where an augmentation designer
named Dani Clode
is working on a project
called the Third Thumb,
a 3-D-printed hand extension
controlled by the feet,
exploring the impacts
of body-connected technology.
So this is my thumb.
So this is controlled
with my toes.
So there's pressure sensors
underneath my big toes.
And I'm controlling
the two degrees of freedom.
It seems kind of bizarre
to be controlling
something on my hand
with my toes,
but there's also
so many products that--
already utilize this
really strong connection
between our
upper and lower limbs.
And often
it's to extend the task
that our hands are doing.
Driving is the main one.
Instruments, sewing machines.
It's very frequent that
we'll kind of, you know,
lean on the toes to extend
the function of the hands.
It does freak me out
a little bit.
Yeah, does it?
It's a normal first response.
Is it? Is it? I mean,
what is that coming--
like, deep down, what is it
that folks are responding to
when they see--it's
one thing to talk about
something like this
theoretically.
It's another thing to be
talking to another human
with six fingers.
It's really important
that I find that line
and don't try
to cross it too much
in terms of the weirdness.
Because I want it
to be accepted.
You know, I want it to be
something that
people are intrigued
about trying on.
Hesitant but intrigued
is my sweet spot,
and so not scared.
So, yeah.
So this is what is going
underneath your foot.
The main control is
the dominant kind of
flexion control.
And it sits just
on your palm there.
So we usually do--
so the dominant movement,
which is flexion/extension
of our thumb.
So this is flexion, extension
and adduction and abduction.
So that's where the 2 degrees
of freedom of the thumb
that I focus on.
I want to see if I can--
Yeah. You're doing good for
your first kind of minute.
What you probably notice
is that straight away,
it's quite easy to do
the big, full movements
Yeah.
really quickly.
And then it's, what you start
to learn across the week,
if you were a participant,
is there's really smaller,
finer motor movements.
And that's when kind of
calibrating the sensors
to your feet and stuff
would really help.
It's already changing
the way that you
are considering
approaching an object.
Yeah. There we go.
Have to keep
the pressure on it.
Yeah.
I mean, but just--I mean,
look, I'm a minute into it.
But then the ability to--
Yeah.
There we go.
I'm not as scared
anymore.
I'm so glad.
Wallach, voice-over: Dani's
project is designed to be
a fun and thought-provoking
experience,
but it sits inside of
a rapidly-accelerating new field
known as human augmentation,
where designers around the world
are working on ways
to increase and expand
our bodies' natural capacities.
And as simple as it seems
to play with a third thumb,
what she is really doing
is using this as a way
to learn about
how our brains respond
to tools outside
our biological bodies.
How does this change
the definition of human?
Because when we often
think of the term human
Yeah.
we think of
the very kind of classic
Homo sapiens hardware set.
But you're talking about
something
dramatically different.
Yeah.
How will that change
how we think about
what it means to be human?
I mean, I think we're
already playing around
with what it means
to be human.
We're adapting
ourselves already
so much technologically,
you know?
And even something as,
like, simple and complex
as memory with our phones,
you know,
we're already changing
the way, you know,
we utilize our memory.
I don't know if you can
remember phone numbers,
but I used to remember
all my best friends'
phone numbers.
And now, I can barely
remember my own.
We're already shifting
ourselves so much.
And so when you start
to kind of change the way
we embody this technology
that's implanted
or removable or wearable,
the human is gonna not
stop at the skin level.
What we're talking about
isn't slowing down.
It's just speeding up.
What are the questions
that you're asking yourself
about where this might go,
where this should go,
where this could go?
I'm so excited for how much
it's gonna help people,
but we also just have to--
I feel like we just have
to move at this equal pace
of questioning it
constantly.
And I feel like a lot of
people that
are developing
this kind of technology
aren't really
truly thinking
about the impact
on our biological selves.
Because it's
technology, right?
So we just kind of like,
go, go, go, go, go
as fast as possible.
And make it efficient,
make it--you know.
And where ability is even
not included as much,
let's just make it work.
And then we'll work out
everything else later.
And so we really just need
to be cautious of that.
Wallach, voice-over:
What's striking about this field
is how little is currently known
about
how our brains will respond
to these new tools.
And that's what
Dani is calling for,
a lot more study into
the effects and consequences
as new products and designs
continue to roll out.
While I was there,
she let me take part
in an MRI-based study
designed to measure
the brain's response
to this kind of augmentation,
as participants
follow simple prompts
to move the third thumb,
generating valuable data
that she and her team
can analyze.
We're just about to start,
yeah? You ready?
I'm ready.
Just touch the fingers,
so your thumb
and the other fingers together.
Like one, yeah. OK?
Yeah. I can already see that.
OK. We stop now.
This is amazing,
because it's my brain.
It is your brain.
What is it that
you're curious about?
Well,
we want to see the impact that
potentially that
upper limb augmentation
is having on your brain.
And we have to do MRI
to really investigate that.
In many ways,
what took hundreds of
thousands of years
or maybe even millions
of years of evolution
to give us these, you know,
10 fingers and 10 toes,
you're now doing in a matter
of a couple of years.
Yeah, I mean,
we're not sure
what a couple of years
using augmentation devices
would do to the brain.
At the moment, we're running
a seven-day training study,
which is already
a lot of data collection.
So, yeah.
I mean, but this is technology
that could potentially
be used for years.
We need to see the impact
that it's having on the brain
to try and investigate
what's changing.
Wallach, voice-over:
The research Dani is doing
is fascinating and feels
more important than ever
as we look ahead.
Augmentation is only
the tip of the spear
in terms of
the scientific transformation
we are in the midst of.
Beyond simply adding on to life,
the rapidly-expanding field
of synthetic biology
is actually editing
the very building blocks of life
itself.
I like to think
about synthetic biology
as a general purpose technology.
This is a technology that,
over time, has
the ability to generate value,
create new types of jobs,
and basically become
a invisible part of society.
Other general purpose
technologies--the steam engine.
The internet completely
transformed society.
Synthetic biology is a new
general purpose technology
that will impact
just about every industry
everywhere on the planet,
whether that's coming up
with a self-healing paint
for your car,
so if your car gets scratched,
you know,
that the paint heals itself,
or a new type of antibiotic.
What if there was a leaf
that was able
to suck more CO2
out of the atmosphere?
What would it mean
for a computer
that combines human brain cells
and the computer chip?
There are reasons that
we want to edit, to enhance,
but we also have to
think through
the sort of knock-on effects,
the unintended consequences
of that enhancement.
Wallach, voice-over: As human
and nonhuman technology
continues to speed up,
it raises both new
and very old questions about
who and what we are as people.
Why do we feel so disconnected
from ourselves, from each other,
and from the kind of futures
we want to see unfold?
What does it mean to not only
improve the human hardware
but the software as well?
I came to Oakland to sit with
a Zen priest named Rev. Angel
to learn about why,
even with all these new tools,
being human today in so many
ways feels harder, not easier,
than it ever has before.
What does it mean
to be human?
To care
to be connected
and to be compassionate.
My take is that we are
in deep yearning
and we're not
comfortable with that.
We've created so much division
and separation and connection,
and we don't know how
to get back to ourselves.
We put everything outside,
and then we're
turning around, looking,
and going, "Am I OK?"
We just spend our lives
going, like, "Am I OK?"
Where does the pain
come from right now
that is kind of
reverberating
throughout society?
Yeah, it's disconnect.
All of that is disconnect,
disconnect from--you know,
we have a planet
that is, like,
screaming bloody murder for us
to either, like,
get off of it or get with it.
We have come to accept
someone else's
limited imagination
of what it means
to be human,
that we are here, basically,
clubbing each other to death,
trying to get ahead.
We have to yield
the notion that we are--
we are defined
by what we produce.
We have to give
ourselves over
to the understanding that--
that we have inherent worth
and, therefore,
let go of the ways
in which our worth
is being defined.
When you get off that train
and you recognize
that care and connection is
the thing that allows you
to be alive, to see,
to taste, to feel,
it shifts entirely
what you think is important.
What you drive towards,
what is actually moving you
is entirely different.
Wallach, voice-over: In the face
of so much change and turmoil
in the world around us,
it's beautiful to remember
just how simple and sacred it
really is to be a human being.
