﻿1
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(buzzing)

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Even if we can
change human beings,

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in what direction
do we change them?

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Do we want to change them
this way or that way?

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This is an example
of the way in which

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technological advance impinges
on sociological necessity.

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♪

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What we need to ask
ourselves is,

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"Where does my individual
ability to control my life

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or to influence
the political process

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lie in relation to these
new forms of technology?"

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♪

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Government and politicians

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don't understand
what's happening.

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See, they don't even realized
this change is happening.

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♪

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It is very difficult,
not impossible,

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to predict what
the precise effects will be,

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and in--in many cases,
like with other technologies,

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we have to socket and see.

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Who would have
predicted the internet?

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And I talk about this
matter as humanity 2.0

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'cause in a sense, this is
kind of where we're heading,

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to some kind of
new--new normal, as it were,

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of what it is
to be a human being.

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It's not a problem

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that we should dismiss
or underestimate.

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It's staggering
in its proportions.

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Ignorance and disbelief
at the same time.

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People don't believe that
change is happening this fast.

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That's the problem.

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♪

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This is a stone

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formed naturally
in the Earth's crust

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over millions of years
through pressure and heat.

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It was discovered in
the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

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Dated around 2.5
million years BC,

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it is arguably one of the first
examples of technology.

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Stone tools were first adapted
for the use of cutting,

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scraping, or pounding
materials by Homo habilis,

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one of our earliest ancestors.

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Over one million years later,

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mankind made one of
the most significant

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of all technological
discoveries...

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Fire.

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The ability to control fire

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was a turning point
for human evolution.

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It kept us warm, allowed us
to see in the dark,

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and allowed us to cook food,

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which many scientists believe
was a huge contributor

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to the ascent of mind.

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♪

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Each age, each empire,
has brought with it

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the discovery and invention
of numerous technologies

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each in their own way
redesigning human life...

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♪

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...leading us to now...

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...modern-day society.

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We're now more advanced,
connected, knowledgeable,

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and resistant to disease
than ever before,

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and it is all due
to our ability

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to apply scientific knowledge
for practical purposes

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in a bid to maximize
efficiency.

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Just as the stone set us
on a path of transformation,

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the technologies
of the future

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may bring with them
a paradigm shift,

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changing two major features
of the human experience.

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Two things that have
defined our lives

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for as long as
we can remember.

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Two things that have always
been involuntary constants:

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trading our time
for sustenance

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and losing that time
through senescence.

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♪

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♪

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(indistinct chattering)

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♪

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(telephone ringing)

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♪

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(Zapping)

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♪

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(laughing)

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♪

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The Industrial Revolution
effectively freed man

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from being a beast of burden.

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The computer revolution
will similarly free him

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from dull, repetitive routine.

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The computer
revolution is, however,

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perhaps better compared
with the Copernican

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or the Darwinian Revolution,

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both of which greatly changed
man's idea of himself

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and the world
in which he lives.

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In the space of 60 years,
we have landed on the moon,

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seen the rise of
computing power,

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mobile phones,

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the explosion
of the internet,

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and we have sequenced
the human genome.

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We took man to
the moon and back

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with four kilobytes of memory.

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The phone in your pocket
is at least 250,000 times

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more powerful than that.

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We are ever-increasingly
doing more with less.

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One of the things
that has been born

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out of this
technological revolution

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is the ability
to replace human workers

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with more efficient machines.

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This is largely
due to the speed

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at which we are advancing our
technological capabilities.

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(applause)

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Information technology grows
in an exponential manner.

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It's not linear.

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And our intuition is linear.

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When we walked
through the savanna

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a thousand years ago,
we made linear predictions

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where that animal would be
and that worked fine.

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It's hardwired in our brains,

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but the pace of
exponential growth

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is really what describes
information technologies,

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and it's not just computation.

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There's a big difference
between linear

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and exponential growth.

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If I take 30 steps linearly,

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one, two, three, four,
five, I get to 30.

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If I take 30 steps
exponentially,

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two, four, eight, sixteen,
I get to a billion.

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It makes a huge difference.

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And that really describes
information technology.

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When I was a student at MIT,

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we all shared one computer,
it took up a whole building.

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The computer in
your cell phone today

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is a million times cheaper,
a million times smaller,

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a thousand times
more powerful.

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That's a billionfold increase
in capability per dollar

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that we've actually
experienced

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since I was a student,

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and we're gonna do it again
in the next 25 years.

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Currently,
on an almost daily basis,

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new algorithms, programs,

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and feats in
mechanical engineering

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are getting closer and closer
to being a reliable

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and more cost-effective
alternative to a human worker.

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This process is
known as automation.

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This is not just about,

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you know, automation
where we expect it,

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which is in factories

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and among blue-collar
workers and so forth.

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It is coming
quite aggressively

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for people at much
higher skill levels,

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and that will only
grow in the future

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as we continue on
this exponential arc.

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This business that, you know,
not having to work very hard

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because machines are taking
care of things for you,

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I mean, you see this
also in the 19th century

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with the Industrial Revolution.

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And, in fact, I think
one of the problems

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with the Industrial Revolution,

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and this is where Marxism
got so much traction,

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was that machines
actually did render

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a lot of people
unemployed, okay?

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That already happened in
the 19th and 20th centuries.

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And it was only by
labor organizing itself

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that it was able
to kind of deal

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with the situation
intelligently

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because there was no
automatic, you might say,

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transition to something else.

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It was just, you know,
"We don't need you anymore.

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We have these more
efficient machines,

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and so now
we don't--you know,

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now you just have to find
work somewhere else."

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Automation clearly has been
happening for a long time,

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and it has,
you know, automated

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a lot of very laborious work
that we don't want to do,

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and that's gonna continue
to be the case in the future,

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but I do think that this time
is genuinely different.

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If we look at what's
happened historically,

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what we've seen
is that automation

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has primarily been
a mechanical phenomenon,

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and the classic
example of that

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is, of course, agriculture.

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I'm a farmer.

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Here's what mechanical
engineering has done

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for all of us who
work on the farms

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and for you, too.

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It used to be,
in the United States

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and in most
advanced countries,

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that most people
worked on farms.

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Now, almost no one
works on a farm.

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It's less than two percent.

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And, of course, as a result
of that, we're better off.

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We have, you know,
more comfortable jobs,

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food is cheaper,

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we have a much more
advanced society.

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The question is, "Can that
continue indefinitely?"

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And what we're
seeing this time

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is that things are
really quite different.

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If this keeps up,

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it won't be long before
machines will do everything.

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Nobody will have work.

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So as we move deeper
into the automated future,

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we will see different
stages take form.

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The first stage
that we're entering

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is the stage where
automated robots are working

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side by side with
people in factories.

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Some of those jobs
are slowly going away,

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but in the near future,
within two to three years,

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you're going to see
a huge percentage

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of those factory jobs
be replaced

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with automated systems
and automated robots.

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The next stage following
that is we could see

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up to a third
of jobs in America

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be replaced by 2025

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by robots
or automated systems.

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That's a huge
percentage of people

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that could be unemployed

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because of this
automated tsunami

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that's coming, basically.

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We have a colleague
here called Carl Frey

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who has put together
a list of jobs

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by their vulnerability

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to getting replaced
by automation,

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and the least vulnerable are
things like choreographers,

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managers, social workers.

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People who have people skills

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and who have creativity.

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♪

226
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One area that I look
a lot at is fast food.

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I mean, the fast food industry
is tremendously important

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in American economy.

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If you look at the years
since recovery

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from the Great Recession,

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the majority of jobs,
somewhere around 60 percent,

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have been low-wage
service sector jobs.

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A lot of those have been
in areas like fast food,

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and yet, to me,
it seems almost inevitable

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that, ultimately,
fast food is gonna automate.

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There's a company right
here in San Francisco

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called "Momentum Machines"
which is actually working on

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a machine to automate
hamburger production,

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and it can crank out

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about 400 gourmet
hamburgers per hour,

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and they ultimately expect
to sort of roll that out

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not just in fast food
establishments,

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perhaps in convenience stores

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and maybe even
vending machines.

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It could be
all over the place.

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00:11:45,337 --> 00:11:50,844
♪

247
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I can see manufacturing now
becoming completely automated.

248
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I can see, you know,
hundreds of millions

249
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of workers being
put out of jobs,

250
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That's almost certain
it's gonna happen.

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So you have lots of companies
right now that are automating

252
00:12:01,987 --> 00:12:04,024
their factories
and their warehouses.

253
00:12:04,056 --> 00:12:05,763
Amazon is a great example.

254
00:12:05,791 --> 00:12:08,294
They're using robots
to automate their systems.

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00:12:08,327 --> 00:12:10,364
The robots actually
grab the products

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00:12:10,396 --> 00:12:11,841
and bring the products
to the people

257
00:12:11,864 --> 00:12:14,435
who put those products
into the box.

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So there are still people

259
00:12:16,335 --> 00:12:18,440
within the factories
at Amazon,

260
00:12:18,471 --> 00:12:21,816
but in the near future,
those jobs may go away as well.

261
00:12:21,841 --> 00:12:24,412
There is a company here
in Silicon Valley

262
00:12:24,443 --> 00:12:26,116
called "Industrial Perception,"

263
00:12:26,145 --> 00:12:29,422
and they built a robot
that can approach

264
00:12:29,448 --> 00:12:32,827
a stack of boxes that are
son of stacked haphazardly

265
00:12:32,852 --> 00:12:35,196
in some nonstandard way

266
00:12:35,221 --> 00:12:38,430
and visually, by looking at
that stack of boxes,

267
00:12:38,457 --> 00:12:40,130
figure out how
to move those boxes.

268
00:12:40,159 --> 00:12:42,161
And they built a machine
that ultimately

269
00:12:42,194 --> 00:12:45,937
will be able to move
perhaps one box every second,

270
00:12:45,965 --> 00:12:48,536
and that compares with
about three seconds

271
00:12:48,768 --> 00:12:51,840
for a human worker
who's very industrious.

272
00:12:51,871 --> 00:12:53,942
Okay, and this machine,
you can imagine,

273
00:12:53,973 --> 00:12:55,077
will work continuously.

274
00:12:55,107 --> 00:12:56,518
It's never gonna get injured,

275
00:12:56,542 --> 00:13:00,319
never file a workers'
compensation claim,

276
00:13:00,346 --> 00:13:02,417
and, yet, it's moving
into an area

277
00:13:02,448 --> 00:13:04,951
that, up until now, at least,
we would have said

278
00:13:04,984 --> 00:13:08,397
is really something that
is exclusively the provid--

279
00:13:08,420 --> 00:13:10,093
province of the human worker.

280
00:13:10,122 --> 00:13:14,537
I mean, it's this ability
to look at something

281
00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:17,268
and then based on
what you see,

282
00:13:17,296 --> 00:13:18,468
manipulate your environment.

283
00:13:18,497 --> 00:13:20,443
It's son of the confluence

284
00:13:20,466 --> 00:13:23,379
of visual perception
and dexterity.

285
00:13:23,402 --> 00:13:27,111
♪

286
00:13:27,139 --> 00:13:29,346
We'll see self-driving
cars on the road

287
00:13:29,375 --> 00:13:31,116
within 10 or 15 years.

288
00:13:31,143 --> 00:13:32,850
Fifteen years from now,
we'll be debating

289
00:13:32,878 --> 00:13:35,552
whether we should even allow
human beings to be on--

290
00:13:35,581 --> 00:13:37,288
be on the road at all.

291
00:13:37,316 --> 00:13:39,887
Tesla says that by next year,

292
00:13:39,919 --> 00:13:44,459
that, you know, their cars
will be 90 percent automated.

293
00:13:44,490 --> 00:13:46,367
Which means that
the jobs of taxi drivers,

294
00:13:46,392 --> 00:13:48,531
truck drivers, goes away.

295
00:13:48,561 --> 00:13:51,906
Suddenly, we don't need
to own cars anymore.

296
00:13:51,931 --> 00:13:55,174
Humanity isn't ready for such
a basic change such as that.

297
00:13:55,201 --> 00:13:57,875
♪

298
00:13:57,903 --> 00:13:59,541
Call center jobs,
voice recognition

299
00:13:59,572 --> 00:14:01,609
is pretty sophisticated
these days.

300
00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:06,085
And you can imagine
replacing many kinds of,

301
00:14:06,111 --> 00:14:08,022
you know,
helplines and things.

302
00:14:08,047 --> 00:14:10,550
There's a company called
"lPsoft" that has created

303
00:14:10,583 --> 00:14:13,530
an intelligent
software system,

304
00:14:13,552 --> 00:14:16,396
an automated system,
called "Amelia."

305
00:14:16,422 --> 00:14:19,403
She can not only understand
what you're saying to her,

306
00:14:19,425 --> 00:14:22,065
she understands the context
of what you're saying,

307
00:14:22,094 --> 00:14:24,370
and she can learn
from her mistakes.

308
00:14:24,396 --> 00:14:26,569
This is a huge deal because
what we're going to see

309
00:14:26,599 --> 00:14:29,136
is all of the customer
service agent jobs,

310
00:14:29,168 --> 00:14:31,409
if she is successful,
if this software program,

311
00:14:31,437 --> 00:14:34,475
this automated software
program is successful,

312
00:14:34,506 --> 00:14:37,578
we could see all of
those jobs go away.

313
00:14:37,610 --> 00:14:39,647
These things tend
to go to marginal cost,

314
00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:43,486
and marginal cost is copying
software, which is nothing,

315
00:14:43,515 --> 00:14:45,495
and running it on a computer

316
00:14:45,517 --> 00:14:47,155
which will probably be
very cheap.

317
00:14:47,186 --> 00:14:51,134
♪

318
00:14:51,156 --> 00:14:55,263
Human doctors will be,
in some respect, pushed aside

319
00:14:55,294 --> 00:14:56,967
because machines
can do a better job

320
00:14:56,996 --> 00:14:58,634
of diagnosis than they can.

321
00:14:58,664 --> 00:15:00,610
Now will they have the empathy
that current doctors do?

322
00:15:00,633 --> 00:15:02,306
I don't know, but at least
they'll have the knowledge

323
00:15:02,334 --> 00:15:04,211
that our doctors do,
they'll be more advanced,

324
00:15:04,236 --> 00:15:06,045
so I can see this
option in healthcare.

325
00:15:06,071 --> 00:15:08,574
The one that is likely to be
the biggest growth area,

326
00:15:08,607 --> 00:15:12,077
from an economic standpoint,
is the android companions

327
00:15:12,111 --> 00:15:15,320
to help elderly people,
okay, because there's--

328
00:15:15,347 --> 00:15:18,021
you know, given the rise
in elderly people

329
00:15:18,050 --> 00:15:21,224
over the next 20,
30 years, that it's--

330
00:15:21,253 --> 00:15:23,199
and it's unlikely there are
gonna be enough people

331
00:15:23,222 --> 00:15:25,395
going into
the nursing profession

332
00:15:25,424 --> 00:15:27,927
to actually serve them,
especially if we're thinking

333
00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,134
in terms of home-based care.

334
00:15:31,163 --> 00:15:34,007
The robot surgeon, I think,
is something that will happen

335
00:15:34,033 --> 00:15:36,707
in the not-too-distant future

336
00:15:36,936 --> 00:15:41,248
because a lot of that is
to do with manual dexterity

337
00:15:41,273 --> 00:15:46,279
and having the expertise
to recognize--

338
00:15:46,312 --> 00:15:50,283
to understand what you're
manipulating as a surgeon.

339
00:15:50,316 --> 00:15:53,559
Terrific amount of expertise
for a human to accumulate,

340
00:15:53,585 --> 00:15:55,531
but I can imagine that
we would be able to build

341
00:15:55,554 --> 00:15:58,364
something that is
a specialized robot surgeon

342
00:15:58,390 --> 00:16:00,700
that can carry out
particular operations

343
00:16:00,726 --> 00:16:03,104
such as a prostate operation.

344
00:16:03,128 --> 00:16:04,698
That's one that people
are working on right now,

345
00:16:04,730 --> 00:16:06,403
and I think
they're nearly there

346
00:16:06,432 --> 00:16:07,638
of being able to produce

347
00:16:07,666 --> 00:16:10,010
a reliable robot surgeon
that can do that.

348
00:16:10,035 --> 00:16:11,742
You might not want to submit
yourself to this thing,

349
00:16:11,971 --> 00:16:14,042
you might think, but in fact,
I think we'll be able to make

350
00:16:14,073 --> 00:16:17,316
a very reliable robot surgeon
to do that sort of thing.

351
00:16:17,343 --> 00:16:24,693
♪

352
00:16:24,717 --> 00:16:26,424
I can see this
option in finance

353
00:16:26,452 --> 00:16:28,489
because they're moving
to digital currencies.

354
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,626
And--and we're now
moving to crowdfunding

355
00:16:31,657 --> 00:16:35,230
and crowdbanking
and all these other advances.

356
00:16:35,260 --> 00:16:37,467
One of my favorites
is investment bankers.

357
00:16:37,496 --> 00:16:41,501
Artificial intelligence
already does more

358
00:16:41,533 --> 00:16:44,514
stock market trades
today than any human being.

359
00:16:44,536 --> 00:16:48,211
Lots of decisions like
decisions about mortgages

360
00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,652
and insurance, already
those things have been,

361
00:16:50,676 --> 00:16:53,589
you know, largely
taken over by programs,

362
00:16:53,612 --> 00:16:56,388
and I think that kind of trend
is only gonna continue.

