The Future of Being Human … Unplugged

This fall, the Future of Being Human initiative is launching a new series of crosscutting online conversations around what it might mean to be human in a technologically complex world.

The Future of Being Human … Unplugged is a series of live streamed conversations that bring together experts and thinkers from very different backgrounds as they explore some of the more intriguing, complex, and profound implications of rapidly developing technological capabilities.

Unscripted, unpredictable, and threaded through with mischievously curiosity, Unplugged aims to push the bounds of how we think about the intersection between advanced technologies, cutting edge science, and the very essence of what it might mean to be human in the future.

And the “Unplugged” bit? We’re unplugging from the usual norms and expectations that so often make online discussions deadly tedious, so no interminable PowerPoint presentations, no long winded opening statements, and no impenetrable monologues – just compelling conversation that’ll make you think.

We’re also unplugging from conventional ideas and often-stifling disciplinary constraints as we explore futures that are anything but conventional.

In other words, expect conversations that engage, entertain, and shake up your world as we explore what it might mean to be human in a technologically complex future!

We’ll be posting signup details on the Future of Being Human … Unplugged page. But in the meantime, here’s a taster of what the fall season looks like:

  • Will AI transform how we learn in the future? (September 28)
    Could advances in generative AI transform how we learn the extent that universities and colleges as we know them become a thing of the past? A conversation between Sean Leahy (Arizona State University), Aleksandr Bogatirev (Arizona State University), Sophia Herman (Arizona State University), and host Andrew Maynard
  • Do AI’s dream of electric people? (October 24)
    Could AIs develop a sense of self and an inner world – and should this concern or excite us? A conversation between Mark Daley (University of Western Ontario), Blake Richards (McGill University), and host Andrew Maynard
  • Living with your AI Symbiont (November 20)
    Is deep and meaningful human-AI cooperation possible? What could it look like given what we know about human nature?  A conversation between Athena Aktipis (Arizona State University), Paul Rainey (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology), and host Andrew Maynard
  • What happens when AI and cooperation science collide? (December 19)
    Could research on interspecies cooperation transform how we think about living with advanced artificial intelligence in the future? A conversation between Athena Aktipis (Arizona State University), Mark Daley (University of Western Ontario), and host Andrew Maynard

For further information, sign up below, and make sure you bookmark the Future of Being Human … Unplugged page!