And when I actually slow down
long enough to remember,
it does fill me with a renewed
sense of hope and possibility
for who and what we can become.
If built within us all is
the capacity
for love and compassion,
then what does it look like
to extend that
to those around us?
In a moment
when we constantly see
the effects of us at our worst,
I'm interested
in people who can show us
what's possible
when we come to see ourselves
and those around us
as innately human.
So I came to Los Angeles
to spend time
with a group of people who are
using music to do just that.
Ready? And
Cycle. Beautiful job
So my name's Tony Brown,
and I'm the CEO
of Heart of Los Angeles,
and I'm the co-founder
of the Intergenerational
Music Programs.
Tell me
how it got started.
Give me kind of
the origin story
and what it is now.
So when we first
started thinking
about the Intergenerational
orchestra programs,
we wanted to make sure
that we were reaching
into the African-American
communities
in Los Angeles County,
we wanted to make sure
we were reaching
into the elder communities
throughout Los Angeles,
and we wanted
to make sure, of course,
we hit not only
Latinx, Filipino,
but our Korean brothers
and sisters, too,
that this was not
just going to be
any other orchestra or
every other orchestra.
This was gonna be one that
was truly intergenerational
and, likely,
truly multicultural.
Piano, piano, piano, piano!
So why do that, right?
Because it'd be much easier
to just have
a youth orchestra
Sure.
and have an elder orchestra.
What's the thinking behind an
intergenerational orchestra?
This orchestra opportunity
gives everyone the chance
to dust off
their instrument, right,
and pick it back up again
and go on a journey together.
And I think for the elders,
it's what they look
forward to every week.
It's maybe the one thing
they look forward to
most every week.
And for the young people,
the incredible wisdom
that they gain
from their elders
and also the sense
of empowerment
they get
from teaching an elder--
how to remember the fingering
that, you know,
we used to know
10 and 15 years ago--
is pretty special to see.
Those of us who are
providing youth services
realize that it's
so critically important
for young people to have
caring adults
in their lives.
And for many
of our young people,
that's hard to come by,
and for, you know,
of course,
our adults, our elders,
there's no reason they
should ever have to,
you know,
live or die alone.
They should be able to exit
this great Earth knowing
that they've touched
the lives of others
and are loved
and will be missed.
Wallach, voice-over: Tony's love
for this unique orchestra is
evident, but even more so is his
belief that human compassion
has the ability
to cut across differences
and transform our lives
and communities.
Tony, voice-over:
You look at an orchestra,
and it's a metaphor to me
of coming together
and producing
something beautiful,
even though there's different
types of instruments
that make different sounds,
you know,
that are different sizes.
And yet, when you
bring them together
through
this common experience
of learning
and developing together
at the same time,
growing together,
lifelong learning together,
to then produce
this beautiful sound,
it gives you hope that
despite our differences,
we can come together
and make something
beautiful happen.
And that's what we
should be doing
not only inside
of an orchestra program,
but throughout
our communities.
Every single
interaction you have
with every other human,
every single one
of them has the opportunity
for an experience of grace
and connection and wonder.
Empathy is our ability
to perceive,
understand,
and to some extent,
feel the emotions
and pain of others.
And it's so central to us all
being on this planet,
because without collaboration,
reciprocity,
and helping behaviors,
none of us would be here.
It's so simple
to look around and see
what actually needs to be done.
Whose hand needs to be held?
Who's sitting alone on a bench?
The really
burning question is,
Can empathy be taught?
Because most people think
it's an inborn trait,
you know, that you
either have or you don't,
and that you can't do
much about it.
And I think
that's an accepted view,
so people don't even try.
One of the most exciting things
about our research
was that we really
dispelled the myth.
We learned that empathy
can be augmented.
When we realize that
there are certain ways
to nurture empathy,
that's something we can teach.
It can start
when children are very young.
Feeling with someone is
altogether different.
That means part of you--
part of yourself has been
touched by that person's pain
enough to want to relieve it.
Up until
having kids, I always kind of
viewed my life very much
as like a 100-yard dash, right?
Like, Ari is born.
I do a bunch of stuff,
and then Ari dies.
All of a sudden, I have kids.
I remember at one point
holding one of my daughters
kind of, you know, skin to skin,
and for the first time,
felt emotion that was
actually outside
of my physical body.
Like, I had actually,
in some ways,
transcended
my biological hardware footprint
in a way that
was totally unexpected.
The other thing was
I transcended time.
You know,
they were like time machines,
but they were these,
like, gifts from the future.
And I now for the first time
saw how my actions
were going to affect the world
that my children will inhabit,
that my grandchildren
will inhabit.
How can we expand
the temporal horizons
that we're all operating within
and are comfortable
thinking within
and really look beyond a time
that goes ahead of
our own individual lifespans?
How do we think
about generations
who will inherit this planet?
And in the policies
that we're making,
in the businesses
that we're launching,
in the products that
we're designing,
how can we lead
from a place of care?
These ideas
of seeing beyond ourselves
and our one lifetime
are more important
right now than ever.
If empathy is a muscle
that grows when we use it,
what does it look like
to foster more of it
in a world desperate for more
compassion and connection?
In Amsterdam, these ideas
aren't theoretical.
They're being put to use,
creating
new ways of caring for the most
vulnerable in our societies.
I'm Jannette Spiering,
and I am a founder
of the Hogeweyk,
which is a dementia village.
I want to talk
a little bit about aging,
kind of, in general.
How do you see
those stigmas around aging,
and how do you see
those changing?
I sometimes think
that old age
is seen as an illness.
It's also maybe
kind of a nuisance.
And that really
has to change,
because there will be
so many elderly people
in the future
everywhere
in every country.
Many of them will become
diagnosed with dementia.
One in three people
in the world
will die with a diagnosis
of dementia.
Imagine that.
It is fearful
to think of that.
And especially
when you are aware
that we cannot segregate
all these people
from society.
So what are some
of the characteristics that
we'll find in this village
that, for instance,
we wouldn't find in,
you know,
a block
institutional setting?
What we try to do is
to get away
from the institute.
Nursing homes are--
well, as I see them--
awful institutes, where
people are locked in
and segregated
from society.
Everything that you will
find in the Hogeweyk
is different from
a regular institute.
The way people live
together, for example.
We created houses where
7 people live together.
Every meal is cooked
in the houses.
And you have to go
to a supermarket
to get your groceries to be
able to create that meal.
So we have a supermarket
on the premises.
You can decide
by yourself
if you want
to go for a walk
or if you want to become
a member of a club
or you just want to visit
a concert in the theater.
People who live here
need support,
but they are still
part of society.
This is a complete
humanization
of the care,
what you see.
I think that we must
accept that growing old
is just part of
what life is
and that we must accept
everything
that comes with it.
And how well-intended
the institutions we build
to keep people safe
actually take away
everything
that you have
as a human being.
And I think that
if we are able
to think different
about that,
that's a good start.
Wallach, voice-over: This unique
form of community and care
has led to significant results,
including greatly reducing
the dependency on medication.
That's a big deal.
In a future where the number
of people with dementia
is expected to double
by 2030 and triple by 2050,
the work they're doing here asks
all kinds of questions about
how we can adapt
our methods of care
and even extend beyond
just human care alone.
As we train machines
to be more and more humanlike,
as AI technologies
continue to accelerate,
what are the values
we are imbuing them with?
In the 1800s, there was
a mathematician, Ada Lovelace,
and in the footnotes of papers
that she was translating
about one of
the very first computers,
she starts describing
a computer that
someday may think
just like humans.
This is really important,
because for hundreds of years,
we've been trying to figure out
how to replicate life,
how to replicate
the human experience.
The machine uses
only two sounds
produced electrically.
Say "She saw me."
She saw me.
Slowly over time
Hello. I am Macintosh.
we've started to make
inroads
developing computers
that feel more human,
that seem like
they might be thinking.
If you're talking to a chatbot
and that chatbot appears
to exhibit emotion
or appears to want to connect
with you on a deeper level,
would you say that
that chatbot is human?
Boy, that really
blows my digital mind.
Now, most people would say no.