363
00:16:56,415 --> 00:17:04,415
♪

364
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,268
Every time there's
a technological change,

365
00:17:11,296 --> 00:17:13,367
it will, unfortunately, put
a lot of people out of work.

366
00:17:13,399 --> 00:17:15,208
It happened with
the cotton gin.

367
00:17:15,234 --> 00:17:18,738
It's happened with every
single technological change.

368
00:17:18,771 --> 00:17:22,446
So, sure, technology
destroys jobs,

369
00:17:22,474 --> 00:17:24,147
but it creates new ones.

370
00:17:24,176 --> 00:17:27,157
Moving from the age of work
that we're in now

371
00:17:27,179 --> 00:17:31,423
into the abundant,
ubiquitous automation age,

372
00:17:31,450 --> 00:17:33,828
that bridge that
we have to cross

373
00:17:34,053 --> 00:17:36,659
is gonna be a very
interesting time period.

374
00:17:36,688 --> 00:17:39,225
I think in the very beginning
of that time period,

375
00:17:39,258 --> 00:17:43,263
you're going to see automation
star-t to replace jobs,

376
00:17:43,295 --> 00:17:46,708
but those jobs will transfer
into other forms of work.

377
00:17:46,732 --> 00:17:50,077
So, for example, instead
of working in a factory,

378
00:17:50,102 --> 00:17:53,208
you will learn to code
and you will code the robots

379
00:17:53,238 --> 00:17:54,740
that are working
in the factory.

380
00:17:54,773 --> 00:17:58,084
When I was a young man
and I went for careers advice,

381
00:17:58,110 --> 00:18:00,112
I don't know what they
would have made of me

382
00:18:00,145 --> 00:18:04,355
asking for a job
as a webmaster.

383
00:18:04,383 --> 00:18:07,227
It didn't exist, there
wasn't a web at that time.

384
00:18:07,252 --> 00:18:10,324
And, right now, we have
over 200,000 vacancies

385
00:18:10,355 --> 00:18:12,835
for people who can
analyze big data.

386
00:18:12,858 --> 00:18:15,168
And we really do need people

387
00:18:15,194 --> 00:18:17,105
and mechanisms
for analyzing it

388
00:18:17,129 --> 00:18:20,838
and getting the most
information from that data,

389
00:18:20,866 --> 00:18:23,779
and that problem is only
gonna increase in the future.

390
00:18:23,802 --> 00:18:26,442
And I do think that there's
gonna be a lot of employment

391
00:18:26,472 --> 00:18:28,110
moving in that direction.

392
00:18:28,140 --> 00:18:33,180
♪

393
00:18:33,212 --> 00:18:36,318
The history of our country
proves that new inventions

394
00:18:36,348 --> 00:18:40,421
create thousands of jobs
for every one they displace.

395
00:18:40,452 --> 00:18:44,457
So it wasn't long before your
grandfather had a better job

396
00:18:44,490 --> 00:18:46,663
at more pay for less work.

397
00:18:46,692 --> 00:18:48,399
We're always offered
this solution

398
00:18:48,427 --> 00:18:50,703
of still more education,
still more training.

399
00:18:50,729 --> 00:18:52,402
If people lose
their routine job,

400
00:18:52,431 --> 00:18:53,808
then let's send them
back to school.

401
00:18:53,832 --> 00:18:55,709
They'll pick up
some new skills,

402
00:18:55,734 --> 00:18:57,236
they'll learn something new,
and then they'll be able

403
00:18:57,269 --> 00:18:59,875
to move into some
more rewarding career.

404
00:18:59,905 --> 00:19:02,249
That's not gonna operate
so well in the future

405
00:19:02,274 --> 00:19:03,617
where the machines are coming

406
00:19:03,642 --> 00:19:05,553
for those skilled
jobs as well.

407
00:19:05,577 --> 00:19:07,318
The fact is that machines
are really good at

408
00:19:07,346 --> 00:19:08,848
picking up skills
and doing all kinds

409
00:19:08,881 --> 00:19:11,191
of extraordinarily
complex things,

410
00:19:11,216 --> 00:19:12,559
so those jobs
aren't necessarily

411
00:19:12,584 --> 00:19:14,359
gonna be there either.

412
00:19:14,386 --> 00:19:17,265
And a second insight,
I think, is that historically,

413
00:19:17,289 --> 00:19:20,202
it's always been the case that
the vast majority of people

414
00:19:20,225 --> 00:19:22,171
have always done routine work.

415
00:19:22,194 --> 00:19:24,731
So even if people can
make that transition,

416
00:19:24,763 --> 00:19:26,674
if they can succeed
in going back to school

417
00:19:26,698 --> 00:19:29,201
and learning something new,
in percentage terms,

418
00:19:29,234 --> 00:19:31,271
those jobs don't constitute

419
00:19:31,303 --> 00:19:32,873
that much of the total
employment out there.

420
00:19:32,905 --> 00:19:34,748
I mean, most people are doing
these more routine things.

421
00:19:34,773 --> 00:19:37,185
So, you know, we're up
against a real problem

422
00:19:37,209 --> 00:19:39,883
that's probably gonna
require a political solution.

423
00:19:39,912 --> 00:19:44,725
It's probably going to
require direct redistribution.

424
00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:46,423
That's my take on it,

425
00:19:46,451 --> 00:19:49,796
and that's a staggering
political challenge,

426
00:19:49,821 --> 00:19:51,562
especially in
the United States.

427
00:19:51,590 --> 00:19:53,866
This would be fine
if we had generations

428
00:19:53,892 --> 00:19:57,738
to adapt to the change
so that the next generation

429
00:19:57,763 --> 00:19:59,208
could develop
a different lifestyle,

430
00:19:59,231 --> 00:20:00,676
different value system.

431
00:20:00,699 --> 00:20:02,679
The problem is that
all of this is happening

432
00:20:02,701 --> 00:20:03,679
within the same generation.

433
00:20:03,702 --> 00:20:05,875
Within a period of 15 years,

434
00:20:05,904 --> 00:20:09,442
we're gonna start wiping out
most of the jobs that we know.

435
00:20:09,474 --> 00:20:12,284
That's really what worries me.

436
00:20:12,311 --> 00:20:15,758
A term commonly used when
describing the trajectory

437
00:20:15,781 --> 00:20:18,990
of technological progress
and where it's leading us

438
00:20:19,218 --> 00:20:21,892
is the "technological
singularity."

439
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,900
The term is
borrowed from physics

440
00:20:23,922 --> 00:20:27,961
to describe an event horizon
or a moment in space time

441
00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:30,269
that you cannot see beyond.

442
00:20:30,295 --> 00:20:32,502
We are currently
in the transistor era

443
00:20:32,531 --> 00:20:34,602
of information technology.

444
00:20:34,633 --> 00:20:39,480
In 1965, co-founder
of Intel, Gordon Moore,

445
00:20:39,504 --> 00:20:41,950
made the observation
that the processing power

446
00:20:41,974 --> 00:20:45,581
of computers doubles
every 18 months.

447
00:20:45,611 --> 00:20:48,285
The prediction that
this trend will continue

448
00:20:48,313 --> 00:20:50,725
is known as Moore's Law.

449
00:20:50,749 --> 00:20:51,989
When Intel created

450
00:20:52,017 --> 00:20:55,931
their first computer
processing unit in 1971,

451
00:20:55,954 --> 00:20:59,265
it has 2,300 transistors

452
00:20:59,291 --> 00:21:04,001
and had a processing speed
of 740 kilohertz.

453
00:21:04,029 --> 00:21:08,808
Today, a typical CPU has
over a billion transistors

454
00:21:08,834 --> 00:21:11,747
with an average speed
of two gigahertz.

455
00:21:11,770 --> 00:21:15,308
However, many predict
that by 2020,

456
00:21:15,340 --> 00:21:18,344
the miniaturization of
transistors and silicon chips

457
00:21:18,377 --> 00:21:20,323
will reach its limit,

458
00:21:20,345 --> 00:21:25,294
and Moore's Law will fizzle
out into a post-silicon era.

459
00:21:25,317 --> 00:21:27,422
Another way of
describing the term

460
00:21:27,452 --> 00:21:29,932
"technological singularity"

461
00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:32,458
is a time when
artificial intelligence

462
00:21:32,491 --> 00:21:36,337
surpasses human
intellectual capacity.

463
00:21:36,361 --> 00:21:37,897
But does this mean
that a computer

464
00:21:37,929 --> 00:21:39,875
can produce a new idea

465
00:21:39,898 --> 00:21:42,970
or make an original
contribution to knowledge?

466
00:21:43,001 --> 00:21:46,574
Artificial intelligence, Al,
is a longstanding project

467
00:21:46,605 --> 00:21:49,449
which has to do
with basically trying

468
00:21:49,474 --> 00:21:51,784
to use machines as a way
of trying to understand

469
00:21:51,810 --> 00:21:53,551
the nature of intelligence

470
00:21:53,578 --> 00:21:55,819
and, originally,
the idea <i>was,</i> in some <i>sense,</i>

471
00:21:55,847 --> 00:21:58,054
to manufacture
within machines

472
00:21:58,083 --> 00:22:00,723
something that could
simulate human intelligence.

473
00:22:00,752 --> 00:22:02,789
But I think now,
as the years have gone on,

474
00:22:02,821 --> 00:22:04,767
we now think in terms
of intelligence

475
00:22:04,790 --> 00:22:06,098
in a much more abstract way,

476
00:22:06,325 --> 00:22:10,034
so the ability to engage
in massive computations,

477
00:22:10,062 --> 00:22:11,803
right, where you can
end up making

478
00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:14,367
quite intelligent decisions
much more quickly

479
00:22:14,399 --> 00:22:15,810
than a human being can.

480
00:22:15,834 --> 00:22:17,745
So in this respect,
artificial intelligence

481
00:22:17,769 --> 00:22:19,749
in a sense is a,
you might say,

482
00:22:19,771 --> 00:22:21,876
as trying to go to the next
level of intelligence

483
00:22:21,907 --> 00:22:23,045
beyond the human.

484
00:22:23,075 --> 00:22:24,884
♪

485
00:22:24,910 --> 00:22:27,481
A proper Al could substitute

486
00:22:27,512 --> 00:22:32,018
for practically any human job
at some level of skill,

487
00:22:32,050 --> 00:22:34,894
so it's--it would be

488
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:36,900
a completely
different situation.

489
00:22:36,922 --> 00:22:40,369
You can imagine any kind of
job could, in theory,

490
00:22:40,392 --> 00:22:45,068
be replaced by technology,
if you build human-level Al.

491
00:22:45,097 --> 00:22:49,443
Now that, of course, may
or may not be a good thing.

492
00:22:49,468 --> 00:22:51,880
You'd be able to,
for example, make robots

493
00:22:51,903 --> 00:22:54,042
that could do
all kinds of jobs

494
00:22:54,072 --> 00:22:56,109
that humans don't
necessarily want to do.

495
00:22:56,141 --> 00:22:59,145
There are the so-called
three D's jobs

496
00:22:59,378 --> 00:23:01,949
that are dirty,
dangerous, or dull,

497
00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:03,982
which humans might
not want to do,

498
00:23:04,015 --> 00:23:06,928
and yet, where you
might actually want

499
00:23:06,952 --> 00:23:08,522
a human level of intelligence

500
00:23:08,553 --> 00:23:10,499
to do the job well
or do the job properly.

501
00:23:10,522 --> 00:23:12,433
These are things
which are achievable.

502
00:23:12,457 --> 00:23:13,902
- Yeah.
- This isn't something...

503
00:23:13,925 --> 00:23:15,529
I don't think
it's science fiction.

504
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,164
I think this is
entirely feasible

505
00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:19,876
that we could
build a computer

506
00:23:19,898 --> 00:23:22,435
which is vastly superhuman

507
00:23:22,467 --> 00:23:24,913
which is conscious,
which has emotions,

508
00:23:24,936 --> 00:23:27,473
which is, essentially,
a new species

509
00:23:27,506 --> 00:23:31,113
of self-aware intelligence
and conscious in every way

510
00:23:31,143 --> 00:23:34,056
and has got emotions
the same as you and I do.

511
00:23:34,079 --> 00:23:35,752
I don't see any
fundamental limits

512
00:23:35,781 --> 00:23:38,125
on what we can do,
and we already know enough

513
00:23:38,150 --> 00:23:41,620
about basic science
to start doing that now.

514
00:23:41,653 --> 00:23:44,998
So some people are
concerned about,

515
00:23:45,023 --> 00:23:48,493
you know, possible
risks of building Al

516
00:23:48,527 --> 00:23:51,804
and building something
that is very, very powerful

517
00:23:51,830 --> 00:23:54,106
where there are
unintended consequences

518
00:23:54,132 --> 00:23:57,443
of the thing that you've
built and where it might

519
00:23:57,469 --> 00:23:58,675
do things that
you can't predict

520
00:23:58,703 --> 00:24:00,808
that might be
extremely dangerous.

521
00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:02,648
So a so-called
"existential risk,"

522
00:24:02,674 --> 00:24:03,948
as some people call it.

523
00:24:03,975 --> 00:24:06,922
We are going to hand off
to our machines

524
00:24:06,945 --> 00:24:09,084
all the
multidimensional problems

525
00:24:09,114 --> 00:24:11,492
that we are incapable
of coping with.

526
00:24:11,516 --> 00:24:14,827
You and I can take
a problem with two or three

527
00:24:14,853 --> 00:24:17,697
or four or even seven inputs.

528
00:24:17,722 --> 00:24:18,826
But 300?

529
00:24:18,857 --> 00:24:21,235
A thousand, a million inputs?

530
00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:22,837
We're dead in the water.

531
00:24:22,861 --> 00:24:24,841
The machines can
cope with that.

532
00:24:24,863 --> 00:24:26,672
The advantage
that computers have

533
00:24:26,698 --> 00:24:29,577
is that they communicate
at gigabit speeds.

534
00:24:29,601 --> 00:24:31,137
They all network together.

535
00:24:31,169 --> 00:24:32,944
We talk in slow motion.

536
00:24:32,971 --> 00:24:37,078
So computers will achieve
this level of awareness

537
00:24:37,108 --> 00:24:39,110
probably in the next
20, 30, 40 years.

538
00:24:39,144 --> 00:24:42,682
It's not that if it's
good or that it's evil.

539
00:24:42,714 --> 00:24:44,125
It's we're
probably good enough

540
00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:46,857
to not program an evil Al.

541
00:24:46,885 --> 00:24:50,526
It's that if it's
lethally indifferent.

542
00:24:50,555 --> 00:24:52,159
If it has certain things

543
00:24:52,190 --> 00:24:55,865
that it's tasked
with accomplishing

544
00:24:55,894 --> 00:24:57,840
and humans are in the way.

545
00:24:57,863 --> 00:25:00,935
So there's this concern
that once we reach that moment

546
00:25:00,966 --> 00:25:03,242
where the computers
outperform us

547
00:25:03,268 --> 00:25:05,942
in ways that are
quite meaningful,

548
00:25:05,971 --> 00:25:09,282
that then they will somehow
be motivated to dispose of us

549
00:25:09,508 --> 00:25:12,114
or take over us
or something of this kind.

550
00:25:12,143 --> 00:25:13,781
I don't really believe that

551
00:25:13,812 --> 00:25:16,088
because these kinds
of developments,

552
00:25:16,114 --> 00:25:18,253
which probably are a little
farther off in the future

553
00:25:18,283 --> 00:25:20,695
than some of their
enthusiasts think,

554
00:25:20,719 --> 00:25:22,858
there will be time
for us to adapt,

555
00:25:22,888 --> 00:25:26,028
to come to terms with it,
to organize social systems

556
00:25:26,057 --> 00:25:28,003
that will enable us
to deal adequately

557
00:25:28,026 --> 00:25:30,097
with these new forms
of intelligence.

558
00:25:30,128 --> 00:25:31,971
So I don't thi--this is not
just gonna be something

559
00:25:31,997 --> 00:25:34,136
that's gonna happen
as a miracle tomorrow

560
00:25:34,165 --> 00:25:35,974
and then we'll be
taken by surprise.

561
00:25:36,001 --> 00:25:38,038
But I do think
the key thing here is

562
00:25:38,069 --> 00:25:41,710
that we need to treat
these futuristic things

563
00:25:41,740 --> 00:25:44,243
<i>as not as far away
as people say they are.</i>

564
00:25:44,276 --> 00:25:46,153
Just because they're
not likely to happen

565
00:25:46,177 --> 00:25:47,952
in 15 years, let's say,

566
00:25:47,979 --> 00:25:49,981
it doesn't mean they
won't happen in 50 years.

567
00:25:50,015 --> 00:25:54,020
It's gonna be of kind of
historical dimensions,

568
00:25:54,052 --> 00:25:56,191
and it's very hard
to predict, I think,

569
00:25:56,221 --> 00:26:00,601
whether it's gonna take us
in a utopian direction

570
00:26:00,625 --> 00:26:02,161
or in a dystopian direction

571
00:26:02,193 --> 00:26:04,935
or more likely
something in between,

572
00:26:04,963 --> 00:26:06,237
but just very different.

573
00:26:06,264 --> 00:26:08,175
Very hard to predict.