They would describe it as
a really humanlike interaction,
but we're still using
the word "human."
All of these different
philosophical questions,
they actually matter a lot,
because these are the very
research ideas that are
being pursued as we're
building out these technologies
that eventually are gonna
impact all of our lives.
Wallach, voice-over:
Someone who has been
at the forefront of this work
is musician Grimes,
and I wanted to get
her perspective
on where we are
in this evolution,
the creative potential
she sees,
and the importance of hope
in what comes next.
As an artist,
what do you feel is, like,
the moral imperative
of this moment in time?
I did a poll recently
on Twitter
where I asked people, like,
if they had any purpose
in their life
And, like, it was like,
70% of people said
no or something.
Wow.
Like, if there's
ever a moment to have
a feeling of purpose,
I think it would be now,
because what we do
and the things we create
over the next few decades
will probably shape, like,
all minds going forward
for the rest of time.
And so if there was ever
a time to have purpose,
I think it's really,
yeah, like, right now.
How should artists, then,
be thinking about
how they work
with technology,
and, really, in many ways,
specifically AI?
I really think there
is actually, like,
a beautiful amount of
opportunity here right now.
Grimes, voice-over: When I
started making music,
there was sort of
this revolution happening
in music production.
More people were being
able to make music
at home
on their computers.
And I think there was
a massive democratization
of who was allowed
to make music that, like,
I took huge advantage of,
that was
fully the byproduct
of technology.
And I think this is about
to extend to all of art.
You know, when I see some of
the new stuff coming with AI,
like video to video
and text to video
and all this stuff that,
like, is about
to explode.
And I think it's
so beautiful that, like,
when everyone
has the same tools
that can make
professional quality stuff,
then, like, you get to see
the actual talent,
like, really rise
to the top.
You've said
consciousness is sacred.
Yeah.
Tell me more about that.
I think
because we're all alive,
we all, like,
take it for granted
that, like, I can think
and I have agency
and I can feel.
You know, if we're really
alone in the universe,
which it seems like,
I think the thing
that's happening here
right now,
like, this is, like,
literally God or something.
This is, like,
the universe waking up
and perceiving itself.
I think the single
most important thing is
to make sure that this
spark that exists
here on planet Earth
gets to be elsewhere.
And I don't even really
care if it's biological life
or digital life
or something like that.
I--I'm really a proponent
of, like,
keeping the humans alive.
But, like, if it's
silicon-based life
that goes out there,
I think that's just as good.
I just--I think the universe
is empty and quiet,
and it wants to be
woken up
and filled
with beautiful things.
Wallach, voice-over: It makes me
excited to think that
we really are on the threshold
of wild and wonderful new ideas
about who
and what we can become.
But if we're gonna create
the futures we want to see
for our kids and grandkids,
new technologies
will only take us so far.
How we choose to use them
matters more than ever.
In Brooklyn,
a group of artists are using AI
to create
an immersive-art experience
aimed at examining our
relationship with these tools
in fascinating new ways.
What we're seeing today
is a collected work of
what Ouchhh collective calls
data generative painting.
What that fundamentally means
is that they in their studio
took enormously
large data sets--
millions of lines of text,
millions of paintings,
petabytes and petabytes
of data--
fed them into a computer,
and let the computer
seek out patterns within it.
The computer
then generates new data.
And then the folks
at Ouchhh collective
feed that into software,
and the software
puts it on the walls.
Through these powerful
algorithms that they built,
they could take the human
experience in toto, right--
massive data sets--
and you could learn something.
So this
is the server room.
This is where
all the stuff lives
that operates
all the stuff in there.
So the EEG takes six different
types of brainwave data.
Each of those
different dimensions
gets assigned
something to manipulate
within the visual palette,
right?
So it could be that, you know,
the amplitude of the wave is
the thing that changes
the color frequency.
All it takes is
a little bit of human input
to say, "OK, we'll make
a scene with these shapes
or with this patterning."
But the possibilities
are endless.
It's only a matter of sort of
the length of your creativity.
When we have
a large audience,
we'll have the audience
wear heartbeat monitors
on their wrists.
Those get fed
into the computer,
and those start to manipulate
the visuals as well.
If the goal is great
collective experience,
which I would hope
immersive art should be,
we get ever closer to it
when we incorporate audience
into performance as well.
What we've really
been able to do is
tap into the feedback loop
of the human soul.
That musician is having
an emotional response
to whatever they're doing
in the moment.
Whether that's
the music itself,
whether that's the audience's
reaction to the music,
whether it's
the visuals on the wall,
they're having
an emotional reaction.
Wallach, voice-over: It's
a profound feeling to experience
both humans and machines
collaborating in real time.
This is just the beginning.
And as these tools
continue to evolve,
expanding our ability
to imagine and create,
what will we choose
to use them for?
What new possibilities
will we unlock?
And what kind of
human and nonhuman potential
is waiting to be unleashed?
But as limitless as these
new tools are proving to be,
we are still finite beings.
And one of the things
that holds us back
from imagining
creating better futures
is we often work so hard
to deny our own mortality.
But what would change
and what could be possible
if we didn't see death
as the end?
How much bigger
could our imagination
about the future become
if we were comfortable
thinking further forward
than our own single lifetime?
I came to Arizona
to meet Alua Arthur,
someone who has spent her life
helping people
face death
with grace and dignity.
She is what's called
a death doula,
and in addition to working
with her own patients,
this weekend,
she was here to train others,
who are embarking on this unique
form of service themselves.
Life is an utter gift.
To watch life leave a body,
the utter stillness
that happens
after a death has occurred,
is a really poignant
reminder
that life hangs
on the breath.
You know, that it's here
one minute and gone the next.
And so by virtue
of continuing to have it,
I am still partaking
in this tremendous gift
that I've been given--
that I'm still alive,
that I still get
to talk to people
and feel cold on my skin
and eat delicious food
and hug and laugh and dance
and just be here
while I'm here.
I've also learned that
humans are extraordinary.
We're such a miracle.
It takes so many
katrillion of functions
just to keep our bodies going.
And so when the body can no
longer and it's time to die,
that's also really
awe-inspiring,
that it carries on for so long,
and then when it can't,
we have no choice
but to surrender to
the fact that it can't.
What is it that,
in your experience,
leads to the level
of kind of death anxiety
or the fear of death
in our society right now?
At its root, I think, is
the very fragile human ego
that thinks of itself
as the main character
in the story
and is so afraid
of it not existing anymore,
and so we shun it.
We recoil
against that idea.
We want to stay alive.
We want to be around.
We want to do all the things
because we are
so attached to who we are
and our being alive.
We're afraid of it.
It's a big unknown also.
Like, nobody knows
what happens after we die,
and that makes us
really uncomfortable.
We feel powerless
in the face of the unknown.
We also feel powerless
against death itself,
and that makes us want
to avoid it at all costs.
Wallach, voice-over:
Rather than avoiding it,
Alua has spent years now
helping those who are dying
as well as the loved ones
they are leaving behind.
She's come to believe
that a relationship to death
is directly connected to
our relationship to the future
and to life itself.
Welcome.
This evening, we're going
to do a death meditation.
This next time
that we have together
is about you and your death,
you with you--
one on one, one on one--
you and your body
and the journey that you're
gonna go on with your own body.
All right?
So get comfortable,
as much as possible.
Get cozy.
Death is inevitable.
All of us will die
sooner or later.
In about a hundred years,
all the humans currently
on the planet will be gone,
except for the few
who are just being born
and will live long lifespans.
No one has escaped death,
not even the great masters
and teachers of our time.
Every person and every creature
on the planet will die.
When it's time to actually die,
it will be in an ordinary moment
just like this one.
Your breathing
is getting shallower.
Your energy is draining.
Your body temperature
begins to drop.
Your connection to this earth
beneath you is slipping.
You are aware now
that you are dying.
Your body is
no longer relevant.
Your material possessions
cannot help.
Your loved ones
cannot save you.
You will speak no more words.
You begin to experience
a sense of expanding,
connecting with all that ever
was and all that ever will be.
See yourself as a candle,
a small flickering flame.
And with a gust of wind,
see that flame
now extinguished.
Now take
another deep breath in.