574
00:26:08,199 --> 00:26:10,839
You see, it's our job
to take raw materials,

575
00:26:10,869 --> 00:26:12,746
adapt them to useful forms,

576
00:26:12,771 --> 00:26:16,116
take natural forces,
harness them to do man's work.

577
00:26:16,141 --> 00:26:18,280
The automated systems
of the future

578
00:26:18,310 --> 00:26:21,951
are a natural process
of human innovation.

579
00:26:21,980 --> 00:26:26,326
It all comes back to the idea
of doing more with less.

580
00:26:26,351 --> 00:26:28,058
This process of innovation

581
00:26:28,086 --> 00:26:31,761
is driven not by
necessity, but desire,

582
00:26:31,790 --> 00:26:35,363
or to simply fill
a gap in the market.

583
00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:37,972
Farm owners didn't
really need to replace

584
00:26:37,996 --> 00:26:40,840
their workers with machines,
but they did so

585
00:26:40,865 --> 00:26:43,709
because they could
foresee the benefits.

586
00:26:43,735 --> 00:26:46,045
It's a natural
cycle of business.

587
00:26:46,071 --> 00:26:49,746
Doing more with less
leads to greater prosperity.

588
00:26:49,774 --> 00:26:51,310
♪

589
00:26:51,343 --> 00:26:53,118
The hope is that
we can adapt to this

590
00:26:53,144 --> 00:26:54,282
politically and socially.

591
00:26:54,312 --> 00:26:55,757
In order to do that,

592
00:26:55,780 --> 00:26:57,259
we have to begin
a conversation now.

593
00:26:57,282 --> 00:26:59,694
Remember that
we're up against

594
00:26:59,718 --> 00:27:02,164
an exponential
arc of progress.

595
00:27:02,187 --> 00:27:04,326
Things are gonna keep
moving faster and faster,

596
00:27:04,356 --> 00:27:06,802
so we need to star-t
talking about this now

597
00:27:06,825 --> 00:27:08,361
and we need to sort of
get the word out there

598
00:27:08,393 --> 00:27:09,838
so that people will realize

599
00:27:09,861 --> 00:27:12,205
that this problem
is coming at us,

600
00:27:12,230 --> 00:27:14,176
so that we can
begin to discuss

601
00:27:14,199 --> 00:27:16,076
viable political
solutions to this

602
00:27:16,101 --> 00:27:18,843
because, again,
I think it will require,

603
00:27:18,870 --> 00:27:20,372
ultimately,
a political choice.

604
00:27:20,405 --> 00:27:24,410
It's not something that
is gonna son itself out

605
00:27:24,643 --> 00:27:27,647
by itself as a result
of the normal functioning

606
00:27:27,679 --> 00:27:29,249
of the market economy.

607
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,282
It's something
that will require

608
00:27:31,316 --> 00:27:33,057
some son of an intervention

609
00:27:33,084 --> 00:27:34,358
and, you know,
pan of the problem is

610
00:27:34,386 --> 00:27:36,059
that in the United States,

611
00:27:36,087 --> 00:27:39,899
roughly half of the population
is very conservative

612
00:27:39,924 --> 00:27:42,131
and they really don't
believe in this idea

613
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,800
of intervention
in the market.

614
00:27:44,829 --> 00:27:46,934
It's gonna be
a tough transition,

615
00:27:46,965 --> 00:27:49,002
and those that find
themselves out of jobs

616
00:27:49,034 --> 00:27:51,275
because a robot has taken it

617
00:27:51,302 --> 00:27:53,213
are gonna be
pretty pissed off.

618
00:27:53,238 --> 00:27:57,186
The effect of automation
on jobs and livelihood

619
00:27:57,208 --> 00:28:00,712
is going to be behind this
like the original Luddites.

620
00:28:00,745 --> 00:28:02,850
It wasn't--it wasn't
that they were against

621
00:28:02,881 --> 00:28:05,794
technological developments
in some ethereal sense.

622
00:28:05,817 --> 00:28:08,957
It was that this was
taking their damn jobs.

623
00:28:08,987 --> 00:28:11,831
I absolutely think there could
be a Neo-Luddite movement

624
00:28:11,856 --> 00:28:14,336
against the future,
against technology

625
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:15,736
because they're gonna say,

626
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,068
"Well, hey,
you're taking our jobs,

627
00:28:17,095 --> 00:28:18,472
you're taking
our livelihoods away.

628
00:28:18,697 --> 00:28:20,404
You're taking
everything away from us."

629
00:28:20,432 --> 00:28:22,810
But I think that's when
it's gonna be important

630
00:28:22,834 --> 00:28:25,974
that leaders and government
step in and say,

631
00:28:26,004 --> 00:28:27,278
"It may seem that way,

632
00:28:27,305 --> 00:28:29,216
but life is going to get
better for everyone."

633
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,880
We're gonna have more time
to do things that we want,

634
00:28:31,910 --> 00:28:33,389
more vacations,
more passions.

635
00:28:33,411 --> 00:28:35,186
This is the modern world.

636
00:28:35,213 --> 00:28:38,387
We can create the utopia
that we've always dreamt of.

637
00:28:38,416 --> 00:28:41,260
Why are we saying,
"My job's not safe,"

638
00:28:41,286 --> 00:28:44,824
or, "Automation's going
to steal my jobs"?

639
00:28:44,856 --> 00:28:46,460
These are the--these
are the phrases

640
00:28:46,491 --> 00:28:48,368
that keep getting
pushed out there.

641
00:28:48,393 --> 00:28:50,066
They're negative phrases,

642
00:28:50,095 --> 00:28:53,304
and instead, it seems
that we would look at this,

643
00:28:53,331 --> 00:28:55,004
especially if someone has
been working in a factory

644
00:28:55,033 --> 00:28:56,273
their whole life,

645
00:28:56,301 --> 00:28:58,406
that they would look at
that system and say,

646
00:28:58,436 --> 00:29:02,043
"Thank goodness that this is
starting to be automated."

647
00:29:02,073 --> 00:29:04,053
I don't want anyone
to have to crawl

648
00:29:04,075 --> 00:29:07,215
into a hole in the ground
and pull up coal.

649
00:29:07,245 --> 00:29:09,782
No human being should
have to go do that.

650
00:29:09,814 --> 00:29:12,317
If you make an awful
lot of computers

651
00:29:12,350 --> 00:29:14,421
and a lot of robots,
and the computers can make

652
00:29:14,452 --> 00:29:16,193
those robots
very sophisticated

653
00:29:16,221 --> 00:29:18,098
and do lots of
sophisticated jobs,

654
00:29:18,123 --> 00:29:21,502
you could eliminate most of
the high-value physical jobs

655
00:29:21,526 --> 00:29:24,370
and also most of the
high-value intellectual jobs.

656
00:29:24,395 --> 00:29:26,466
What you're left with,
then, are those jobs

657
00:29:26,498 --> 00:29:28,205
where you have to be
a human being,

658
00:29:28,233 --> 00:29:30,873
so I find it quite
paradoxical in some ways

659
00:29:30,902 --> 00:29:32,904
that the more advanced
the technology becomes,

660
00:29:32,937 --> 00:29:35,440
the more it forces us
to become humans.

661
00:29:35,473 --> 00:29:36,975
So in some ways,
it's very good.

662
00:29:37,008 --> 00:29:40,114
It forces us to explore
what is humanity about?

663
00:29:40,145 --> 00:29:41,283
What are the
fundamentally important

664
00:29:41,312 --> 00:29:42,882
things about being a human?

665
00:29:42,914 --> 00:29:45,087
It's not being able to,
you know, flip a burger

666
00:29:45,116 --> 00:29:48,325
or, you know, carve
something intricately.

667
00:29:48,353 --> 00:29:49,832
A computer or a robot

668
00:29:49,854 --> 00:29:52,027
could do that far better
than a human being.

669
00:29:52,056 --> 00:29:54,332
One thing I've noticed, if
you talk to techno-optimists

670
00:29:54,359 --> 00:29:57,829
about the future of work
and how it's gonna unfold,

671
00:29:57,862 --> 00:30:00,274
very often they will
focus on this issue

672
00:30:00,298 --> 00:30:03,177
of how will we all be
fulfilled in the future?

673
00:30:03,201 --> 00:30:05,010
What will be
our purpose in life

674
00:30:05,036 --> 00:30:06,515
when we don't want to work?

675
00:30:06,538 --> 00:30:09,542
And, you know, you can
son of posit this

676
00:30:09,574 --> 00:30:12,020
in terms of-there was
a guy named Maslow

677
00:30:12,043 --> 00:30:14,250
who came up with
a hierarchy of human needs,

678
00:30:14,279 --> 00:30:15,553
Maslow's pyramid.

679
00:30:15,580 --> 00:30:17,389
And at the base
of that pyramid

680
00:30:17,415 --> 00:30:20,555
are the foundational things
like food and shelter,

681
00:30:20,585 --> 00:30:22,326
and at the top of
that pyramid, of course,

682
00:30:22,353 --> 00:30:24,333
are all these intangible
things like, you know,

683
00:30:24,355 --> 00:30:25,925
a sense of purpose
in your life

684
00:30:25,957 --> 00:30:27,459
and fulfillment
and so forth.

685
00:30:27,492 --> 00:30:31,065
What you'll find among the most
techno-optimistic people

686
00:30:31,095 --> 00:30:32,574
is that they will
want to skip

687
00:30:32,597 --> 00:30:34,270
right over the base
of that pyramid

688
00:30:34,299 --> 00:30:36,609
and jump right to the top
and start talking about,

689
00:30:36,835 --> 00:30:38,508
"Oh, gosh, how are
we gonna," you know,

690
00:30:38,536 --> 00:30:39,947
"what's the meaning
of our life gonna be

691
00:30:39,971 --> 00:30:41,973
when we don't have to work?"

692
00:30:42,006 --> 00:30:45,317
But the reality is that
the base of that pyramid,

693
00:30:45,343 --> 00:30:47,584
food, shelter,
all the things that we need

694
00:30:47,612 --> 00:30:49,319
to have, you know,
a decent life,

695
00:30:49,347 --> 00:30:50,553
that's the elephant
in the room.

696
00:30:50,582 --> 00:30:54,029
That stuff costs real money.

697
00:30:54,052 --> 00:30:55,429
That stuff is gonna involve

698
00:30:55,453 --> 00:30:58,024
perhaps raising taxes
on a lot of the people

699
00:30:58,056 --> 00:30:59,467
that are doing
really well right now,

700
00:30:59,490 --> 00:31:00,969
and that's probably
part of the reason

701
00:31:00,992 --> 00:31:02,528
that they prefer
not to talk about it.

702
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,234
So what do we do
with the 99 percent

703
00:31:05,263 --> 00:31:06,401
of the population
on this planet

704
00:31:06,431 --> 00:31:08,206
if they don't have jobs?

705
00:31:08,233 --> 00:31:11,112
The suggestion is
and the goal is

706
00:31:11,135 --> 00:31:12,944
to make this
an efficient system.

707
00:31:12,971 --> 00:31:15,383
You put automation
in the hands of everyone.

708
00:31:15,406 --> 00:31:17,477
In the near future,
we're going to see systems

709
00:31:17,508 --> 00:31:19,613
where we can
3D print our clothing,

710
00:31:19,644 --> 00:31:21,317
we can 3D print food.

711
00:31:21,346 --> 00:31:23,952
If you automate
these self-replicating

712
00:31:23,982 --> 00:31:27,156
industrial machines
to pull the raw materials

713
00:31:27,185 --> 00:31:29,062
and distribute
those raw materials

714
00:31:29,087 --> 00:31:31,431
to everyone who
has the capacity

715
00:31:31,456 --> 00:31:33,265
to 3D print their own house

716
00:31:33,291 --> 00:31:36,101
or 3D print
their own farm bot,

717
00:31:36,127 --> 00:31:40,405
you have literally
solved the equation

718
00:31:40,431 --> 00:31:43,105
of how do I automate my life

719
00:31:43,134 --> 00:31:45,444
and how do I automate
my basic necessities?

720
00:31:45,470 --> 00:31:47,347
If we had the political will

721
00:31:47,372 --> 00:31:49,283
to take all these
new technologies

722
00:31:49,307 --> 00:31:51,685
and the wealth
and abundance they create,

723
00:31:51,910 --> 00:31:54,356
and distribute these
across our society

724
00:31:54,379 --> 00:31:55,949
in the First World countries

725
00:31:55,980 --> 00:31:57,618
and also across
the whole world,

726
00:31:57,649 --> 00:31:59,629
then, of course, I mean,
the sky's the limit.

727
00:31:59,651 --> 00:32:01,562
We can solve all
kinds of problems.

728
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:04,396
But we will have to have
the political will to do that,

729
00:32:04,422 --> 00:32:07,028
and I don't see a whole lot
of evidence for it right now.

730
00:32:07,058 --> 00:32:10,267
There really is enough
already for everybody,

731
00:32:10,295 --> 00:32:12,332
certainly to have
an adequate life,

732
00:32:12,363 --> 00:32:16,277
if not a life
of superabundant,

733
00:32:16,301 --> 00:32:19,305
so, you know, I don't think
that the introduction

734
00:32:19,337 --> 00:32:21,248
of more labor-saving devices

735
00:32:21,272 --> 00:32:25,049
or more is really gonna
make any difference in that.

736
00:32:25,076 --> 00:32:26,282
The reason there
are poor people

737
00:32:26,311 --> 00:32:27,722
is 'cause there's rich people.

738
00:32:27,946 --> 00:32:34,454
♪

739
00:32:34,485 --> 00:32:37,022
You're simultaneously
making a lot of people

740
00:32:37,055 --> 00:32:38,693
almost completely useless

741
00:32:38,723 --> 00:32:41,636
while generating
a lot more wealth

742
00:32:41,659 --> 00:32:43,696
and value than ever before.

743
00:32:43,728 --> 00:32:44,968
So I worry about this.

744
00:32:44,996 --> 00:32:46,236
I worry about the schism

745
00:32:46,264 --> 00:32:49,268
between the super rich
and the poor.

746
00:32:49,300 --> 00:32:53,009
The ultra rich,
if they're representative

747
00:32:53,037 --> 00:32:54,983
of some of the people
we've seen in Silicon Valley,

748
00:32:55,006 --> 00:32:56,246
I really, really worry

749
00:32:56,274 --> 00:32:58,254
because I wonder if
they really have a soul.

750
00:32:58,276 --> 00:33:01,723
I really--I wonder if
they really have an awareness

751
00:33:01,746 --> 00:33:04,192
of how regular people feel

752
00:33:04,215 --> 00:33:06,491
and if they share
the values of humanity.

753
00:33:06,517 --> 00:33:09,191
It really bothers me
that you have this ultra rich

754
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:12,167
that is out of touch with
regular people, with humanity.

755
00:33:12,190 --> 00:33:14,363
This is being filmed
right now in San Francisco,

756
00:33:14,392 --> 00:33:17,601
which is by all accounts
one of the wealthiest cities

757
00:33:17,628 --> 00:33:19,733
and most advanced
cities in the world,

758
00:33:19,764 --> 00:33:21,505
and it's pretty much
ground zero

759
00:33:21,532 --> 00:33:24,172
for this
technological revolution,

760
00:33:24,202 --> 00:33:25,476
and, yet, as I came here,

761
00:33:25,503 --> 00:33:28,416
I almost tripped over
homeless people

762
00:33:28,439 --> 00:33:30,043
sleeping on the sidewalk.

763
00:33:30,074 --> 00:33:32,714
That is the reality
of today's economy

764
00:33:32,744 --> 00:33:33,779
and today's society.

765
00:33:34,012 --> 00:33:35,548
In a very real sense,

766
00:33:35,580 --> 00:33:38,754
we already live in
the economy of abundance,

767
00:33:38,783 --> 00:33:41,457
and yet we have not
solved this problem.

768
00:33:41,486 --> 00:33:44,092
I think the future
for the four billion

769
00:33:44,122 --> 00:33:46,796
poor people in the world
is actually a very good one.

770
00:33:47,025 --> 00:33:49,562
We've seen the amount of food
in the world, for example,

771
00:33:49,594 --> 00:33:51,801
has more than doubled
in the last 25 years.

772
00:33:52,030 --> 00:33:54,135
That's likely to continue.

773
00:33:54,165 --> 00:33:58,272
Worldwide, we're seeing
massive economic growth.

774
00:33:58,302 --> 00:34:01,613
That really means that people
in poor countries today

775
00:34:01,639 --> 00:34:04,051
will be much better off
in the future,

776
00:34:04,075 --> 00:34:06,112
so there will still be
some poor people,

777
00:34:06,144 --> 00:34:07,452
relatively speaking,

778
00:34:07,478 --> 00:34:09,617
but compared to
today's poor people,

779
00:34:09,647 --> 00:34:11,285
they'll be actually
quite well-off.

780
00:34:11,315 --> 00:34:14,353
I think this is
an amplifier for inequality.

781
00:34:14,385 --> 00:34:18,231
It's gonna make what we see
now much more amplified.

782
00:34:18,256 --> 00:34:19,599
The number of people
that are doing

783
00:34:19,624 --> 00:34:21,228
really well in the economy

784
00:34:21,259 --> 00:34:23,296
I think is likely
to continue to shrink.