Bring in strong, holding it,
and release.
You are very much alive.
Bring awareness to your body.
Wiggle your toes.
Rotate your feet.
Life forces are swirling
inside of you.
Everything is functioning.
You just did
a death meditation,
and I'm very proud of you.
Wallach, voice-over: I will
never, ever forget the feeling
of being in the room
there that night.
It's counterintuitive,
but facing our own mortality
holds a key
to seeing ourselves
as just a part of
the larger human story,
one piece of the future
that we can both build
and soon leave behind.
What does it mean
to live like we're dying?
It means to live presently.
It means to be with
where I am today,
recognizing that everything
I have in this moment,
what I've done so far,
what I've given so far,
who I've been so far
has been enough,
and that, if tomorrow is it,
I can go satisfied.
I think we
have to change the register
at which human activity
is taking place, right?
Where right now,
we're really stuck
in an industrial register,
where we understand ourselves
in terms of our utility value,
right?
How much work can I get done?
How valuable am I?
How much money can I make?
There's always a metric.
How many likes did I get?
How many of this?
How many followers do I have?
It's very utilitarian.
I mean, I was raised
on "Mr. Rogers," right?
And Mr. Rogers, at the end
of every show, would say
I like you
exactly as you are.
I took him seriously.
I took that to mean
I am OK just the way I am.
I don't need to do anything
to justify my existence.
The positive human future
involves
us recognizing and retrieving
what matters
about our existence.
So if you could
give yourself some advice,
you know, talk to yourself
when you were in your 20s,
what would you say
to your 20-something self,
knowing what you know now?
I would tell myself
"Everything's
going to be OK,"
because I worried
so much in my youth,
in my 20s, my 30s,
also as a single mom,
and a lot of
different things,
but it was very difficult,
and I worried
about everything.
Instead of living
for the days,
I was surviving
through the days.
I would tell myself,
"You did good, girl."
You got--you got
to this point.
You got it.
Yeah.
I would tell
my 20-something-year-old self
that there is time.
"Experience life,
"and don't be
in such a hurry to be put
into that task-oriented,
day-to-day existence."
I would tell myself
that I'm not invincible
and I'm not exempt.
"You're gonna get through this,
and you're gonna be OK,
and, you know, it's gonna be
all right down the road."
I would tell myself,
"You are enough.
"You are wonderful.
You are precious."
"Be patient."
I'd go, "You will learn
everything you need
to get to the destination
you want."
I would say, "Stop
and smell the flowers.
"Go visit
your grandparents.
Listen to their stories."
You know, go pay those ones
respect and time,
'cause you don't have them
anymore now,
and it would have
been nice to have
a little more time
spent with them.
Wallach, voice-over:
You know, on the one hand,
visiting your parents'
gravesite is really intense,
because it's, like,
where they are,
but it's also not
where they are, right?
I was thinking this earlier.
Like, when I tell,
like, an off-color joke,
that's where my dad is.
Or when I see, like,
47 different colors
in a sunset,
that's where my mom is.
So on the one hand, it feels
like this is the place,
but then, like,
the whole planet feels like
the place when certain things
happen.
You know, I was 18 years old
when my father passed away.
But the love was
very thick in the home.
I don't see such
a stark line between, like,
his life and my life.
Like, different biologies,
different names.
But there's a kind of--
there's a thread,
both with my father
and my mother,
that just feels like it
is just going through me
and going into the kids.
And so whereas
I feel like, yes,
there are different bodies,
that thread, whatever that is,
feels very deep
and continuous.
The future is not
set in stone,
and I don't believe in destiny.
I know that at any moment,
we can change course.
We just have to make a decision
that we're gonna do that,
which means that
we have agency.
We have the ability to create
a future that we want.
I will be honest. Um, I--
you know, I am seeing
some pretty, pretty dark things
on the horizon.
There's no turning
these things off,
but we can forge a path forward.
Even though I read
the paper, like many people do,
and see so many challenges
that we have in cities,
counties, our country,
dysfunction, you know,
what motivates me is that
I know that I'm helping
to develop young people
into making the future
a heck of a lot brighter
than sometimes the things
I read in the paper.
It's the greatest luxury
in the world
to be able to intelligently
design the future.
Like, this is something
that is new.
This is something that is, like,
really just, like,
a product of modernity.
And I think we should definitely
take that opportunity.
A lot of what we need
to do right now is
actually evolve
our tools to better fit
how our minds work with
the technology that we have.
Creativity is the fuel
for all of this.
There should be
a place for humans,
for human life
in the digital future.
Not revolution but renaissance,
the rebirth of old ideas
in a new context.
Then we can begin
to live sustainably
as a form of human flourishing
rather than sustainably
as some negation of human need.
The Dalai Lama said
that love and compassion
are necessities, not luxuries
and without them,
humanity will not survive.
I think the primary story is
about our connection
rather than the story
about our disconnect.
It is true that we are
suffering from disconnect.
But understanding
the reason that we
feel so much pain from it
is because we have
a yearning to be connected.
I think part
of the magic of being human
is that the mundane is
where all the juice is.
When I know that this time
that I have here is finite,
then every breath matters more,
every birthday matters more,
every hug matters more.
We're at
this inflection point
for Homo sapiens,
and a lot of folks
are basically focusing on
the external future's
environment.
Super important, obviously--
artificial intelligence,
bioengineering,
climate change, inequality.
A host of issues, conundrums,
problems, and opportunities
that manifest
in the external reality,
the external world around us.
But at the same time,
we have to focus
on internal futures.
How do we evolve the internal
as much as we evolve
the external?
What I find
so fascinating about being human
is that every generation
kind of starts from zero.
Almost every other animal
can pretty much
stand up within a few seconds,
and they can kind of
make it on their own.
We can't.
So to be human means from
the very first several seconds
to be dependent
and to be in relationship
with other humans
for not just our basic needs
but all of our needs.
To be human means to be
in a social context.
It means to be
in relationship with others,
in relationship with yourself.
But our world
as it's built right now
doesn't drive us towards that.
If anything, it actually
drives us further apart.
We set up offices with cubes
where people
actually don't see each other.
We have
these single-family homes.
And then we take our youth
and we send them
for most of the day
to one building.
And then we take our
grandparents and our seniors,
and we send them off
to another building.
While we know what led to kind
of flourishing and happiness
for tens of thousands of years,
in many ways,
we're doing the exact opposite.
At the end of the day,
we are now realizing that
this hardware that
is the human,
kind of, biological being
is now operating in
an environment, in a context,
both in terms of politics,
in terms of technology,
just in terms of
the pace of the world
that it just wasn't made for.
And we're starting
to actually step back and say,
"Is this actually the way
I want to be human?"
The modern moment
we're living in
and the rapidly changing world
around us
is forcing us to ask
some new and needed questions
about what it means to be human.
As my journey continues,
I've been thinking a lot
about the role of Homo sapiens
right now
and in the years to come.
How is technology changing us?
Can we evolve past
our worst tendencies?
And is there something sacred
about who we are
that goes beyond
just what we can achieve?
These questions have
big implications
for the kind of futures
we choose to create,
so today I've come to spend
time with a group of people
living together in
a retirement community
to hear a perspective
that only age can provide.
So I just want to start off
by just asking anyone,
What does it mean to be human
at this moment in time?
In this day
and age where we live,
in a 55 & older community,
we are being human,
because we take care
of one another.
We look out
for one another.
For me, I think being human
is knowing that I'm imperfect
and that the people
around me are imperfect,
and that I don't have to look
for perfection in others.
From a spiritual point of view,
being a human is to learn
a lesson in this world.
Because we are now
in a physical form
and because a spirit
could be reincarnated.
So here, I am learning
everything that I can.
We want to be heard.
We want to be seen.
We want to be loved.
We want to find someone
that can really--
we can connect with, that can
bring that true happiness
to life for us.
Being human is
a lot of things to me.
When I was younger,
as someone else pointed out,
it was different.
It was moving forward in this
very tunnel vision of life--
raising children, doing a job,
doing everything else.
I'm able to take
that experience, though,
and share it with grandchildren
that I have
that are in their 20s and 30s,
and saying, These are the things
to look forward to me.
So being human means being
compassionate, having empathy.