785
00:34:23,327 --> 00:34:25,170
Those people
that are doing well

786
00:34:25,196 --> 00:34:29,144
will do extraordinarily well,
but for more and more people,

787
00:34:29,167 --> 00:34:30,703
they're simply gonna
find themselves

788
00:34:30,735 --> 00:34:32,840
in a position where they
don't have a lot to offer.

789
00:34:33,071 --> 00:34:34,675
They don't have
a marketable skill.

790
00:34:34,705 --> 00:34:38,118
They don't have a viable way
to really earn an income

791
00:34:38,142 --> 00:34:39,746
or, in particular,
middle-class income.

792
00:34:39,777 --> 00:34:41,347
We should value the fact

793
00:34:41,379 --> 00:34:43,586
that we can spend
more time doing human work

794
00:34:43,614 --> 00:34:47,357
and the robots will get on,
increase the economy.

795
00:34:47,385 --> 00:34:49,592
They'll be still taking
all the resources

796
00:34:49,620 --> 00:34:51,725
and convening them
into material goods

797
00:34:51,756 --> 00:34:54,794
at very low cost,
so the economy will expand,

798
00:34:54,826 --> 00:34:56,305
we'll be better off,

799
00:34:56,327 --> 00:34:57,863
and we can concentrate
on what matters.

800
00:34:58,096 --> 00:35:00,269
There's nothing
to worry about in there.

801
00:35:00,298 --> 00:35:02,335
A constant stream
of savings dollars

802
00:35:02,366 --> 00:35:06,280
must flow into big
and small business each year.

803
00:35:06,304 --> 00:35:08,875
These dollars help
to buy the land,

804
00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:13,556
the buildings,
the tools and equipment,

805
00:35:13,578 --> 00:35:15,615
and create new
job opportunities

806
00:35:15,646 --> 00:35:17,557
for our expanding population.

807
00:35:17,582 --> 00:35:21,291
♪

808
00:35:21,319 --> 00:35:22,764
We need consumers out there.

809
00:35:22,787 --> 00:35:25,563
We need people
who can actually buy

810
00:35:25,590 --> 00:35:28,298
the things that are
produced by the economy.

811
00:35:28,326 --> 00:35:30,203
If you look at the way
our economy works,

812
00:35:30,228 --> 00:35:32,765
ultimately, it's driven
by end consumption,

813
00:35:32,797 --> 00:35:35,710
and by that, I mean people
and to a limited extent,

814
00:35:35,733 --> 00:35:37,804
governments, who buy things
because they want them

815
00:35:37,835 --> 00:35:39,473
or they need them.

816
00:35:39,504 --> 00:35:41,142
You know, businesses
in our economy,

817
00:35:41,172 --> 00:35:43,209
they also buy
things, of course,

818
00:35:43,241 --> 00:35:45,482
but they do that in order
to produce something else,

819
00:35:45,510 --> 00:35:47,490
and one business may sell
to another business,

820
00:35:47,512 --> 00:35:49,856
but at the end of that,
at the end of that chain,

821
00:35:49,881 --> 00:35:52,919
there has to stand a consumer
or perhaps a government

822
00:35:53,151 --> 00:35:55,529
who buys that
product or service

823
00:35:55,553 --> 00:35:57,533
just because they want it
or they need it.

824
00:35:57,555 --> 00:35:58,932
So this is not the case

825
00:35:59,157 --> 00:36:00,864
that things can just
keep going like this

826
00:36:00,892 --> 00:36:03,668
and get more and more
unequal over time

827
00:36:03,694 --> 00:36:05,401
and everything
will still be fine.

828
00:36:05,429 --> 00:36:06,737
I think that it
won't be fine.

829
00:36:06,764 --> 00:36:09,870
It will actually have
an impact on our economy

830
00:36:09,901 --> 00:36:12,245
and on our economic growth.

831
00:36:12,270 --> 00:36:15,774
We need intelligent planning
because, you know,

832
00:36:15,806 --> 00:36:18,787
being unemployed is not
a positive thing in itself.

833
00:36:18,809 --> 00:36:20,482
There has to be some
kind of transition point

834
00:36:20,511 --> 00:36:22,422
to some other form
of life after that.

835
00:36:22,446 --> 00:36:24,289
And, again, at the moment,

836
00:36:24,315 --> 00:36:26,693
I really don't see enough
attention being paid to this,

837
00:36:26,717 --> 00:36:29,960
so we need to take this
future prospect seriously now.

838
00:36:30,188 --> 00:36:32,190
♪

839
00:36:32,223 --> 00:36:35,227
If we manage to adapt
to this expected wave

840
00:36:35,259 --> 00:36:39,571
of technological unemployment
both politically and socially,

841
00:36:39,597 --> 00:36:41,838
it's likely
to facilitate a time

842
00:36:41,866 --> 00:36:44,472
when work takes on
a different meaning

843
00:36:44,502 --> 00:36:46,539
and a new role in our lives.

844
00:36:46,571 --> 00:36:48,209
♪

845
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:50,913
Ideas of how we should
approach our relationship

846
00:36:50,942 --> 00:36:54,446
with work have changed
throughout history.

847
00:36:54,478 --> 00:36:57,322
In ancient Greece,
Aristotle said,

848
00:36:57,348 --> 00:37:02,457
"A working paid job absorbs
and degrades the mind."

849
00:37:02,486 --> 00:37:05,228
I.E., if a person would
not willingly adopt

850
00:37:05,256 --> 00:37:06,758
their job for free,

851
00:37:06,791 --> 00:37:08,896
the argument can be made
that they have become

852
00:37:08,926 --> 00:37:11,463
absorbed and degraded by it,

853
00:37:11,495 --> 00:37:15,341
working purely out of
financial obligation.

854
00:37:15,366 --> 00:37:18,904
In 1844, Karl Marx
famously described

855
00:37:18,936 --> 00:37:22,884
the workers of society as
"alienated from their work

856
00:37:22,907 --> 00:37:26,684
and wholly saturated by it."

857
00:37:26,711 --> 00:37:28,782
He felt that most
work didn't allow

858
00:37:28,813 --> 00:37:31,453
an individual's
character to grow.

859
00:37:31,482 --> 00:37:33,860
He encouraged people
to find fulfillment

860
00:37:33,884 --> 00:37:36,387
and freedom in their work.

861
00:37:36,420 --> 00:37:39,594
During World War Two,
the ethos towards work

862
00:37:39,624 --> 00:37:41,661
was that it was
a patriotic duty

863
00:37:41,692 --> 00:37:44,935
in order to support
the war effort.

864
00:37:44,962 --> 00:37:48,535
To best understand our
current relationship with work

865
00:37:48,566 --> 00:37:51,672
and perhaps by extension
modern life itself,

866
00:37:51,702 --> 00:37:55,946
we can look to the writings
of a man called Guy Debord.

867
00:37:55,973 --> 00:38:01,286
Debord was a French Marxist
theorist and in 1967,

868
00:38:01,312 --> 00:38:04,418
he published a powerful
and influential critique

869
00:38:04,448 --> 00:38:07,861
on Western society entitled

870
00:38:07,885 --> 00:38:11,492
<i>The Society of the Spectacle.</i>

871
00:38:11,522 --> 00:38:14,469
He describes our workers
are ruled by commodities

872
00:38:14,492 --> 00:38:15,835
and that production

873
00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:19,307
is an inescapable
duty of the masses,

874
00:38:19,330 --> 00:38:21,571
such is the economic system

875
00:38:21,599 --> 00:38:24,671
that to work is to survive.

876
00:38:24,702 --> 00:38:27,046
"The capitalist economy,"
he <i>says,</i>

877
00:38:27,071 --> 00:38:31,383
"requires the vast majority
to take part as wage workers

878
00:38:31,409 --> 00:38:34,413
in the unending
pursuit of its ends.

879
00:38:34,445 --> 00:38:37,449
A requirement to which,
as everyone knows,

880
00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:40,485
one must either
submit or die."

881
00:38:40,518 --> 00:38:42,828
The assumption has
crept into our rhetoric

882
00:38:42,853 --> 00:38:44,423
and our understanding
that we live in

883
00:38:44,455 --> 00:38:46,457
a leisure society
to some extent.

884
00:38:46,490 --> 00:38:49,403
We have flexible working time.

885
00:38:49,427 --> 00:38:52,465
You hear the term a lot
"relative poverty"

886
00:38:52,496 --> 00:38:53,975
it's, again,
it's absolute poverty,

887
00:38:53,998 --> 00:38:57,036
and all these kinds of ideas
suggest that, in fact,

888
00:38:57,068 --> 00:38:59,105
we should feel pretty
pleased with ourselves.

889
00:38:59,337 --> 00:39:01,374
We should both feel
quite leisured

890
00:39:01,405 --> 00:39:03,715
and we should feel less
in bondage to work

891
00:39:03,741 --> 00:39:05,880
than perhaps somebody
in the 19th century

892
00:39:05,910 --> 00:39:08,948
who was kind of shackled
to a machine in a factory.

893
00:39:08,979 --> 00:39:12,426
But, in fact,
we're very unhappy.

894
00:39:12,450 --> 00:39:14,828
It's irrelevant
how much you work

895
00:39:14,852 --> 00:39:16,832
in actual terms anymore.

896
00:39:16,854 --> 00:39:18,856
The way in which
the spectacle operates

897
00:39:18,889 --> 00:39:23,133
is to make of leisure
itself an adjunct to work.

898
00:39:23,361 --> 00:39:26,433
In other words, the idea
of networking and working

899
00:39:26,464 --> 00:39:29,673
are in some sense
locked into an unholy

900
00:39:29,700 --> 00:39:32,374
and reciprocal relationship
with each other.

901
00:39:32,403 --> 00:39:34,405
You know, the fact
that you're not working

902
00:39:34,438 --> 00:39:35,940
is only because
you've been working,

903
00:39:35,973 --> 00:39:37,418
and the fact that
you're working

904
00:39:37,441 --> 00:39:39,512
is only so that
you cannot work.

905
00:39:39,543 --> 00:39:42,820
In other words,
so engrafted is that rubric

906
00:39:42,847 --> 00:39:44,155
in the way that
we approach life

907
00:39:44,382 --> 00:39:46,885
that--that we can
never be rid of it.

908
00:39:46,917 --> 00:39:50,626
Debord also observed
that as technology advances,

909
00:39:50,654 --> 00:39:52,964
production becomes
more efficient.

910
00:39:52,990 --> 00:39:56,665
Accordingly, the workers'
tasks invariably become

911
00:39:56,694 --> 00:39:59,470
more trivial and menial.

912
00:39:59,497 --> 00:40:02,876
It would seem that as human
labor becomes irrelevant,

913
00:40:02,900 --> 00:40:06,507
the harder it is
to find fulfilling work.

914
00:40:06,537 --> 00:40:09,575
The truth of the matter is
that most people already,

915
00:40:09,607 --> 00:40:12,816
in Britain,
are doing useless jobs

916
00:40:12,843 --> 00:40:16,017
and have been for
generations, actually.

917
00:40:16,046 --> 00:40:18,788
Most jobs in management
are completely useless.

918
00:40:18,816 --> 00:40:21,092
They basically consist
in the rearrangement

919
00:40:21,118 --> 00:40:23,189
of information into
different patterns

920
00:40:23,421 --> 00:40:25,662
that are meant to take on
the semblance of meaning

921
00:40:25,689 --> 00:40:27,862
in the bureaucratic context.

922
00:40:27,892 --> 00:40:31,931
So most work is, in fact,
a waste of time already,

923
00:40:31,962 --> 00:40:34,602
and I think people
understand that intuitively.

924
00:40:34,632 --> 00:40:37,579
When I go into companies,
I often ask the question,

925
00:40:37,601 --> 00:40:38,875
"Why are you employing people?

926
00:40:38,903 --> 00:40:40,473
You could get monkeys

927
00:40:40,504 --> 00:40:42,848
or you could get robots
to do this job."

928
00:40:42,873 --> 00:40:44,079
The people are not
allowed to think.

929
00:40:44,108 --> 00:40:45,917
They are processing.

930
00:40:45,943 --> 00:40:48,082
They're just like a machine.

931
00:40:48,112 --> 00:40:51,559
They're being so hemmed down,

932
00:40:51,582 --> 00:40:55,530
they operate with an algorithm
and they just do it.

933
00:40:55,553 --> 00:40:58,898
We all have the need to find
meaning in our lives,

934
00:40:58,923 --> 00:41:02,234
and it is our professions
that define us.

935
00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:04,736
To work is
to provide a service

936
00:41:04,762 --> 00:41:06,764
either to yourself
or for others,

937
00:41:06,797 --> 00:41:09,835
but most of us would like
our work to be purposeful

938
00:41:09,867 --> 00:41:13,576
and contributory
to society in some way.

939
00:41:13,604 --> 00:41:15,811
It is an uncomfortable truth

940
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,719
that with our present
model of economics

941
00:41:18,742 --> 00:41:22,918
not everyone is able
to monetize their passions.

942
00:41:22,947 --> 00:41:25,951
If any of this were
to come to fruition,

943
00:41:25,983 --> 00:41:29,192
if we learned to make
automation work for us,

944
00:41:29,220 --> 00:41:34,226
the question remains,
"What do we do with our days?"

945
00:41:34,258 --> 00:41:35,999
There's a good and a bad.

946
00:41:36,026 --> 00:41:38,700
The good is that the cost
of everything drops.

947
00:41:38,729 --> 00:41:41,073
We can solve some of
the basic problems of humanity

948
00:41:41,098 --> 00:41:45,103
like disease,
hunger, lodging.

949
00:41:45,135 --> 00:41:49,277
We can look after all the
basic needs of human beings.

950
00:41:49,507 --> 00:41:53,887
The dark side is that
automation takes jobs away,

951
00:41:53,911 --> 00:41:56,892
and the question is,
"What do we do for a living?"

952
00:41:56,914 --> 00:41:59,793
Some of us will
seek enlightenment

953
00:41:59,817 --> 00:42:02,161
and rise and will keep
learning and growing,

954
00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:04,257
but the majority of people
don't care about those things.

955
00:42:04,288 --> 00:42:07,997
Majority of people just want
to do, you know, grunt work.

956
00:42:08,025 --> 00:42:11,563
They want to socialize with
people as they do at work.

957
00:42:11,595 --> 00:42:15,065
Sennett wrote in his book,
The Corrosion of Character,

958
00:42:15,099 --> 00:42:18,046
that in late capitalism,

959
00:42:18,068 --> 00:42:21,208
one of the great
kind of supports

960
00:42:21,238 --> 00:42:24,845
for human interaction
and for human meaning

961
00:42:24,875 --> 00:42:27,754
is the longevity
of social relations

962
00:42:27,778 --> 00:42:30,315
and the interactions
in working environments

963
00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:32,824
and that if that's taken away,

964
00:42:32,850 --> 00:42:36,593
if what's required is to be
continually responsive

965
00:42:36,620 --> 00:42:40,227
and changing in
a precarious world,

966
00:42:40,257 --> 00:42:43,932
then people no longer
find the fulfillment

967
00:42:43,961 --> 00:42:46,567
or the substance in
what they're doing.

968
00:42:46,597 --> 00:42:50,204
There is an underlying desire
for people to do things,

969
00:42:50,234 --> 00:42:51,770
you know, you spoke
about the idea

970
00:42:51,802 --> 00:42:54,180
that people want to be
engaged creatively.

971
00:42:54,204 --> 00:42:55,649
They want to be
engaged, you know,

972
00:42:55,673 --> 00:42:58,984
go back to basic
Marxist ideas of praxis

973
00:42:59,009 --> 00:43:00,647
and right back to John Locke.

974
00:43:00,678 --> 00:43:02,680
They want to be engaged
in what Locke thought of

975
00:43:02,713 --> 00:43:04,283
as primary acquisition,

976
00:43:04,315 --> 00:43:07,159
mixing their labor,
either their creative thinking

977
00:43:07,184 --> 00:43:08,686
or their physical labor even,

978
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,199
with the world
in order to transform it.

979
00:43:11,221 --> 00:43:13,667
They want to do that,
and that's a very basic

980
00:43:13,691 --> 00:43:15,967
human instinct to do that.

981
00:43:15,993 --> 00:43:19,099
And the idea of
a leisured class, as it were,

982
00:43:19,129 --> 00:43:23,271
a class who is not involved
in a praxis with the world,

983
00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:25,610
but is simply involved
in a passive way

984
00:43:25,636 --> 00:43:29,311
as a recipient of things is
actually repugnant to people.

985
00:43:29,340 --> 00:43:34,187
They would sooner work for
the man in a meaningless job

986
00:43:34,211 --> 00:43:36,782
and construct
a false ideology

987
00:43:36,814 --> 00:43:38,987
of involvement and engagement

988
00:43:39,016 --> 00:43:41,155
than they would
actually sit on their ass.

989
00:43:41,185 --> 00:43:42,892
We can't get away
from the fact that--

990
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,730
that people work
because they have to.

991
00:43:45,756 --> 00:43:48,760
That's, you know, the primary
motivation for most people,

992
00:43:48,792 --> 00:43:50,294
that if you don't work,

993
00:43:50,327 --> 00:43:52,739
you're gonna be living
on the street, okay?

994
00:43:52,763 --> 00:43:55,073
Once we--if we ever
move into a future

995
00:43:55,099 --> 00:43:56,703
where that's not the case

996
00:43:56,734 --> 00:43:57,974
and people don't have
to worry about that,

997
00:43:58,002 --> 00:43:59,208
then we can begin to take on

998
00:43:59,236 --> 00:44:01,307
these more
philosophical questions

999
00:44:01,338 --> 00:44:05,411
of-of, you know, but we're
not at that point yet.

1000
00:44:05,643 --> 00:44:09,352
We can't pretend that
we are living in an age

1001
00:44:09,380 --> 00:44:14,386
where that necessity
for an income doesn't exist.

1002
00:44:14,418 --> 00:44:18,867
Douglas Rushkoff
stated in 2009,

1003
00:44:18,889 --> 00:44:22,427
"We all want paychecks
or at least money.

1004
00:44:22,660 --> 00:44:25,368
We want food,
shelter, clothing,

1005
00:44:25,396 --> 00:44:28,309
and all the things
that money buys us.

1006
00:44:28,332 --> 00:44:32,041
But do we all
really want jobs?"

1007
00:44:32,069 --> 00:44:35,949
According to the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization,

1008
00:44:35,973 --> 00:44:37,384
there is enough food produced

1009
00:44:37,408 --> 00:44:39,046
to provide everyone
in the world

1010
00:44:39,076 --> 00:44:44,185
with 2,720 kilocalories
per person per day.

1011
00:44:44,214 --> 00:44:46,251
♪

1012
00:45:03,300 --> 00:45:05,803
At this stage,
it's difficult to think of

1013
00:45:05,836 --> 00:45:08,214
other possible ways of life.

1014
00:45:08,238 --> 00:45:10,343
The need to earn a living
has been a pan

1015
00:45:10,374 --> 00:45:12,980
of every cultural
narrative in history.

1016
00:45:13,010 --> 00:45:16,184
It's a precondition
of human life.

1017
00:45:16,213 --> 00:45:18,853
The challenge facing
the future of work

1018
00:45:18,882 --> 00:45:21,988
is politically unclear.

1019
00:45:22,019 --> 00:45:23,930
It is likely to require

1020
00:45:23,954 --> 00:45:26,867
not only a
redistribution of wealth,

1021
00:45:26,890 --> 00:45:30,303
but a redistribution
of the workload.

1022
00:45:30,327 --> 00:45:34,002
But will working less
mean living more?

1023
00:45:34,031 --> 00:45:35,772
♪

1024
00:45:35,799 --> 00:45:39,076
And is our fear of
becoming irrelevant

1025
00:45:39,103 --> 00:45:42,414
greater than
our fear of death?

1026
00:45:45,909 --> 00:45:53,909
♪

1027
00:46:17,274 --> 00:46:21,222
The process of physical aging
is known as senescence,

1028
00:46:21,245 --> 00:46:23,555
and none of us
are spared from it.

1029
00:46:23,781 --> 00:46:28,059
It remains to this day
an evolutionary enigma.

1030
00:46:28,085 --> 00:46:30,224
Our cells are programmed to wane

1031
00:46:30,254 --> 00:46:33,963
and our entire bodies
are fated to become frail.

1032
00:46:33,991 --> 00:46:36,471
It was seen that the laws
of nature would prefer it

1033
00:46:36,493 --> 00:46:38,439
if we dwindle and die.

1034
00:46:38,462 --> 00:46:42,239
♪

1035
00:46:42,266 --> 00:46:44,576
Negligible senescence, however,

1036
00:46:44,802 --> 00:46:47,942
is the lack
of symptoms of aging.

1037
00:46:47,971 --> 00:46:52,249
Negligibly senescent organisms
include certain species

1038
00:46:52,276 --> 00:46:55,052
of sturgeon, giant tortoise,

1039
00:46:55,078 --> 00:46:58,457
flatworm, clam, and tardigrade.

1040
00:47:00,083 --> 00:47:04,122
One species of jellyfish
called turritopsis dohrnii

1041
00:47:04,154 --> 00:47:08,068
has even been observed
to be biologically immortal.

1042
00:47:08,091 --> 00:47:11,903
It has the capability
to reverse its biotic cycle

1043
00:47:11,929 --> 00:47:13,909
and revert back
to the polyp stage

1044
00:47:13,931 --> 00:47:16,377
at any point in its development.

1045
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:19,313
There is only one thing
wrong with dying,

1046
00:47:19,336 --> 00:47:21,247
and that's doing it
when you don't want to.

1047
00:47:22,272 --> 00:47:24,252
Doing it when you do
want to is not a problem.

1048
00:47:24,274 --> 00:47:26,083
Now if you put that bargain
to anybody,

1049
00:47:26,109 --> 00:47:28,350
"Look, this is the deal:

1050
00:47:28,378 --> 00:47:30,483
You will die, but only
when you want to."

1051
00:47:30,514 --> 00:47:32,323
Who would not take that bargain?

1052
00:47:32,349 --> 00:47:36,855
In 2014, a team
of scientists at Harvard

1053
00:47:36,887 --> 00:47:39,333
were able to effectively
reverse the age

1054
00:47:39,356 --> 00:47:41,529
of an older mouse by treating it

1055
00:47:41,558 --> 00:47:43,560
with the blood
of a younger mouse

1056
00:47:43,594 --> 00:47:46,905
through a process
called parabiosis.

1057
00:47:47,931 --> 00:47:49,308
For the first time in history

1058
00:47:49,333 --> 00:47:51,643
it is deemed
scientifically possible

1059
00:47:51,869 --> 00:47:54,577
to gain control
over the aging process.

1060
00:47:54,605 --> 00:48:02,605
♪

1061
00:48:03,113 --> 00:48:05,593
Ultimately, when people
get the hang of the idea

1062
00:48:05,616 --> 00:48:07,892
that aging is a medical problem

1063
00:48:07,918 --> 00:48:10,228
and that everybody's got it,

1064
00:48:10,254 --> 00:48:13,929
then it's not going to be
the way it is today.

1065
00:48:19,363 --> 00:48:23,175
He thinks it's possible
that people will extend--

1066
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,670
be able to extend their lifespan
by considerable amounts.

1067
00:48:26,904 --> 00:48:28,247
I think he's on record as saying

1068
00:48:28,272 --> 00:48:31,219
the first 1,000-year-old person
is already alive.

1069
00:48:31,241 --> 00:48:33,482
It's highly likely, in my view,

1070
00:48:33,510 --> 00:48:36,423
that people born today
or born 10 years ago

1071
00:48:36,446 --> 00:48:39,188
will actually be able to live

1072
00:48:39,216 --> 00:48:41,253
<i>as</i> long <i>as</i> they like,
<i>so</i> to speak,

1073
00:48:41,285 --> 00:48:46,394
without any risk of death
from the ill health of old age.

1074
00:48:46,423 --> 00:48:52,101
The way to apply comprehensive
maintenance to aging

1075
00:48:52,129 --> 00:48:53,699
is a divide
and conquer approach.

1076
00:48:53,931 --> 00:48:55,467
It is not a magic bullet.

1077
00:48:55,499 --> 00:48:57,445
It is not some single thing
that we can do,

1078
00:48:57,467 --> 00:49:00,380
let alone a single thing
that we could do just once.

1079
00:49:00,404 --> 00:49:03,578
Aging is
the lifelong accumulation

1080
00:49:03,607 --> 00:49:05,609
of damage to the body,

1081
00:49:05,642 --> 00:49:08,680
and that damage occurs
as an intrinsic,

1082
00:49:08,712 --> 00:49:10,714
unavoidable side effect

1083
00:49:10,948 --> 00:49:13,360
of the way the body
normally works.

1084
00:49:13,383 --> 00:49:15,021
Even though there
are many, many,

1085
00:49:15,052 --> 00:49:17,555
many different types
of damage at the molecular level

1086
00:49:17,587 --> 00:49:21,467
and the cellular level,
they can all be classified

1087
00:49:21,491 --> 00:49:23,971
into a very manageable
number of categories,

1088
00:49:23,994 --> 00:49:25,564
just seven major categories.

1089
00:49:25,595 --> 00:49:28,439
So now the bottom line,
what do we do about it?

1090
00:49:28,465 --> 00:49:31,742
How do we actually implement
the maintenance approach?

1091
00:49:31,969 --> 00:49:33,744
There are four
fundamental paradigms,

1092
00:49:33,971 --> 00:49:35,473
they all begin with

1093
00:49:35,505 --> 00:49:37,109
They are called
replacement, removal,

1094
00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:38,676
repair, and reinforcement.

1095
00:49:38,709 --> 00:49:41,588
We've got particular ways
to do all these things.

1096
00:49:41,611 --> 00:49:44,683
Sometimes replacement,
sometimes simply elimination

1097
00:49:44,715 --> 00:49:48,754
of the superfluous material,
the garbage that's accumulated.

1098
00:49:48,986 --> 00:49:52,297
Sometimes repair
of the material.

1099
00:49:52,322 --> 00:49:54,563
Occasionally, in a couple
of cases, reinforcement--

1100
00:49:54,591 --> 00:49:57,128
that means making
the cell robust

1101
00:49:57,160 --> 00:49:59,504
so that the damage,
which would normally have caused

1102
00:49:59,529 --> 00:50:02,032
the pathology
no longer does that.

1103
00:50:02,065 --> 00:50:05,137
I wanna talk about one thing
that we're doing in our lab,

1104
00:50:05,168 --> 00:50:07,341
which involved the number one
cause of death

1105
00:50:07,371 --> 00:50:09,510
in the western world,
cardiovascular disease

1106
00:50:09,539 --> 00:50:11,246
causes hear-t attacks
and strokes.

1107
00:50:11,274 --> 00:50:14,084
It all begins with these things
called foam cells,

1108
00:50:14,111 --> 00:50:16,785
which are originally
white blood cells.

1109
00:50:17,014 --> 00:50:20,621
They become poisoned
by toxins in the bloodstream.

1110
00:50:20,650 --> 00:50:23,494
The main toxin that's
responsible is known--

1111
00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:26,433
it's called 7-ketocholesterol,
that's this thing,

1112
00:50:26,456 --> 00:50:29,460
and we found some bacteria
that could eat it.

1113
00:50:29,493 --> 00:50:31,700
We then found out
how they eat it,

1114
00:50:31,728 --> 00:50:34,675
we found out the enzymes
that they use to break it down,

1115
00:50:34,698 --> 00:50:37,201
and we found out
how to modify those enzymes

1116
00:50:37,234 --> 00:50:39,510
so that they can go
into human cells,

1117
00:50:39,536 --> 00:50:42,608
go to the right place
in the cell that they're needed,

1118
00:50:42,639 --> 00:50:44,380
which is called the lysosome,

1119
00:50:44,408 --> 00:50:48,550
and actually do their job there,
and it actually works.

1120
00:50:48,578 --> 00:50:51,821
Cells are protected
from this toxic substance--

1121
00:50:52,049 --> 00:50:53,687
that's what these graphs
are showing.

1122
00:50:53,717 --> 00:50:56,129
So this is pretty good news.

1123
00:50:56,153 --> 00:50:58,724
The damage that accumulates
that eventually causes

1124
00:50:58,755 --> 00:51:01,759
the diseases
and disabilities of old age

1125
00:51:01,792 --> 00:51:04,363
is initially harmless.

1126
00:51:04,394 --> 00:51:07,603
The body is set up to tolerate
a certain amount of it.

1127
00:51:07,631 --> 00:51:10,271
That's critical,
because while we damage it

1128
00:51:10,300 --> 00:51:13,213
at that sub-pathological level,

1129
00:51:13,236 --> 00:51:15,341
it means that
it's not participating

1130
00:51:15,372 --> 00:51:17,249
in metabolism, so to speak.

1131
00:51:17,274 --> 00:51:20,380
It's not actually interacting
with the way the body works.

1132
00:51:20,410 --> 00:51:22,720
So medicines
that target that damage

1133
00:51:22,746 --> 00:51:25,283
are much, much less likely

1134
00:51:25,315 --> 00:51:28,228
to have unacceptable
side effects

1135
00:51:28,251 --> 00:51:31,198
than medicines that try
to manipulate the body

1136
00:51:31,221 --> 00:51:33,098
so as to stop the damage
from being created

1137
00:51:33,123 --> 00:51:34,295
in the first place.

1138
00:51:42,399 --> 00:51:48,350
It's unlikely, in fact,
by working on longevity per se,

1139
00:51:48,371 --> 00:51:50,248
that we will crack it.

1140
00:51:50,273 --> 00:51:53,379
It's going to be--
it seems to me more probable

1141
00:51:53,410 --> 00:51:57,756
that we will crack longevity
simply by getting rid of,

1142
00:51:57,781 --> 00:52:01,354
sequentially,
the prime causes of death.

1143
00:52:01,384 --> 00:52:06,390
I hear people talk about
living hundreds of years.

1144
00:52:06,423 --> 00:52:07,595
Inside, I'm like, yeah, right,

1145
00:52:07,624 --> 00:52:10,468
I mean, because
if you study the brain,

1146
00:52:10,494 --> 00:52:12,770
the dead end is the brain.

1147
00:52:12,796 --> 00:52:14,332
We all star-t developing

1148
00:52:14,364 --> 00:52:16,503
Alzheimer's pathology
at 40 years old.

1149
00:52:16,533 --> 00:52:18,706
It's not a matter of whether
you get Alzheimer's,

1150
00:52:18,735 --> 00:52:19,805
it's when.

1151
00:52:20,871 --> 00:52:25,718
It's when, and genetically,

1152
00:52:25,742 --> 00:52:27,813
we all have some predisposition

1153
00:52:27,844 --> 00:52:30,347
to when we're gonna
get this disease.

1154
00:52:30,380 --> 00:52:32,155
It's pan of the program.

1155
00:52:32,182 --> 00:52:34,389
Let's fix that part
of the program

1156
00:52:34,417 --> 00:52:36,590
so we can live
past 90 years old

1157
00:52:36,620 --> 00:52:39,157
with an intact, working brain

1158
00:52:39,189 --> 00:52:41,430
to continue
the evolution of our mind.

1159
00:52:42,592 --> 00:52:47,871
That is number one in my book,
because here's a fact:

1160
00:52:47,898 --> 00:52:50,401
Life span's almost 80
right now on average.

1161
00:52:50,433 --> 00:52:54,279
By 85, half of people
will have Alzheimer's.

1162
00:52:54,304 --> 00:52:56,181
Do the math.

1163
00:52:56,206 --> 00:52:57,446
Seventy-four million
Baby Boomers

1164
00:52:57,474 --> 00:52:58,817
headed toward risk age.

1165
00:52:58,842 --> 00:53:01,482
Eighty-five, 50 percent
have Alzheimer's,

1166
00:53:01,511 --> 00:53:03,184
current life span's 80.

1167
00:53:03,213 --> 00:53:04,783
They're gonna be 85 pretty soon.

1168
00:53:04,814 --> 00:53:07,886
Half our population at 85's
gonna have this disease.

1169
00:53:07,918 --> 00:53:09,693
And then keep going
up to 90 and 100,

1170
00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:11,198
and it gets even worse.

1171
00:53:11,221 --> 00:53:13,326
This is enemy number one.

1172
00:53:13,356 --> 00:53:16,462
It's interesting,
just this week

1173
00:53:17,594 --> 00:53:20,234
it was discovered
that an Egyptian mummy

1174
00:53:21,264 --> 00:53:23,938
had died of cancer,
so even way back in those times,

1175
00:53:23,967 --> 00:53:25,605
cancer was around.

1176
00:53:25,635 --> 00:53:28,707
What seems to have happened is,
as we have lived longer,

1177
00:53:28,738 --> 00:53:31,878
the number of diseases
that pop up to kill us

1178
00:53:31,908 --> 00:53:34,411
star-ts to increase,
and the reality is

1179
00:53:34,444 --> 00:53:37,482
I think this is a son
of whack-a-mole situation

1180
00:53:37,514 --> 00:53:41,360
as we beat cancer to death
and it disappears,

1181
00:53:41,384 --> 00:53:42,624
something else will pop up.

1182
00:53:42,652 --> 00:53:44,598
Cancer is a specific disease,

1183
00:53:44,621 --> 00:53:46,726
and every cancer
is a specific gene involved

1184
00:53:46,756 --> 00:53:48,463
together with lifestyle.

1185
00:53:48,491 --> 00:53:52,234
Alzheimer's, specific disease,
specific genetics.

1186
00:53:52,262 --> 00:53:55,266
I can go on and on--
diabetes, hear-t disease.

1187
00:53:55,298 --> 00:53:59,405
These are diseases,
and <i>as</i> you get older,

1188
00:53:59,436 --> 00:54:02,679
your susceptibility
to these diseases increases,

1189
00:54:02,706 --> 00:54:04,686
and your genetics will determine

1190
00:54:04,708 --> 00:54:07,450
whether you get them
and when you get them

1191
00:54:07,477 --> 00:54:08,717
given your lifespan.

1192
00:54:08,745 --> 00:54:10,486
That's not aging,

1193
00:54:10,513 --> 00:54:12,789
that's just living long enough
to be susceptible,

1194
00:54:12,816 --> 00:54:16,992
so we may very well eradicate,
in our fantasy world,

1195
00:54:17,020 --> 00:54:20,263
all the cancers and strokes
and hear-t disease

1196
00:54:20,290 --> 00:54:23,294
and diabetes and Alzheimer's
we get right now

1197
00:54:23,326 --> 00:54:26,535
by 80 or 90 years old,
and then what's gonna happen?