How would you have answered
that several decades ago?
I think in the past,
it was all about sacrifice.
You sacrificed for your
children.
You sacrificed
part of your own self
to build worth so that you can
have freedom later on in life.
I also think
that years ago as a young mother
and homemaker,
my focuses were so narrow.
It was home. It was work.
It was children.
And now today,
my focus is so widened.
It's like a freedom.
I think about my spirituality
and how I can broaden that,
what I can teach someone else,
particularly my grandchildren
and young people,
and it's joyous.
A decade ago, it was a blur.
Mm-hmm.
It was just too fast.
There was no time to reflect.
Now there is.
Mm-hmm.
So what we know
about the conditions
that lead us either to our
best or worst as human beings
really is situational.
Humans at their best,
humans at their
most kind of benevolent,
have been humans that have
been in a set of conditions
where they have felt cared for,
where they have felt safe,
and where they have had
a sense of security
not just about the present
moment but what is to come.
Now, that's obviously gonna beg
the question about right now,
because in this kind of
crossroads moment that we're in,
a lot of us don't feel safe.
We don't feel secure,
whether it's climate change,
racial injustice,
or the headlines
around what artificial
intelligence is doing,
coming for our jobs.
We're kind of
moving into a fear stance.
What I think
we're struggling with right now
is trying to retrieve
what it means to be human
in a digital age.
We know something's wrong.
The story
you're going to see and hear
is about science.
It is also a story about you.
One interesting
question to ask right now--
What does it mean to be human?
And I think it's good
to ask that question
because what it meant
to be human
may be different going forward.
Back when
I was a little hacker kid,
there was something
we called an exploit.
And that was,
when you were hacking,
you would find an exploit
in the computer
so that you could
get in there and, like,
control the thermostat
at the mall, right,
or change your grades in school.
What we're doing now is
telling our computers
and digital technologies
and AIs and algorithms
to find exploits in us--
exploits in our psychology,
exploits in our
emotional fabric,
exploits in our neurology--
and to mine them
for whatever purposes
they deem are important to them.
So when we are living
in a landscape
increasingly populated by
entities that are trying to
exploit us, to destabilize us,
to decalibrate our neurology
and psychology,
we are going to end up
emotionally unstable
and cognitively compromised.
There are startups.
There are established companies
that are working very hard
right now to bring machines
and humans together in new ways.
We have tools
that could transform humanity.
And we need to really
think through
how we're gonna deploy them.
These new tools
are fascinating
and full of incredible potential
to improve our lives,
but they also raise
all sorts of questions
about the impacts
and unintended consequences
they will bring.
What does it mean
to add on to our biology?
And what are the implications
to who and what we are?
I've come
to Cambridge University,
where an augmentation designer
named Dani Clode
is working on a project
called the Third Thumb,
a 3-D-printed hand extension
controlled by the feet,
exploring the impacts
of body-connected technology.
So this is my thumb.
So this is controlled
with my toes.
So there's pressure sensors
underneath my big toes.
And I'm controlling
the two degrees of freedom.
It seems kind of bizarre
to be controlling
something on my hand
with my toes,
but there's also
so many products that--
already utilize this
really strong connection
between our
upper and lower limbs.
And often
it's to extend the task
that our hands are doing.
Driving is the main one.
Instruments, sewing machines.
It's very frequent that
we'll kind of, you know,
lean on the toes to extend
the function of the hands.
It does freak me out
a little bit.
Yeah, does it?
It's a normal first response.
Is it? Is it? I mean,
what is that coming--
like, deep down, what is it
that folks are responding to
when they see--it's
one thing to talk about
something like this
theoretically.
It's another thing to be
talking to another human
with six fingers.
It's really important
that I find that line
and don't try
to cross it too much
in terms of the weirdness.
Because I want it
to be accepted.
You know, I want it to be
something that
people are intrigued
about trying on.
Hesitant but intrigued
is my sweet spot,
and so not scared.
So, yeah.
So this is what is going
underneath your foot.
The main control is
the dominant kind of
flexion control.
And it sits just
on your palm there.
So we usually do--
so the dominant movement,
which is flexion/extension
of our thumb.
So this is flexion, extension
and adduction and abduction.
So that's where the 2 degrees
of freedom of the thumb
that I focus on.
I want to see if I can--
Yeah. You're doing good for
your first kind of minute.
What you probably notice
is that straight away,
it's quite easy to do
the big, full movements
Yeah.
really quickly.
And then it's, what you start
to learn across the week,
if you were a participant,
is there's really smaller,
finer motor movements.
And that's when kind of
calibrating the sensors
to your feet and stuff
would really help.
It's already changing
the way that you
are considering
approaching an object.
Yeah. There we go.
Have to keep
the pressure on it.
Yeah.
I mean, but just--I mean,
look, I'm a minute into it.
But then the ability to--
Yeah.
There we go.
I'm not as scared
anymore.
I'm so glad.
Wallach, voice-over: Dani's
project is designed to be
a fun and thought-provoking
experience,
but it sits inside of
a rapidly-accelerating new field
known as human augmentation,
where designers around the world
are working on ways
to increase and expand
our bodies' natural capacities.
And as simple as it seems
to play with a third thumb,
what she is really doing
is using this as a way
to learn about
how our brains respond
to tools outside
our biological bodies.
How does this change
the definition of human?
Because when we often
think of the term human
Yeah.
we think of
the very kind of classic
Homo sapiens hardware set.
But you're talking about
something
dramatically different.
Yeah.
How will that change
how we think about
what it means to be human?
I mean, I think we're
already playing around
with what it means
to be human.
We're adapting
ourselves already
so much technologically,
you know?
And even something as,
like, simple and complex
as memory with our phones,
you know,
we're already changing
the way, you know,
we utilize our memory.
I don't know if you can
remember phone numbers,
but I used to remember
all my best friends'
phone numbers.
And now, I can barely
remember my own.
We're already shifting
ourselves so much.
And so when you start
to kind of change the way
we embody this technology
that's implanted
or removable or wearable,
the human is gonna not
stop at the skin level.
What we're talking about
isn't slowing down.
It's just speeding up.
What are the questions
that you're asking yourself
about where this might go,
where this should go,
where this could go?
I'm so excited for how much
it's gonna help people,
but we also just have to--
I feel like we just have
to move at this equal pace
of questioning it
constantly.
And I feel like a lot of
people that
are developing
this kind of technology
aren't really
truly thinking
about the impact
on our biological selves.
Because it's
technology, right?
So we just kind of like,
go, go, go, go, go
as fast as possible.
And make it efficient,
make it--you know.
And where ability is even
not included as much,
let's just make it work.
And then we'll work out
everything else later.
And so we really just need
to be cautious of that.
Wallach, voice-over:
What's striking about this field
is how little is currently known
about
how our brains will respond
to these new tools.
And that's what
Dani is calling for,
a lot more study into
the effects and consequences
as new products and designs
continue to roll out.
While I was there,
she let me take part
in an MRI-based study
designed to measure
the brain's response
to this kind of augmentation,
as participants
follow simple prompts
to move the third thumb,
generating valuable data
that she and her team
can analyze.
We're just about to start,
yeah? You ready?
I'm ready.
Just touch the fingers,
so your thumb
and the other fingers together.
Like one, yeah. OK?
Yeah. I can already see that.
OK. We stop now.
This is amazing,
because it's my brain.
It is your brain.
What is it that
you're curious about?
Well,
we want to see the impact that
potentially that
upper limb augmentation
is having on your brain.
And we have to do MRI
to really investigate that.
In many ways,
what took hundreds of
thousands of years
or maybe even millions
of years of evolution
to give us these, you know,
10 fingers and 10 toes,
you're now doing in a matter
of a couple of years.
Yeah, I mean,
we're not sure
what a couple of years
using augmentation devices
would do to the brain.
At the moment, we're running
a seven-day training study,
which is already
a lot of data collection.
So, yeah.
I mean, but this is technology
that could potentially
be used for years.
We need to see the impact
that it's having on the brain
to try and investigate
what's changing.
Wallach, voice-over:
The research Dani is doing
is fascinating and feels
more important than ever
as we look ahead.