1198
00:54:26,563 --> 00:54:29,601
You live out to 110,
and guess what's gonna happen,

1199
00:54:29,633 --> 00:54:31,544
new, other genetic variants

1200
00:54:31,568 --> 00:54:33,605
suddenly rear
their ugly heads and say,

1201
00:54:33,637 --> 00:54:36,311
"Now we're gonna affect
whether you live to 110

1202
00:54:36,339 --> 00:54:38,012
without Alzheimer's
and hear-t disease

1203
00:54:38,041 --> 00:54:39,611
and cancer and diabetes."

1204
00:54:39,643 --> 00:54:41,418
And it'll go on
and go on and go on.

1205
00:54:43,380 --> 00:54:45,792
There will undoubtedly
be enormous challenges

1206
00:54:45,815 --> 00:54:48,796
concerning the biological
approach to longevity.

1207
00:54:49,819 --> 00:54:52,925
There could, however,
be an alternative route

1208
00:54:52,956 --> 00:54:54,936
to extreme longevity.

1209
00:54:56,426 --> 00:54:58,030
When people are
worried about death,

1210
00:54:58,061 --> 00:54:59,734
I guess the issue
is what is it

1211
00:54:59,763 --> 00:55:03,472
that they would like
to have stay alive, okay?

1212
00:55:03,500 --> 00:55:07,312
And I think that's often
very unclear what the answer is,

1213
00:55:07,337 --> 00:55:10,045
because if you look at somebody
like Ray Kurzweil, for example,

1214
00:55:10,073 --> 00:55:11,916
with his promises
of the singularity

1215
00:55:11,941 --> 00:55:13,784
and our merging
with machine intelligence

1216
00:55:13,810 --> 00:55:15,687
and then being able
to kind of have

1217
00:55:15,712 --> 00:55:17,316
this kind of
infinite consciousness

1218
00:55:17,347 --> 00:55:20,385
projected outward
into the Cosmos.

1219
00:55:20,417 --> 00:55:21,862
I don't think he's
imaging a human body

1220
00:55:21,885 --> 00:55:24,832
living forever, okay?

1221
00:55:24,854 --> 00:55:28,324
And if that's what we're
talking about is immortality,

1222
00:55:28,358 --> 00:55:30,599
what I kind of think
Kurzweil is talking about,

1223
00:55:30,627 --> 00:55:32,402
then I can see it.

1224
00:55:32,429 --> 00:55:35,967
I mean, I could see at least
as something to work toward.

1225
00:55:35,999 --> 00:55:40,038
In 2005, Google's
Director of Engineering,

1226
00:55:40,070 --> 00:55:42,641
Ray Kurzweil,
published a book

1227
00:55:42,672 --> 00:55:45,551
entitled
The Singularity is Near:

1228
00:55:45,575 --> 00:55:48,749
When Humans Transcend Biology.

1229
00:55:48,778 --> 00:55:52,021
He predicts that by 2045,

1230
00:55:52,048 --> 00:55:54,551
it'll be possible
to upload our minds

1231
00:55:54,584 --> 00:55:57,622
into a computer,
effectively allowing us

1232
00:55:57,654 --> 00:55:59,725
to live indefinitely.

1233
00:56:14,637 --> 00:56:17,083
When people think
of death at this point,

1234
00:56:17,107 --> 00:56:19,417
they think of a body
going into a coffin,

1235
00:56:19,442 --> 00:56:21,718
and the coffin
going into the ground.

1236
00:56:21,745 --> 00:56:25,852
When in fact that age
of death is dying.

1237
00:56:25,882 --> 00:56:28,692
We are ending that stage.

1238
00:56:28,718 --> 00:56:30,425
We're entering a new stage

1239
00:56:30,453 --> 00:56:32,660
where we could
possibly upload consciousness

1240
00:56:32,689 --> 00:56:34,566
into a silicone substrate.

1241
00:56:34,591 --> 00:56:36,764
You know, a lot of these
science fiction ideas

1242
00:56:36,793 --> 00:56:39,637
from decades ago
are becoming real

1243
00:56:39,662 --> 00:56:42,006
and already people are
spending millions of pounds

1244
00:56:42,031 --> 00:56:44,841
research today
on making this happen.

1245
00:56:44,868 --> 00:56:47,906
Nobody expects to do it
before 2040 at the earliest.

1246
00:56:47,937 --> 00:56:51,544
My guess is 2050,
it'll be a few rich people

1247
00:56:51,574 --> 00:56:54,612
and a few kings and queens
here and there and politicians.

1248
00:56:54,644 --> 00:56:58,091
By 2060-2070, it's
reasonably well-off people.

1249
00:56:58,114 --> 00:57:01,857
By 2075, pretty much anybody
could be immortal.

1250
00:57:01,885 --> 00:57:04,161
I'm not convinced that
uploading my consciousness

1251
00:57:04,187 --> 00:57:07,430
onto a computer is
a form of immortality.

1252
00:57:07,457 --> 00:57:09,767
I would like to live forever,

1253
00:57:09,793 --> 00:57:12,205
but I'm not sure that
I would like to live forever

1254
00:57:12,429 --> 00:57:17,970
as some digibytes of memory
in a computer.

1255
00:57:18,001 --> 00:57:19,674
I wouldn't call that
living forever.

1256
00:57:19,702 --> 00:57:21,511
The things I wanna do
with my body

1257
00:57:21,538 --> 00:57:24,212
that I won't be able
to do in that computer.

1258
00:57:24,441 --> 00:57:26,614
Immortality is a question
that keeps arising

1259
00:57:26,643 --> 00:57:29,749
in the technology community,
and it's one which I think

1260
00:57:29,779 --> 00:57:33,192
is entirely feasible
in principle.

1261
00:57:33,216 --> 00:57:34,854
We won't actually
become immortal,

1262
00:57:34,884 --> 00:57:38,491
but what we will do is
we will get the technology

1263
00:57:38,521 --> 00:57:43,061
by around about 2050
to connect a human brain

1264
00:57:43,092 --> 00:57:46,972
to the machine world so well
that most of your thinking

1265
00:57:46,996 --> 00:57:49,033
is happening inside
the computer world,

1266
00:57:49,065 --> 00:57:50,874
inside the l.T.,

1267
00:57:50,900 --> 00:57:52,607
so your brain
is still being used,

1268
00:57:52,635 --> 00:57:55,582
but 99 percent of your thoughts,
99 percent of your memories

1269
00:57:55,605 --> 00:57:57,243
are actually out there
in the cloud

1270
00:57:57,474 --> 00:57:59,044
or whatever you wanna call it,

1271
00:57:59,075 --> 00:58:00,952
and only one percent
is inside your head.

1272
00:58:00,977 --> 00:58:02,718
So walk into work this morning,

1273
00:58:02,745 --> 00:58:05,555
you get hit by a bus,
it doesn't matter.

1274
00:58:05,582 --> 00:58:09,120
You just upload you mind
into an android

1275
00:58:09,152 --> 00:58:11,655
on Monday morning and carry on
as if nothing had happened.

1276
00:58:11,688 --> 00:58:13,565
The question with
that kind of technology

1277
00:58:13,590 --> 00:58:17,800
and the extension
of human capacity

1278
00:58:17,827 --> 00:58:23,004
and human life
through technology

1279
00:58:23,032 --> 00:58:26,070
is where does
the human, um, end,

1280
00:58:26,102 --> 00:58:27,877
and the technology begin?

1281
00:58:27,904 --> 00:58:31,545
If we upload our consciousness
into a robot,

1282
00:58:31,574 --> 00:58:35,954
a humanoid robot that has touch,
the ability to feel,

1283
00:58:35,979 --> 00:58:39,722
all of the sensorial inputs,
if they're the same,

1284
00:58:39,749 --> 00:58:43,060
there is a potential
of continuity, right?

1285
00:58:43,086 --> 00:58:47,228
So you can have the same
types of experiences

1286
00:58:47,257 --> 00:58:50,204
in that new substrate
that you have as a human being.

1287
00:58:50,226 --> 00:58:52,297
It's beyond a continuity issue,

1288
00:58:52,529 --> 00:58:55,874
it's an issue that you have
the ability to record

1289
00:58:55,899 --> 00:58:58,937
and recall without the content--

1290
00:58:58,968 --> 00:59:00,879
the content being
the sensations, images

1291
00:59:00,904 --> 00:59:03,544
and feelings and thoughts
you experienced your whole life

1292
00:59:03,573 --> 00:59:04,847
that have associated
with each other

1293
00:59:04,874 --> 00:59:06,251
through your neuronetwork.

1294
00:59:06,276 --> 00:59:07,880
Where are they stored?

1295
00:59:07,911 --> 00:59:11,085
I don't think consciousness
and the brain

1296
00:59:11,114 --> 00:59:12,889
is anything to do
with any particular

1297
00:59:12,916 --> 00:59:14,862
individual region in the brain,

1298
00:59:14,884 --> 00:59:17,592
but it's something
that's all about--

1299
00:59:17,620 --> 00:59:19,896
its distributed organization.

1300
00:59:19,923 --> 00:59:21,596
I don't think there
are any mysteries.

1301
00:59:21,624 --> 00:59:24,298
There are no causal mysteries
in the brain,

1302
00:59:24,327 --> 00:59:29,606
and I think that
there's a perfectly--

1303
00:59:29,632 --> 00:59:32,044
a comprehensible, physical chain

1304
00:59:32,068 --> 00:59:34,742
of cause and effect
that goes from the things

1305
00:59:34,771 --> 00:59:37,217
that I see and hear around me

1306
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:39,015
and the words
that come out of my mouth,

1307
00:59:39,042 --> 00:59:43,582
which would <i>encompass
consciousness,</i> I <i>suppose.</i>

1308
00:59:43,613 --> 00:59:44,887
But the things that--

1309
00:59:44,914 --> 00:59:46,757
the moment you say
something like that,

1310
00:59:46,783 --> 00:59:50,788
you're on the edge
of the philosophical precipice.

1311
00:59:50,820 --> 00:59:52,128
When you think about a machine,

1312
00:59:52,155 --> 00:59:55,034
the question is are you
simulating consciousness

1313
00:59:55,058 --> 00:59:57,231
or are you simulating cognition?

1314
00:59:58,828 --> 01:00:03,334
Cognition requires inputs
and reactions

1315
01:00:03,366 --> 01:00:04,811
that are associated
with each other

1316
01:00:04,834 --> 01:00:07,314
to create an output
and an outcome.

1317
01:00:07,337 --> 01:00:08,907
And you can program that all day

1318
01:00:08,938 --> 01:00:11,043
and you can make that
as sophisticated

1319
01:00:11,074 --> 01:00:12,781
and as information-dense
as you want,

1320
01:00:12,809 --> 01:00:15,756
almost to the point
that it mimics a real person.

1321
01:00:17,213 --> 01:00:19,716
But the question is will it
ever have the consciousness

1322
01:00:19,749 --> 01:00:21,695
that our species
with our genetics,

1323
01:00:21,718 --> 01:00:23,994
with our brain has.

1324
01:00:24,020 --> 01:00:27,365
No, a machine has
its own consciousness.

1325
01:00:27,390 --> 01:00:29,700
All you're doing
is programming it

1326
01:00:29,726 --> 01:00:33,173
to be cognitively responsive
the way you are.

1327
01:00:33,196 --> 01:00:35,301
I remember well,
when my father died,

1328
01:00:35,331 --> 01:00:39,643
asking my mother,
"if I could've captured

1329
01:00:39,669 --> 01:00:42,946
the very being of my father
in a machine,

1330
01:00:42,972 --> 01:00:44,747
and I could put him
in an android

1331
01:00:44,774 --> 01:00:47,414
that looked exactly like him,
had all the mannerisms,

1332
01:00:47,644 --> 01:00:50,955
and it was warm and it smelled
and it felt like him,

1333
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:53,187
would you do it?"
and she said, "Absolutely not.

1334
01:00:53,216 --> 01:00:55,822
It wouldn't be your father,
it wouldn't be him."

1335
01:00:55,852 --> 01:00:57,798
I think that someday
you can upload

1336
01:00:57,820 --> 01:00:59,731
your current neuronetwork...

1337
01:01:00,923 --> 01:01:02,994
but that's not you.

1338
01:01:03,026 --> 01:01:05,802
That's just your current
neuro map, right?

1339
01:01:05,828 --> 01:01:12,268
♪

1340
01:01:12,301 --> 01:01:14,372
As with any concept
that proposes

1341
01:01:14,404 --> 01:01:17,681
to change the natural
order of things,

1342
01:01:17,707 --> 01:01:22,213
the idea of extreme longevity
can be met with disbelief.

1343
01:01:23,746 --> 01:01:26,249
But there is currently
an international movement

1344
01:01:26,282 --> 01:01:29,286
called transhumanism
that is concerned

1345
01:01:29,318 --> 01:01:31,355
with fundamentally transforming

1346
01:01:31,387 --> 01:01:34,834
the human condition
by developing technologies

1347
01:01:34,857 --> 01:01:37,360
to greatly enhance human beings

1348
01:01:37,393 --> 01:01:42,467
in an intellectual, physical,
and psychological capacity.

1349
01:01:42,699 --> 01:01:45,305
I really want to just
simply live indefinitely,

1350
01:01:45,334 --> 01:01:48,213
and not have the Spectre
of Death hanging over me,

1351
01:01:48,237 --> 01:01:50,478
potentially
at any moment taking away

1352
01:01:50,707 --> 01:01:53,210
this thing
that we call existence.

1353
01:01:53,242 --> 01:01:55,449
So for me, that's
the primary goal

1354
01:01:55,478 --> 01:01:57,788
of the transhumanist movement.

1355
01:01:57,814 --> 01:02:00,852
Transhumanists believe
we should use technology

1356
01:02:00,883 --> 01:02:05,093
to overcome
our biological limitations.

1357
01:02:05,121 --> 01:02:06,429
What does that mean?

1358
01:02:06,456 --> 01:02:10,962
Well, very simplistically,
perhaps,

1359
01:02:10,993 --> 01:02:13,439
I think we should be aiming
for what one might call

1360
01:02:13,463 --> 01:02:16,000
a triple S civilization

1361
01:02:16,032 --> 01:02:20,139
of super intelligence,
super longevity,

1362
01:02:20,169 --> 01:02:21,876
and super happiness.

1363
01:02:21,904 --> 01:02:24,316
We have been evolving
through hundreds and hundreds

1364
01:02:24,340 --> 01:02:26,877
of thousands of years,
human beings,

1365
01:02:26,909 --> 01:02:29,389
and transhumanism
is the climax of that.

1366
01:02:29,412 --> 01:02:32,120
It's the result of
how we're going to get

1367
01:02:32,148 --> 01:02:37,029
to some kind of great future
where we are way beyond

1368
01:02:37,053 --> 01:02:38,794
what it means
to be a human being.

1369
01:02:38,821 --> 01:02:44,100
Unfortunately, organic robots
grow old and die,

1370
01:02:44,127 --> 01:02:48,872
and this isn't a choice,
it's completely involuntary.

1371
01:02:48,898 --> 01:02:51,174
120 years from now,
in the absence

1372
01:02:51,200 --> 01:02:54,477
of radical
biological interventions,

1373
01:02:54,504 --> 01:02:58,281
everyone listening
to this video will be dead,

1374
01:02:58,307 --> 01:03:00,548
and not beautifully as so,

1375
01:03:00,777 --> 01:03:04,486
but one's last years tends
to be those of decrepitude,

1376
01:03:04,514 --> 01:03:08,052
frequently senility, infirmity,

1377
01:03:08,084 --> 01:03:13,193
and transhumanists don't accept
aging as inevitable.

1378
01:03:13,222 --> 01:03:15,828
There's no immutable
law of nature

1379
01:03:15,858 --> 01:03:18,930
that says that organic robots
must grow old.

1380
01:03:18,961 --> 01:03:21,567
After all, silicone robots,
they don't need to grow old.

1381
01:03:21,798 --> 01:03:25,268
Their pans can be
replaced and upgraded.

1382
01:03:25,301 --> 01:03:26,974
Our bodies are capable
of adjusting

1383
01:03:27,003 --> 01:03:28,914
in ways we've hardly dreamt of.

1384
01:03:30,173 --> 01:03:31,948
If we can only find the key.

1385
01:03:33,109 --> 01:03:35,953
I'm so close now, so very close.

1386
01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:40,156
- The key to what?
- To be able to replace

1387
01:03:40,183 --> 01:03:41,958
diseased and damaged pans
of the body

1388
01:03:41,984 --> 01:03:44,828
as easily as we replace
eye corneas now.

1389
01:03:45,588 --> 01:03:46,896
Can't be done.

1390
01:03:48,291 --> 01:03:49,463
It can be done!

1391
01:03:50,960 --> 01:03:53,907
The relationship
between life and death

1392
01:03:53,930 --> 01:03:58,970
and the role of technology
in forestalling death

1393
01:03:59,001 --> 01:04:02,915
creates death, in a way,
as a new kind of problem.

1394
01:04:02,939 --> 01:04:06,216
Death becomes something
that needs to be solved.

1395
01:04:06,242 --> 01:04:07,346
Why would it be good
to live forever?

1396
01:04:07,376 --> 01:04:08,582
'Cause if you have a shit day,

1397
01:04:08,611 --> 01:04:11,524
it dilutes the depression

1398
01:04:11,547 --> 01:04:14,323
within countless
other days, you know?