Augmentation is only
the tip of the spear
in terms of
the scientific transformation
we are in the midst of.
Beyond simply adding on to life,
the rapidly-expanding field
of synthetic biology
is actually editing
the very building blocks of life
itself.
I like to think
about synthetic biology
as a general purpose technology.
This is a technology that,
over time, has
the ability to generate value,
create new types of jobs,
and basically become
a invisible part of society.
Other general purpose
technologies--the steam engine.
The internet completely
transformed society.
Synthetic biology is a new
general purpose technology
that will impact
just about every industry
everywhere on the planet,
whether that's coming up
with a self-healing paint
for your car,
so if your car gets scratched,
you know,
that the paint heals itself,
or a new type of antibiotic.
What if there was a leaf
that was able
to suck more CO2
out of the atmosphere?
What would it mean
for a computer
that combines human brain cells
and the computer chip?
There are reasons that
we want to edit, to enhance,
but we also have to
think through
the sort of knock-on effects,
the unintended consequences
of that enhancement.
Wallach, voice-over: As human
and nonhuman technology
continues to speed up,
it raises both new
and very old questions about
who and what we are as people.
Why do we feel so disconnected
from ourselves, from each other,
and from the kind of futures
we want to see unfold?
What does it mean to not only
improve the human hardware
but the software as well?
I came to Oakland to sit with
a Zen priest named Rev. Angel
to learn about why,
even with all these new tools,
being human today in so many
ways feels harder, not easier,
than it ever has before.
What does it mean
to be human?
To care
to be connected
and to be compassionate.
My take is that we are
in deep yearning
and we're not
comfortable with that.
We've created so much division
and separation and connection,
and we don't know how
to get back to ourselves.
We put everything outside,
and then we're
turning around, looking,
and going, "Am I OK?"
We just spend our lives
going, like, "Am I OK?"
Where does the pain
come from right now
that is kind of
reverberating
throughout society?
Yeah, it's disconnect.
All of that is disconnect,
disconnect from--you know,
we have a planet
that is, like,
screaming bloody murder for us
to either, like,
get off of it or get with it.
We have come to accept
someone else's
limited imagination
of what it means
to be human,
that we are here, basically,
clubbing each other to death,
trying to get ahead.
We have to yield
the notion that we are--
we are defined
by what we produce.
We have to give
ourselves over
to the understanding that--
that we have inherent worth
and, therefore,
let go of the ways
in which our worth
is being defined.
When you get off that train
and you recognize
that care and connection is
the thing that allows you
to be alive, to see,
to taste, to feel,
it shifts entirely
what you think is important.
What you drive towards,
what is actually moving you
is entirely different.
Wallach, voice-over: In the face
of so much change and turmoil
in the world around us,
it's beautiful to remember
just how simple and sacred it
really is to be a human being.
And when I actually slow down
long enough to remember,
it does fill me with a renewed
sense of hope and possibility
for who and what we can become.
If built within us all is
the capacity
for love and compassion,
then what does it look like
to extend that
to those around us?
In a moment
when we constantly see
the effects of us at our worst,
I'm interested
in people who can show us
what's possible
when we come to see ourselves
and those around us
as innately human.
So I came to Los Angeles
to spend time
with a group of people who are
using music to do just that.
Ready? And
Cycle. Beautiful job
So my name's Tony Brown,
and I'm the CEO
of Heart of Los Angeles,
and I'm the co-founder
of the Intergenerational
Music Programs.
Tell me
how it got started.
Give me kind of
the origin story
and what it is now.
So when we first
started thinking
about the Intergenerational
orchestra programs,
we wanted to make sure
that we were reaching
into the African-American
communities
in Los Angeles County,
we wanted to make sure
we were reaching
into the elder communities
throughout Los Angeles,
and we wanted
to make sure, of course,
we hit not only
Latinx, Filipino,
but our Korean brothers
and sisters, too,
that this was not
just going to be
any other orchestra or
every other orchestra.
This was gonna be one that
was truly intergenerational
and, likely,
truly multicultural.
Piano, piano, piano, piano!
So why do that, right?
Because it'd be much easier
to just have
a youth orchestra
Sure.
and have an elder orchestra.
What's the thinking behind an
intergenerational orchestra?
This orchestra opportunity
gives everyone the chance
to dust off
their instrument, right,
and pick it back up again
and go on a journey together.
And I think for the elders,
it's what they look
forward to every week.
It's maybe the one thing
they look forward to
most every week.
And for the young people,
the incredible wisdom
that they gain
from their elders
and also the sense
of empowerment
they get
from teaching an elder--
how to remember the fingering
that, you know,
we used to know
10 and 15 years ago--
is pretty special to see.
Those of us who are
providing youth services
realize that it's
so critically important
for young people to have
caring adults
in their lives.
And for many
of our young people,
that's hard to come by,
and for, you know,
of course,
our adults, our elders,
there's no reason they
should ever have to,
you know,
live or die alone.
They should be able to exit
this great Earth knowing
that they've touched
the lives of others
and are loved
and will be missed.
Wallach, voice-over: Tony's love
for this unique orchestra is
evident, but even more so is his
belief that human compassion
has the ability
to cut across differences
and transform our lives
and communities.
Tony, voice-over:
You look at an orchestra,
and it's a metaphor to me
of coming together
and producing
something beautiful,
even though there's different
types of instruments
that make different sounds,
you know,
that are different sizes.
And yet, when you
bring them together
through
this common experience
of learning
and developing together
at the same time,
growing together,
lifelong learning together,
to then produce
this beautiful sound,
it gives you hope that
despite our differences,
we can come together
and make something
beautiful happen.
And that's what we
should be doing
not only inside
of an orchestra program,
but throughout
our communities.
Every single
interaction you have
with every other human,
every single one
of them has the opportunity
for an experience of grace
and connection and wonder.
Empathy is our ability
to perceive,
understand,
and to some extent,
feel the emotions
and pain of others.
And it's so central to us all
being on this planet,
because without collaboration,
reciprocity,
and helping behaviors,
none of us would be here.
It's so simple
to look around and see
what actually needs to be done.
Whose hand needs to be held?
Who's sitting alone on a bench?
The really
burning question is,
Can empathy be taught?
Because most people think
it's an inborn trait,
you know, that you
either have or you don't,
and that you can't do
much about it.
And I think
that's an accepted view,
so people don't even try.
One of the most exciting things
about our research
was that we really
dispelled the myth.
We learned that empathy
can be augmented.
When we realize that
there are certain ways
to nurture empathy,
that's something we can teach.
It can start
when children are very young.
Feeling with someone is
altogether different.
That means part of you--
part of yourself has been
touched by that person's pain
enough to want to relieve it.
Up until
having kids, I always kind of
viewed my life very much
as like a 100-yard dash, right?
Like, Ari is born.
I do a bunch of stuff,
and then Ari dies.
All of a sudden, I have kids.
I remember at one point
holding one of my daughters
kind of, you know, skin to skin,
and for the first time,
felt emotion that was
actually outside
of my physical body.
Like, I had actually,
in some ways,
transcended
my biological hardware footprint
in a way that
was totally unexpected.
The other thing was
I transcended time.
You know,
they were like time machines,
but they were these,
like, gifts from the future.
And I now for the first time
saw how my actions
were going to affect the world
that my children will inhabit,
that my grandchildren
will inhabit.
How can we expand
the temporal horizons
that we're all operating within
and are comfortable
thinking within
and really look beyond a time
that goes ahead of
our own individual lifespans?
How do we think
about generations
who will inherit this planet?
And in the policies
that we're making,
in the businesses
that we're launching,
in the products that
we're designing,
how can we lead
from a place of care?
These ideas
of seeing beyond ourselves
and our one lifetime
are more important
right now than ever.
If empathy is a muscle
that grows when we use it,
what does it look like
to foster more of it
in a world desperate for more
compassion and connection?
In Amsterdam, these ideas
aren't theoretical.
They're being put to use,
creating
new ways of caring for the most
vulnerable in our societies.
I'm Jannette Spiering,
and I am a founder
of the Hogeweyk,
which is a dementia village.
I want to talk
a little bit about aging,
kind of, in general.
How do you see
those stigmas around aging,
and how do you see
those changing?
I sometimes think
that old age
is seen as an illness.
It's also maybe
kind of a nuisance.
And that really
has to change,
because there will be
so many elderly people
in the future
everywhere
in every country.
Many of them will become
diagnosed with dementia.
One in three people
in the world
will die with a diagnosis
of dementia.
Imagine that.
It is fearful
to think of that.
And especially
when you are aware
that we cannot segregate
all these people
from society.
So what are some
of the characteristics that
we'll find in this village
that, for instance,
we wouldn't find in,
you know,
a block
institutional setting?
What we try to do is
to get away
from the institute.
Nursing homes are--
well, as I see them--
awful institutes, where
people are locked in
and segregated
from society.
Everything that you will
find in the Hogeweyk
is different from
a regular institute.
The way people live
together, for example.
We created houses where
7 people live together.
Every meal is cooked
in the houses.
And you have to go
to a supermarket
to get your groceries to be
able to create that meal.
So we have a supermarket
on the premises.
You can decide
by yourself
if you want
to go for a walk
or if you want to become
a member of a club
or you just want to visit
a concert in the theater.
People who live here
need support,
but they are still
part of society.
This is a complete
humanization
of the care,
what you see.
I think that we must
accept that growing old
is just part of
what life is
and that we must accept
everything
that comes with it.
And how well-intended
the institutions we build
to keep people safe
actually take away
everything
that you have
as a human being.
And I think that
if we are able
to think different
about that,
that's a good start.
Wallach, voice-over: This unique
form of community and care
has led to significant results,
including greatly reducing
the dependency on medication.
That's a big deal.
In a future where the number
of people with dementia
is expected to double
by 2030 and triple by 2050,
the work they're doing here asks
all kinds of questions about
how we can adapt
our methods of care
and even extend beyond
just human care alone.
As we train machines
to be more and more humanlike,
as AI technologies
continue to accelerate,
what are the values
we are imbuing them with?
In the 1800s, there was
a mathematician, Ada Lovelace,
and in the footnotes of papers
that she was translating
about one of
the very first computers,
she starts describing
a computer that
someday may think
just like humans.
This is really important,
because for hundreds of years,
we've been trying to figure out
how to replicate life,
how to replicate
the human experience.
The machine uses
only two sounds
produced electrically.
Say "She saw me."
She saw me.
Slowly over time
Hello. I am Macintosh.
we've started to make
inroads
developing computers
that feel more human,
that seem like
they might be thinking.
If you're talking to a chatbot
and that chatbot appears
to exhibit emotion
or appears to want to connect
with you on a deeper level,
would you say that
that chatbot is human?
Boy, that really
blows my digital mind.
Now, most people would say no.
They would describe it as
a really humanlike interaction,
but we're still using
the word "human."
All of these different
philosophical questions,
they actually matter a lot,
because these are the very
research ideas that are
being pursued as we're
building out these technologies
that eventually are gonna
impact all of our lives.
Wallach, voice-over:
Someone who has been
at the forefront of this work
is musician Grimes,
and I wanted to get
her perspective
on where we are
in this evolution,
the creative potential
she sees,
and the importance of hope
in what comes next.
As an artist,
what do you feel is, like,
the moral imperative
of this moment in time?
I did a poll recently
on Twitter
where I asked people, like,
if they had any purpose
in their life
And, like, it was like,
70% of people said
no or something.
Wow.
Like, if there's
ever a moment to have
a feeling of purpose,
I think it would be now,
because what we do
and the things we create
over the next few decades
will probably shape, like,
all minds going forward
for the rest of time.
And so if there was ever
a time to have purpose,
I think it's really,
yeah, like, right now.
How should artists, then,
be thinking about
how they work
with technology,
and, really, in many ways,
specifically AI?
I really think there
is actually, like,
a beautiful amount of
opportunity here right now.
Grimes, voice-over: When I
started making music,
there was sort of
this revolution happening
in music production.
More people were being
able to make music
at home
on their computers.
And I think there was
a massive democratization
of who was allowed
to make music that, like,
I took huge advantage of,
that was
fully the byproduct
of technology.
And I think this is about
to extend to all of art.
You know, when I see some of
the new stuff coming with AI,
like video to video
and text to video
and all this stuff that,
like, is about
to explode.
And I think it's
so beautiful that, like,
when everyone
has the same tools
that can make
professional quality stuff,
then, like, you get to see
the actual talent,
like, really rise
to the top.
You've said
consciousness is sacred.
Yeah.
Tell me more about that.
I think
because we're all alive,
we all, like,
take it for granted
that, like, I can think
and I have agency
and I can feel.
You know, if we're really
alone in the universe,
which it seems like,
I think the thing
that's happening here
right now,
like, this is, like,
literally God or something.
This is, like,
the universe waking up
and perceiving itself.
I think the single
most important thing is
to make sure that this
spark that exists
here on planet Earth
gets to be elsewhere.
And I don't even really
care if it's biological life
or digital life
or something like that.
I--I'm really a proponent
of, like,
keeping the humans alive.
But, like, if it's
silicon-based life
that goes out there,
I think that's just as good.
I just--I think the universe
is empty and quiet,
and it wants to be
woken up
and filled
with beautiful things.
Wallach, voice-over: It makes me
excited to think that
we really are on the threshold
of wild and wonderful new ideas
about who
and what we can become.
But if we're gonna create
the futures we want to see
for our kids and grandkids,
new technologies
will only take us so far.
How we choose to use them
matters more than ever.
In Brooklyn,
a group of artists are using AI
to create
an immersive-art experience
aimed at examining our
relationship with these tools
in fascinating new ways.
What we're seeing today
is a collected work of
what Ouchhh collective calls
data generative painting.
What that fundamentally means
is that they in their studio
took enormously
large data sets--
millions of lines of text,
millions of paintings,
petabytes and petabytes
of data--
fed them into a computer,
and let the computer
seek out patterns within it.
The computer
then generates new data.
And then the folks
at Ouchhh collective
feed that into software,
and the software
puts it on the walls.
Through these powerful
algorithms that they built,
they could take the human
experience in toto, right--
massive data sets--
and you could learn something.
So this
is the server room.
This is where
all the stuff lives
that operates
all the stuff in there.
So the EEG takes six different
types of brainwave data.
Each of those
different dimensions
gets assigned
something to manipulate
within the visual palette,
right?
So it could be that, you know,
the amplitude of the wave is
the thing that changes
the color frequency.
All it takes is
a little bit of human input
to say, "OK, we'll make
a scene with these shapes
or with this patterning."
But the possibilities
are endless.
It's only a matter of sort of
the length of your creativity.
When we have
a large audience,
we'll have the audience
wear heartbeat monitors
on their wrists.
Those get fed
into the computer,
and those start to manipulate
the visuals as well.
If the goal is great
collective experience,
which I would hope
immersive art should be,
we get ever closer to it
when we incorporate audience
into performance as well.
What we've really
been able to do is
tap into the feedback loop
of the human soul.
That musician is having
an emotional response
to whatever they're doing
in the moment.
Whether that's
the music itself,
whether that's the audience's
reaction to the music,
whether it's
the visuals on the wall,
they're having
an emotional reaction.
Wallach, voice-over: It's
a profound feeling to experience
both humans and machines
collaborating in real time.
This is just the beginning.
And as these tools
continue to evolve,
expanding our ability
to imagine and create,
what will we choose
to use them for?
What new possibilities
will we unlock?
And what kind of
human and nonhuman potential
is waiting to be unleashed?
But as limitless as these
new tools are proving to be,
we are still finite beings.
And one of the things
that holds us back
from imagining
creating better futures
is we often work so hard
to deny our own mortality.
But what would change
and what could be possible
if we didn't see death
as the end?
How much bigger
could our imagination
about the future become
if we were comfortable
thinking further forward
than our own single lifetime?
I came to Arizona
to meet Alua Arthur,
someone who has spent her life
helping people
face death
with grace and dignity.
She is what's called
a death doula,
and in addition to working
with her own patients,
this weekend,
she was here to train others,
who are embarking on this unique
form of service themselves.
Life is an utter gift.
To watch life leave a body,
the utter stillness
that happens
after a death has occurred,
is a really poignant
reminder
that life hangs
on the breath.