1399
01:04:14,350 --> 01:04:19,493
And all of these metrics
are about failing to exist

1400
01:04:19,522 --> 01:04:22,969
in the full light
of your own autonomy.

1401
01:04:22,992 --> 01:04:24,903
That's all they're about,

1402
01:04:24,927 --> 01:04:27,032
and the paradox
of your own autonomy,

1403
01:04:27,063 --> 01:04:29,634
which is you're
simultaneously completely free

1404
01:04:29,866 --> 01:04:32,540
and completely unfree
at the same time.

1405
01:04:32,568 --> 01:04:34,138
I have been to many conferences

1406
01:04:34,170 --> 01:04:36,446
where you got
the anti-transhumanist person

1407
01:04:36,472 --> 01:04:39,078
saying, "This is just
denial of death."

1408
01:04:39,108 --> 01:04:42,214
At the end of the day,
that's all it's about, right?

1409
01:04:42,245 --> 01:04:45,317
And it's a kind of--
the last hangover

1410
01:04:45,348 --> 01:04:46,884
of the Abrahamic religions,

1411
01:04:46,916 --> 01:04:48,190
this idea that
we're gonna, you know,

1412
01:04:48,217 --> 01:04:49,924
come back to God and all this,

1413
01:04:49,952 --> 01:04:52,398
and we're gonna realize
our God-like nature,

1414
01:04:52,421 --> 01:04:57,461
and this is really the last kind
of point for that.

1415
01:04:58,928 --> 01:05:00,373
I think there's
a lot of truth to that,

1416
01:05:00,396 --> 01:05:02,171
especially in terms
of the issues

1417
01:05:02,198 --> 01:05:03,939
we've been talking about
where everybody just seems

1418
01:05:03,966 --> 01:05:06,003
to just take for granted
that if you're given

1419
01:05:06,035 --> 01:05:08,641
the chance to live forever,
you'd live forever.

1420
01:05:08,671 --> 01:05:11,550
I think yes,
I think that that's true.

1421
01:05:11,574 --> 01:05:14,680
I don't think it's--
I think it's true,

1422
01:05:14,911 --> 01:05:16,219
I don't know
if it's as problematic

1423
01:05:16,245 --> 01:05:18,191
as people kind of claim it is.

1424
01:05:18,214 --> 01:05:19,591
In other words, that
there's something wrong

1425
01:05:19,615 --> 01:05:21,356
with having this fear of death

1426
01:05:21,384 --> 01:05:23,091
and wanting to live forever.

1427
01:05:23,119 --> 01:05:25,292
No, I think living forever is--

1428
01:05:25,321 --> 01:05:28,063
I think the question is what
are you doing with your time?

1429
01:05:28,090 --> 01:05:30,297
In what capacity
do you wanna live forever?

1430
01:05:30,326 --> 01:05:32,602
So I do think it makes
all the difference in the world

1431
01:05:32,628 --> 01:05:34,505
whether we're talking
about Kurzweil's way

1432
01:05:34,530 --> 01:05:36,305
or we're talking
about Aubrey de Grey's way.

1433
01:05:36,332 --> 01:05:38,141
The way the human
species operates

1434
01:05:38,167 --> 01:05:41,205
is that we're really never
fully ready for anything.

1435
01:05:41,237 --> 01:05:44,184
However, the prospect
of living indefinitely

1436
01:05:44,206 --> 01:05:48,245
is too promising
to turn down or to slow down

1437
01:05:48,277 --> 01:05:51,349
or to just not go after
at full speed.

1438
01:05:51,380 --> 01:05:53,451
By enabling us
to find technologies

1439
01:05:53,482 --> 01:05:55,519
to live indefinitely,
we're not making it

1440
01:05:55,551 --> 01:05:57,258
so that we're going
to live forever,

1441
01:05:57,286 --> 01:05:59,459
we're just making it
so we have that choice.

1442
01:05:59,488 --> 01:06:01,399
If people wanna
pull out of life

1443
01:06:01,424 --> 01:06:03,062
at some point down the future,

1444
01:06:03,092 --> 01:06:04,730
they're certainly
welcome to do that.

1445
01:06:04,961 --> 01:06:08,374
However, it's gonna be great
to eliminate death if we want,

1446
01:06:08,397 --> 01:06:10,468
because everyone
wants that choice.

1447
01:06:12,068 --> 01:06:14,378
There are other
socioeconomic repercussions

1448
01:06:14,403 --> 01:06:17,748
of living longer
that need to be considered.

1449
01:06:17,974 --> 01:06:20,477
The combination
of an aging population

1450
01:06:20,509 --> 01:06:23,388
and the escalating expenses
of healthcare,

1451
01:06:23,412 --> 01:06:26,291
social care, and retirement
is a problem

1452
01:06:26,315 --> 01:06:29,353
that already exists
the world over.

1453
01:06:29,385 --> 01:06:31,365
In the last century alone,

1454
01:06:31,387 --> 01:06:33,594
medicine has
massively contributed

1455
01:06:33,622 --> 01:06:36,068
to increased life expectancy.

1456
01:06:37,460 --> 01:06:40,407
According to the World
Health Organization,

1457
01:06:40,429 --> 01:06:43,501
the number of people
aged 60 years and over

1458
01:06:43,532 --> 01:06:48,038
is expected to increase
from the 605 million today

1459
01:06:48,070 --> 01:06:52,382
to 2 billion by the year 2050.

1460
01:06:52,408 --> 01:06:55,252
As people live longer,
they become more susceptible

1461
01:06:55,277 --> 01:06:58,451
to noncommunicable diseases.

1462
01:06:58,481 --> 01:07:02,327
This becomes
enormously expensive.

1463
01:07:02,351 --> 01:07:08,199
Dementia alone costs the NHS
23 billion a year.

1464
01:07:08,224 --> 01:07:10,795
Currently, elderly non-workers

1465
01:07:11,027 --> 01:07:14,804
account for a vast portion
of our population

1466
01:07:15,031 --> 01:07:18,501
and a vast portion of our work
force care for them.

1467
01:07:19,668 --> 01:07:23,548
It is economically beneficial
to end aging.

1468
01:07:25,541 --> 01:07:28,545
Social life is organized
around people having--

1469
01:07:28,577 --> 01:07:32,150
occupying certain roles
at certain ages, right?

1470
01:07:32,181 --> 01:07:34,286
And you can already see
the kinds of problems

1471
01:07:34,316 --> 01:07:36,592
that are caused
to the welfare system

1472
01:07:36,619 --> 01:07:39,657
when people live substantially
beyond the age of 65,

1473
01:07:39,688 --> 01:07:45,070
because when the whole number 65
was selected by Bismarck

1474
01:07:45,094 --> 01:07:47,165
when he started the first
social security system,

1475
01:07:47,196 --> 01:07:50,075
in Germany, the expectation was
that people would be living

1476
01:07:50,099 --> 01:07:52,670
two years beyond
the retirement age

1477
01:07:52,701 --> 01:07:54,442
to be able to get
the social security.

1478
01:07:54,470 --> 01:07:56,609
So it wasn't gonna
break the bank, okay?

1479
01:07:56,639 --> 01:07:59,449
Problem now is you've got people
who are living 20 years

1480
01:07:59,475 --> 01:08:02,081
or more beyond
the retirement age,

1481
01:08:02,111 --> 01:08:03,681
and that's unaffordable.

1482
01:08:03,712 --> 01:08:06,693
There's no question that,
within society as a whole,

1483
01:08:06,715 --> 01:08:10,857
there is an enormous tendency
to knee-jerk reactions

1484
01:08:11,087 --> 01:08:14,159
with regard to the problems
that might be created

1485
01:08:14,190 --> 01:08:17,171
if we were to eliminate aging.

1486
01:08:17,193 --> 01:08:19,298
There have been people
that said, you know,

1487
01:08:19,328 --> 01:08:21,808
"You'll be bored,
you won't have anything to do."

1488
01:08:21,831 --> 01:08:25,142
Speaking from a place
of a lifespan

1489
01:08:25,167 --> 01:08:27,169
that's 80 or 90 years old,

1490
01:08:27,203 --> 01:08:28,773
saying that we're
going to be bored

1491
01:08:28,804 --> 01:08:32,217
if we live to 150 years old
really is just invalid.

1492
01:08:32,241 --> 01:08:34,653
We have no idea what
we'll do with that time.

1493
01:08:34,677 --> 01:08:36,350
Pan of
this transhumanism stuff,

1494
01:08:36,378 --> 01:08:39,450
where it gets some kind
of real policy traction,

1495
01:08:39,482 --> 01:08:43,396
is people who want us
not to live to be 1,000,

1496
01:08:43,419 --> 01:08:46,229
but maybe if we can
take that 20 years

1497
01:08:46,255 --> 01:08:49,532
that we're living longer now
than we did 100 years ago

1498
01:08:49,558 --> 01:08:51,697
and keep that productive.

1499
01:08:51,727 --> 01:08:53,468
So in other words,
if you could still be strong

1500
01:08:53,496 --> 01:08:56,875
and still be sharp
into your 70s and 80s,

1501
01:08:56,899 --> 01:08:59,709
and so not have to pull
any social security

1502
01:08:59,735 --> 01:09:02,773
until quite late in life
and then you'll be--

1503
01:09:02,805 --> 01:09:04,546
you'll have 20 extra years

1504
01:09:04,573 --> 01:09:07,144
where you're actually
contributing to the economy.

1505
01:09:07,176 --> 01:09:08,621
So one of the areas that
we're gonna have to think about

1506
01:09:08,644 --> 01:09:11,147
in the near future
if we do achieve

1507
01:09:11,180 --> 01:09:14,218
extreme longevity physically

1508
01:09:14,250 --> 01:09:17,356
is the idea of overpopulation.

1509
01:09:17,386 --> 01:09:20,526
This is a controversial idea,
of course,

1510
01:09:20,556 --> 01:09:24,766
and we may face a time period
where we have to say to people,

1511
01:09:24,793 --> 01:09:28,866
"You have to be licensed
to have more than one child."

1512
01:09:28,898 --> 01:09:31,708
The ideas around children,
I hope, will probably change

1513
01:09:31,734 --> 01:09:37,309
when people start to realize
that the values of children

1514
01:09:37,339 --> 01:09:39,615
need to be defined first
before we have them.

1515
01:09:39,642 --> 01:09:41,349
And that's not
something that we do.

1516
01:09:41,377 --> 01:09:44,358
We just have them,
and we don't define why

1517
01:09:44,380 --> 01:09:45,791
or for what purpose.

1518
01:09:45,814 --> 01:09:47,555
I'm not saying there has
to be a defined purpose,

1519
01:09:47,583 --> 01:09:50,223
but I'm saying that just
to continue our gene line

1520
01:09:50,252 --> 01:09:51,697
isn't the biggest reason.

1521
01:09:51,720 --> 01:09:53,427
At the moment, ultimately,

1522
01:09:53,455 --> 01:09:56,868
we see in any society
where fertility rate goes down

1523
01:09:56,892 --> 01:09:59,839
because of female prosperity
and emancipation

1524
01:09:59,862 --> 01:10:02,706
and education,
we also see the age

1525
01:10:02,731 --> 01:10:05,940
of the average childbirth
go up, right?

1526
01:10:05,968 --> 01:10:07,845
We see women having
their children later.

1527
01:10:07,870 --> 01:10:10,874
Now of course, at the moment,
there's a deadline for that,

1528
01:10:10,906 --> 01:10:12,749
but that's not going
to exist anymore,

1529
01:10:12,775 --> 01:10:14,686
because menopause
is pan of aging.

1530
01:10:14,710 --> 01:10:17,350
So women who are choosing
to have their children

1531
01:10:17,379 --> 01:10:19,359
a bit later now,

1532
01:10:19,381 --> 01:10:21,258
it stands to reason
that a lot of them

1533
01:10:21,283 --> 01:10:22,819
are probably gonna choose
to have their children

1534
01:10:22,851 --> 01:10:24,922
a lot later and a lot later
and that, of course,

1535
01:10:24,954 --> 01:10:28,265
also has an enormous
depressive impact

1536
01:10:28,290 --> 01:10:31,396
on the trajectory
of global population.

1537
01:10:31,427 --> 01:10:32,872
If we actually said
to everybody, "Okay,

1538
01:10:32,895 --> 01:10:34,932
you're all now
gonna live for 1,000 years,

1539
01:10:34,964 --> 01:10:36,875
we could restructure society

1540
01:10:36,899 --> 01:10:38,901
so it's on
these LOGO-year cycles.

1541
01:10:38,934 --> 01:10:42,472
That's possible,
but the problem becomes

1542
01:10:42,504 --> 01:10:46,509
when you still allow people
to live the normal length

1543
01:10:46,542 --> 01:10:49,386
and you're also allowing
some people to live 1,000 years

1544
01:10:49,411 --> 01:10:52,017
then how do you compare
the value of the lives,

1545
01:10:52,248 --> 01:10:53,386
the amount of experience?

1546
01:10:53,415 --> 01:10:56,396
Supposing a 585-year-old guy

1547
01:10:56,418 --> 01:10:58,557
goes up for a job
against a 23-year-old.

1548
01:10:58,587 --> 01:11:00,328
How do you measure
the experience?

1549
01:11:00,356 --> 01:11:01,926
What, the old guy
always gets the job?

1550
01:11:01,957 --> 01:11:05,905
I mean, really, these kinds
of problems would arise

1551
01:11:05,928 --> 01:11:08,465
unless there was
some kind of legislation

1552
01:11:08,497 --> 01:11:11,034
about permissible
variation in age.

1553
01:11:11,267 --> 01:11:12,803
This is a bit of a conundrum

1554
01:11:12,835 --> 01:11:17,045
because we're all
expanding our lifespan,

1555
01:11:17,273 --> 01:11:20,379
and the question is,
would you like to live

1556
01:11:20,409 --> 01:11:22,753
for not 100 years but 200?

1557
01:11:22,778 --> 01:11:24,883
Would you choose
to if you could?

1558
01:11:24,913 --> 01:11:27,291
It would be very,
very difficult to say no.

1559
01:11:27,316 --> 01:11:30,786
The reality is the replacement
of human piece pans

1560
01:11:30,819 --> 01:11:33,561
is probably gonna take us
in that direction,

1561
01:11:33,589 --> 01:11:35,068
but it will be market driven,

1562
01:11:35,291 --> 01:11:37,737
and those people with the money
will be able to afford

1563
01:11:37,760 --> 01:11:39,865
to live a lot longer
than those people without.

1564
01:11:39,895 --> 01:11:41,806
Pretty much most of
the discovery these days

1565
01:11:41,830 --> 01:11:44,401
takes place in Western Europe
of the United States

1566
01:11:44,433 --> 01:11:49,314
or one or two other countries,
China, Singapore, and so on,

1567
01:11:49,338 --> 01:11:52,683
but if they're valuable enough--
and I don't mean monetarily--

1568
01:11:52,708 --> 01:11:55,985
if they're worth having,
then people extend them.

1569
01:11:56,011 --> 01:11:58,321
We have to star-t somewhere,
and I don't believe

1570
01:11:58,347 --> 01:12:00,418
in the dog
in the manger attitude

1571
01:12:00,449 --> 01:12:01,689
is that you don't
give it to anybody

1572
01:12:01,717 --> 01:12:03,754
until you can provide it
for everybody.

1573
01:12:03,786 --> 01:12:06,528
All technologies
are discontinuous.

1574
01:12:06,555 --> 01:12:09,092
There are people
at this very moment

1575
01:12:09,325 --> 01:12:11,032
who are walking four kilometers

1576
01:12:11,060 --> 01:12:14,064
to get a bucket of water
from a well.

1577
01:12:14,096 --> 01:12:17,043
You know, there are people
who are having cornea operations

1578
01:12:17,066 --> 01:12:20,809
that are done with a needle
where it's stuck in their eye

1579
01:12:20,836 --> 01:12:23,077
and their cornea is scraped out.

1580
01:12:23,105 --> 01:12:25,745
You know, so these ideas
of totalizing

1581
01:12:25,774 --> 01:12:28,618
utopian technological
intervention

1582
01:12:28,644 --> 01:12:31,454
are pan of a discontinuous
technological world

1583
01:12:31,480 --> 01:12:34,825
and the world will always be
discontinuous technologically.

1584
01:12:34,850 --> 01:12:39,356
When a child has to drink
dirty water, cannot get food,

1585
01:12:39,388 --> 01:12:41,959
and is dying of starvation
and disease,

1586
01:12:41,990 --> 01:12:44,834
and the solution
is just a few dollars,

1587
01:12:44,860 --> 01:12:46,430
there's something badly wrong.

1588
01:12:46,462 --> 01:12:49,466
We need to fix those things.

1589
01:12:49,498 --> 01:12:53,503
The only way that
we could fix them in the past

1590
01:12:53,535 --> 01:12:55,537
would've been
at unbelievable cost

1591
01:12:55,571 --> 01:12:56,914
because of the limitation

1592
01:12:56,939 --> 01:12:59,112
of our industrial capacity
and capability.

1593
01:12:59,141 --> 01:13:00,643
Not anymore.

1594
01:13:05,981 --> 01:13:10,396
...not the one which is--
which stops us from aging.

1595
01:13:10,419 --> 01:13:15,164
In the last 20 years,
healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa

1596
01:13:15,391 --> 01:13:16,836
has greatly improved.