You know, that it's here
one minute and gone the next.
And so by virtue
of continuing to have it,
I am still partaking
in this tremendous gift
that I've been given--
that I'm still alive,
that I still get
to talk to people
and feel cold on my skin
and eat delicious food
and hug and laugh and dance
and just be here
while I'm here.
I've also learned that
humans are extraordinary.
We're such a miracle.
It takes so many
katrillion of functions
just to keep our bodies going.
And so when the body can no
longer and it's time to die,
that's also really
awe-inspiring,
that it carries on for so long,
and then when it can't,
we have no choice
but to surrender to
the fact that it can't.
What is it that,
in your experience,
leads to the level
of kind of death anxiety
or the fear of death
in our society right now?
At its root, I think, is
the very fragile human ego
that thinks of itself
as the main character
in the story
and is so afraid
of it not existing anymore,
and so we shun it.
We recoil
against that idea.
We want to stay alive.
We want to be around.
We want to do all the things
because we are
so attached to who we are
and our being alive.
We're afraid of it.
It's a big unknown also.
Like, nobody knows
what happens after we die,
and that makes us
really uncomfortable.
We feel powerless
in the face of the unknown.
We also feel powerless
against death itself,
and that makes us want
to avoid it at all costs.
Wallach, voice-over:
Rather than avoiding it,
Alua has spent years now
helping those who are dying
as well as the loved ones
they are leaving behind.
She's come to believe
that a relationship to death
is directly connected to
our relationship to the future
and to life itself.
Welcome.
This evening, we're going
to do a death meditation.
This next time
that we have together
is about you and your death,
you with you--
one on one, one on one--
you and your body
and the journey that you're
gonna go on with your own body.
All right?
So get comfortable,
as much as possible.
Get cozy.
Death is inevitable.
All of us will die
sooner or later.
In about a hundred years,
all the humans currently
on the planet will be gone,
except for the few
who are just being born
and will live long lifespans.
No one has escaped death,
not even the great masters
and teachers of our time.
Every person and every creature
on the planet will die.
When it's time to actually die,
it will be in an ordinary moment
just like this one.
Your breathing
is getting shallower.
Your energy is draining.
Your body temperature
begins to drop.
Your connection to this earth
beneath you is slipping.
You are aware now
that you are dying.
Your body is
no longer relevant.
Your material possessions
cannot help.
Your loved ones
cannot save you.
You will speak no more words.
You begin to experience
a sense of expanding,
connecting with all that ever
was and all that ever will be.
See yourself as a candle,
a small flickering flame.
And with a gust of wind,
see that flame
now extinguished.
Now take
another deep breath in.
Bring in strong, holding it,
and release.
You are very much alive.
Bring awareness to your body.
Wiggle your toes.
Rotate your feet.
Life forces are swirling
inside of you.
Everything is functioning.
You just did
a death meditation,
and I'm very proud of you.
Wallach, voice-over: I will
never, ever forget the feeling
of being in the room
there that night.
It's counterintuitive,
but facing our own mortality
holds a key
to seeing ourselves
as just a part of
the larger human story,
one piece of the future
that we can both build
and soon leave behind.
What does it mean
to live like we're dying?
It means to live presently.
It means to be with
where I am today,
recognizing that everything
I have in this moment,
what I've done so far,
what I've given so far,
who I've been so far
has been enough,
and that, if tomorrow is it,
I can go satisfied.
I think we
have to change the register
at which human activity
is taking place, right?
Where right now,
we're really stuck
in an industrial register,
where we understand ourselves
in terms of our utility value,
right?
How much work can I get done?
How valuable am I?
How much money can I make?
There's always a metric.
How many likes did I get?
How many of this?
How many followers do I have?
It's very utilitarian.
I mean, I was raised
on "Mr. Rogers," right?
And Mr. Rogers, at the end
of every show, would say
I like you
exactly as you are.
I took him seriously.
I took that to mean
I am OK just the way I am.
I don't need to do anything
to justify my existence.
The positive human future
involves
us recognizing and retrieving
what matters
about our existence.
So if you could
give yourself some advice,
you know, talk to yourself
when you were in your 20s,
what would you say
to your 20-something self,
knowing what you know now?
I would tell myself
"Everything's
going to be OK,"
because I worried
so much in my youth,
in my 20s, my 30s,
also as a single mom,
and a lot of
different things,
but it was very difficult,
and I worried
about everything.
Instead of living
for the days,
I was surviving
through the days.
I would tell myself,
"You did good, girl."
You got--you got
to this point.
You got it.
Yeah.
I would tell
my 20-something-year-old self
that there is time.
"Experience life,
"and don't be
in such a hurry to be put
into that task-oriented,
day-to-day existence."
I would tell myself
that I'm not invincible
and I'm not exempt.
"You're gonna get through this,
and you're gonna be OK,
and, you know, it's gonna be
all right down the road."
I would tell myself,
"You are enough.
"You are wonderful.
You are precious."
"Be patient."
I'd go, "You will learn
everything you need
to get to the destination
you want."
I would say, "Stop
and smell the flowers.
"Go visit
your grandparents.
Listen to their stories."
You know, go pay those ones
respect and time,
'cause you don't have them
anymore now,
and it would have
been nice to have
a little more time
spent with them.
Wallach, voice-over:
You know, on the one hand,
visiting your parents'
gravesite is really intense,
because it's, like,
where they are,
but it's also not
where they are, right?
I was thinking this earlier.
Like, when I tell,
like, an off-color joke,
that's where my dad is.
Or when I see, like,
47 different colors
in a sunset,
that's where my mom is.
So on the one hand, it feels
like this is the place,
but then, like,
the whole planet feels like
the place when certain things
happen.
You know, I was 18 years old
when my father passed away.
But the love was
very thick in the home.
I don't see such
a stark line between, like,
his life and my life.
Like, different biologies,
different names.
But there's a kind of--
there's a thread,
both with my father
and my mother,
that just feels like it
is just going through me
and going into the kids.
And so whereas
I feel like, yes,
there are different bodies,
that thread, whatever that is,
feels very deep
and continuous.
The future is not
set in stone,
and I don't believe in destiny.
I know that at any moment,
we can change course.
We just have to make a decision
that we're gonna do that,
which means that
we have agency.
We have the ability to create
a future that we want.
I will be honest. Um, I--
you know, I am seeing
some pretty, pretty dark things
on the horizon.
There's no turning
these things off,
but we can forge a path forward.
Even though I read
the paper, like many people do,
and see so many challenges
that we have in cities,
counties, our country,
dysfunction, you know,
what motivates me is that
I know that I'm helping
to develop young people
into making the future
a heck of a lot brighter
than sometimes the things
I read in the paper.
It's the greatest luxury
in the world
to be able to intelligently
design the future.
Like, this is something
that is new.
This is something that is, like,
really just, like,
a product of modernity.
And I think we should definitely
take that opportunity.
A lot of what we need
to do right now is
actually evolve
our tools to better fit
how our minds work with
the technology that we have.
Creativity is the fuel
for all of this.
There should be
a place for humans,
for human life
in the digital future.
Not revolution but renaissance,
the rebirth of old ideas
in a new context.
Then we can begin
to live sustainably
as a form of human flourishing
rather than sustainably
as some negation of human need.
The Dalai Lama said
that love and compassion
are necessities, not luxuries
and without them,
humanity will not survive.
I think the primary story is
about our connection
rather than the story
about our disconnect.
It is true that we are
suffering from disconnect.
But understanding
the reason that we
feel so much pain from it
is because we have
a yearning to be connected.
I think part
of the magic of being human
is that the mundane is
where all the juice is.
When I know that this time
that I have here is finite,
then every breath matters more,
every birthday matters more,
every hug matters more.
We're at
this inflection point
for Homo sapiens,
and a lot of folks
are basically focusing on
the external future's
environment.
Super important, obviously--
artificial intelligence,
bioengineering,
climate change, inequality.
A host of issues, conundrums,
problems, and opportunities
that manifest
in the external reality,
the external world around us.
But at the same time,
we have to focus
on internal futures.
How do we evolve the internal
as much as we evolve
the external?