1597
01:13:16,859 --> 01:13:17,929
♪

1598
01:13:17,960 --> 01:13:20,907
HIV prevalence has gone down,

1599
01:13:20,929 --> 01:13:23,876
Infant modality rate
has gone down.

1600
01:13:23,899 --> 01:13:26,880
Immunization rates have gone up,

1601
01:13:26,902 --> 01:13:29,883
and the drug supply
in many areas has risen.

1602
01:13:29,905 --> 01:13:30,975
♪

1603
01:13:31,006 --> 01:13:33,816
However, healthcare
and medication

1604
01:13:33,842 --> 01:13:35,685
in developing countries

1605
01:13:35,711 --> 01:13:39,887
is not always affordable
or even readily available.

1606
01:13:39,915 --> 01:13:41,758
It is not just medicine.

1607
01:13:41,784 --> 01:13:44,196
According to the World
Health Organization,

1608
01:13:44,420 --> 01:13:47,697
over 700 million people
worldwide

1609
01:13:47,723 --> 01:13:51,603
do not have access
to clean drinking water.

1610
01:13:51,627 --> 01:13:54,506
We still live in an age
where over one billion people

1611
01:13:54,530 --> 01:13:56,771
live off less
than a dollar a day

1612
01:13:56,799 --> 01:13:59,473
and live in extreme poverty.

1613
01:13:59,501 --> 01:14:02,482
It is ultimately
not a scientific issue,

1614
01:14:02,504 --> 01:14:04,882
it is a geopolitical issue.

1615
01:15:09,238 --> 01:15:12,014
Now a lot of people,
a lot of philanthropists

1616
01:15:12,040 --> 01:15:16,853
are of the view that
the most important thing to do

1617
01:15:16,879 --> 01:15:20,691
is to address the trailing edge
of quality of life.

1618
01:15:20,716 --> 01:15:23,754
In other words, to help
the disadvantaged.

1619
01:15:23,785 --> 01:15:26,527
But some visionary
philanthropists

1620
01:15:26,555 --> 01:15:29,559
such as the ones that fund
SENS Research Foundation--

1621
01:15:29,591 --> 01:15:31,195
and the fact is
I agree with this,

1622
01:15:31,226 --> 01:15:33,206
and that's why I've put
most of my inheritance

1623
01:15:33,228 --> 01:15:35,834
into SENS Research
Foundation, too--

1624
01:15:35,864 --> 01:15:39,903
we feel that, actually,
in the long run,

1625
01:15:39,935 --> 01:15:43,542
you lose out if you focus
too exclusively

1626
01:15:43,572 --> 01:15:45,108
on the trailing edge.

1627
01:15:45,140 --> 01:15:48,280
You've got also to push forward
the leading edge,

1628
01:15:48,310 --> 01:15:51,757
so that in the long term,
everybody moves forward.

1629
01:16:43,999 --> 01:16:46,843
Due to a lack of funding
from governments,

1630
01:16:46,868 --> 01:16:51,180
anti-aging research is often
pushed into the private sector.

1631
01:16:51,206 --> 01:16:55,086
If we look at funding
for disease--

1632
01:16:55,110 --> 01:16:56,919
cancer, hear-t disease--

1633
01:16:56,945 --> 01:16:59,152
they get six billion,
eight billion, ten billion.

1634
01:16:59,181 --> 01:17:02,355
AIDS still gets two
to four billion.

1635
01:17:02,384 --> 01:17:04,694
Let's look
at Alzheimer's disease.

1636
01:17:04,720 --> 01:17:06,961
It's probably the most
important disease of aging,

1637
01:17:06,989 --> 01:17:10,664
the brain--it gets
under a half a billion

1638
01:17:10,692 --> 01:17:11,898
from the federal government,

1639
01:17:11,927 --> 01:17:14,066
and a lot of that
goes to programs

1640
01:17:14,096 --> 01:17:15,939
that are tied up
with pharma trials

1641
01:17:15,964 --> 01:17:18,103
where we don't really
see it in the labs,

1642
01:17:18,133 --> 01:17:20,841
so you're maybe down to two
or three hundred million.

1643
01:17:20,869 --> 01:17:24,214
It's not nearly enough
to really make a dent.

1644
01:17:24,239 --> 01:17:29,951
The question is, why when it
comes to Alzheimer's disease,

1645
01:17:29,978 --> 01:17:32,117
which is a problem
in the elderly

1646
01:17:32,147 --> 01:17:34,218
do we just see it as--
the federal government

1647
01:17:34,249 --> 01:17:36,388
seems to see it
as a red-haired Stepchild.

1648
01:17:36,418 --> 01:17:39,331
They don't take care of it.

1649
01:17:39,354 --> 01:17:40,992
Some people say it's because--

1650
01:17:41,023 --> 01:17:42,195
people say, "Well,
it affects old people,

1651
01:17:42,224 --> 01:17:44,431
they lived their lives,
let them go."

1652
01:17:44,660 --> 01:17:47,140
No one wants to admit that,
but maybe subconsciously,

1653
01:17:47,162 --> 01:17:49,073
when Congress is
thinking about this,

1654
01:17:49,097 --> 01:17:50,974
that's at play, who knows?

1655
01:17:50,999 --> 01:17:53,912
Um, maybe it's
much more compelling

1656
01:17:53,935 --> 01:17:57,974
to wanna put money into diseases
that affect young people

1657
01:17:58,006 --> 01:18:00,111
who still have
their whole life to live

1658
01:18:00,142 --> 01:18:02,088
when they have AIDS
or breast cancer

1659
01:18:02,110 --> 01:18:04,784
or cancer that can strike
somebody at 30 or 40 years old.

1660
01:18:04,813 --> 01:18:07,157
Age might be pan of it,
and even if it's something

1661
01:18:07,182 --> 01:18:09,162
where you'd say,
"No, it can't be that!"

1662
01:18:09,184 --> 01:18:10,959
you never know what's
happening subconsciously

1663
01:18:10,986 --> 01:18:12,795
in those who are
making the decisions.

1664
01:18:12,821 --> 01:18:14,391
Otherwise, it just
makes no sense at all.

1665
01:18:14,423 --> 01:18:16,096
I don't know how to explain it.

1666
01:18:16,124 --> 01:18:17,933
When you talk
to people about aging

1667
01:18:17,959 --> 01:18:20,963
and rejuvenation medicine,
you're talking about things

1668
01:18:20,996 --> 01:18:23,408
that they haven't put
in the same category

1669
01:18:23,432 --> 01:18:25,139
as things that they can fight.

1670
01:18:25,167 --> 01:18:26,305
They are willing to put money

1671
01:18:26,334 --> 01:18:28,280
towards solving cancer
and curing cancer.

1672
01:18:28,303 --> 01:18:30,840
It's something they might have
the potential of experiencing.

1673
01:18:30,872 --> 01:18:33,876
But the thing that's 100 percent
in terms of probability,

1674
01:18:33,909 --> 01:18:36,082
they haven't classified that
as in the same category

1675
01:18:36,111 --> 01:18:38,284
when actually it is
and actually it's more dramatic

1676
01:18:38,313 --> 01:18:40,793
because 100 percent
of people experience it.

1677
01:18:40,816 --> 01:18:43,922
You need to have
the will to be cured.

1678
01:18:43,952 --> 01:18:48,128
Beyond that, medical science
will play its pan.

1679
01:18:48,156 --> 01:18:51,103
I think it's essentially a crime

1680
01:18:51,126 --> 01:18:53,732
to not support
life extension science,

1681
01:18:53,762 --> 01:18:55,469
because if you support
the other side,

1682
01:18:55,497 --> 01:18:58,137
you're an advocate
for killing someone.

1683
01:18:58,166 --> 01:19:02,808
When you actually support
a culture of death,

1684
01:19:02,838 --> 01:19:06,149
when you support
embracing death,

1685
01:19:06,174 --> 01:19:09,986
what you're really doing is
not supporting embracing life.

1686
01:19:10,011 --> 01:19:11,922
Everyone ought to be healthy,

1687
01:19:11,947 --> 01:19:14,484
however long ago they were born.

1688
01:19:14,516 --> 01:19:17,395
When someone <i>says,</i> "Oh, dear,
we shouldn't defeat aging,

1689
01:19:17,419 --> 01:19:19,296
we shouldn't work
to eliminate aging,"

1690
01:19:19,321 --> 01:19:22,097
what they're actually saying
is they're not in favor

1691
01:19:22,124 --> 01:19:24,934
of healthcare for the elderly,
or to be more precise,

1692
01:19:24,960 --> 01:19:27,133
what they're saying is
they're only in favor

1693
01:19:27,162 --> 01:19:28,971
of healthcare for the elderly

1694
01:19:28,997 --> 01:19:31,978
so long as it
doesn't work very well.

1695
01:19:32,000 --> 01:19:34,071
And I think that's fucked up.

1696
01:19:35,103 --> 01:19:37,777
In September 2013,

1697
01:19:37,806 --> 01:19:41,117
Google announced
the conception of Calico,

1698
01:19:41,143 --> 01:19:43,214
an independent biotech company

1699
01:19:43,245 --> 01:19:46,556
that remains to this day
a little mysterious.

1700
01:19:46,782 --> 01:19:51,094
Its aim is to tackle aging
and devise interventions

1701
01:19:51,119 --> 01:19:55,431
that enable people to lead
longer and healthier lives.

1702
01:19:55,457 --> 01:19:58,097
In September 2014,

1703
01:19:58,126 --> 01:20:01,073
the life extension company
announced it was partnering

1704
01:20:01,096 --> 01:20:04,908
with biopharmaceutical
giant AbbVie,

1705
01:20:04,933 --> 01:20:10,406
and made a $1.5 billion
investment into research.

1706
01:20:10,438 --> 01:20:12,247
I think one of
the biggest obstacles

1707
01:20:12,274 --> 01:20:14,811
that we have at the moment
to come to terms

1708
01:20:14,843 --> 01:20:17,187
with this future world
we're talking about

1709
01:20:17,212 --> 01:20:19,317
is a lot of people
who basically

1710
01:20:19,347 --> 01:20:21,953
don't want it to happen at all

1711
01:20:21,983 --> 01:20:25,294
and so are placing
all kinds of ethical

1712
01:20:25,320 --> 01:20:27,357
and institutional restrictions

1713
01:20:27,389 --> 01:20:29,266
on the development
of this stuff

1714
01:20:29,291 --> 01:20:31,293
so that it becomes difficult,
let's say, in universities

1715
01:20:31,326 --> 01:20:33,932
to experiment with certain
kinds of drugs, right?

1716
01:20:33,962 --> 01:20:36,135
To develop certain kinds
of machines maybe even,

1717
01:20:36,164 --> 01:20:38,440
and as a result,
all of that kind of research

1718
01:20:38,466 --> 01:20:41,106
ends up going into
either the private sector

1719
01:20:41,136 --> 01:20:43,980
or maybe underground, right?

1720
01:20:44,005 --> 01:20:46,349
Or going into some country
that's an ethics-free zone

1721
01:20:46,374 --> 01:20:48,479
like China
or someplace like that,

1722
01:20:48,510 --> 01:20:50,319
and I think that's
where the real problems

1723
01:20:50,345 --> 01:20:53,417
potentially lie, because
we really need to be doing,

1724
01:20:53,448 --> 01:20:55,223
you know, we need to be
developing this stuff,

1725
01:20:55,250 --> 01:20:57,321
but in the public eye, right?

1726
01:20:57,352 --> 01:21:00,424
So it should be done
by the mainstream authorities

1727
01:21:00,455 --> 01:21:02,196
so we can monitor
the consequences

1728
01:21:02,224 --> 01:21:03,464
as they're happening
and then be able

1729
01:21:03,491 --> 01:21:05,164
to take appropriate action.

1730
01:21:05,193 --> 01:21:06,536
But I'm afraid that
a lot of this stuff

1731
01:21:06,561 --> 01:21:10,008
is perhaps being driven outside

1732
01:21:10,031 --> 01:21:12,136
because of all the restrictions
that are placed on it.

1733
01:21:12,167 --> 01:21:13,908
That I think is very worrisome,

1734
01:21:13,935 --> 01:21:15,505
because then you can't
keep track of the results,

1735
01:21:15,537 --> 01:21:18,177
and you don't know
exactly what's happening.

1736
01:21:18,206 --> 01:21:20,277
And I think that's
a real problem already

1737
01:21:20,308 --> 01:21:22,219
with a lot of this
more futuristic stuff.

1738
01:21:24,412 --> 01:21:26,323
Arguably, the human condition

1739
01:21:26,348 --> 01:21:29,557
is defined by
our anxiety of death.

1740
01:21:29,584 --> 01:21:32,155
It's of little wonder
that throughout history,

1741
01:21:32,187 --> 01:21:35,430
mankind has built
countless belief systems

1742
01:21:35,457 --> 01:21:38,336
in a bid to pacify
the fear of death

1743
01:21:38,360 --> 01:21:41,637
through the promise
of endless paradise.

1744
01:21:41,663 --> 01:21:45,475
Ultimately, death always wins.

1745
01:21:45,500 --> 01:21:50,279
If it's not so much death
we fear, it's dying.

1746
01:21:50,305 --> 01:21:52,376
The relationship
between life and death

1747
01:21:52,407 --> 01:21:57,220
is often figured
in terms of immortality

1748
01:21:57,245 --> 01:21:59,191
and the quest for immortality.

1749
01:21:59,214 --> 01:22:01,490
There's a philosopher,
a brilliant philosopher

1750
01:22:01,516 --> 01:22:05,293
called Stephen Cave, who,
in his book Immortality,

1751
01:22:05,320 --> 01:22:09,359
argues that our fear of death
is the great driver

1752
01:22:09,391 --> 01:22:13,533
of all civilization,
of all human endeavor,

1753
01:22:13,561 --> 01:22:16,974
and he identifies
four different ways

1754
01:22:16,998 --> 01:22:20,411
in which people
seek immortality,

1755
01:22:20,435 --> 01:22:24,542
so firstly the idea
of extending life,

1756
01:22:24,572 --> 01:22:26,552
of living forever.

1757
01:22:26,574 --> 01:22:28,986
Secondly, the idea
of resurrection

1758
01:22:29,010 --> 01:22:33,322
so that we might come back
after death in some form.

1759
01:22:33,348 --> 01:22:36,955
Thirdly, the idea
of the immortality

1760
01:22:36,985 --> 01:22:41,161
of some pan of ourselves
beyond the physical body.

1761
01:22:41,189 --> 01:22:44,363
So perhaps the immortality
of the soul, for example,

1762
01:22:44,392 --> 01:22:47,202
or living on in Heaven.

1763
01:22:47,228 --> 01:22:51,608
And finally the idea
of leaving a legacy.

1764
01:22:51,633 --> 01:22:54,477
I think that one
of life's challenges

1765
01:22:54,502 --> 01:22:56,573
really actually is
to come to terms

1766
01:22:56,604 --> 01:22:59,608
with our own finitude
and modality

1767
01:22:59,641 --> 01:23:02,019
and human limitations,

1768
01:23:02,043 --> 01:23:05,456
and this is
an enormous challenge.

1769
01:23:05,480 --> 01:23:13,480
♪

1770
01:23:21,529 --> 01:23:26,035
Technology, a reflection
of our times.

1771
01:23:26,067 --> 01:23:31,278
Efficient, computerized,
with a sleek beauty all its own.

1772
01:23:31,306 --> 01:23:33,786
Technology is
the human imagination

1773
01:23:34,009 --> 01:23:36,182
convened into reality.

1774
01:23:36,211 --> 01:23:38,213
We are all interested
in the future,

1775
01:23:38,246 --> 01:23:40,453
for that is where you and I
are going to spend

1776
01:23:40,482 --> 01:23:42,519
the rest of our lives.

1777
01:23:42,550 --> 01:23:45,121
(high-pitched tone)

1778
01:23:45,153 --> 01:23:52,503
♪

1779
01:23:52,527 --> 01:23:54,564
It's impossible to say for sure

1780
01:23:54,596 --> 01:23:57,509
where these new technologies
will take us

1781
01:23:57,532 --> 01:24:01,571
and how we will prepare
to implement them into society.

1782
01:24:01,603 --> 01:24:04,447
It is likely that they will
affect the sensibilities

1783
01:24:04,472 --> 01:24:06,509
of global infrastructure.

1784
01:24:08,076 --> 01:24:12,218
There are always anxieties
surrounding new technologies,

1785
01:24:12,247 --> 01:24:14,591
and this time is no exception.

1786
01:24:14,616 --> 01:24:15,720
♪

1787
01:24:15,750 --> 01:24:18,128
I think people fear change,

1788
01:24:18,153 --> 01:24:21,100
and so the future represents
this enormous amount

1789
01:24:21,122 --> 01:24:23,500
of change that's coming at us.

1790
01:24:23,525 --> 01:24:25,368
I do think it's
overwhelming for people,

1791
01:24:25,393 --> 01:24:28,670
you know, they are
afraid to change

1792
01:24:28,696 --> 01:24:30,403
the paradigm that they live in,

1793
01:24:30,432 --> 01:24:33,208
and when we talk about
the future of work and death,

1794
01:24:33,234 --> 01:24:35,475
what we're really
talking about is changing

1795
01:24:35,503 --> 01:24:37,574
a paradigm
that has existed for us

1796
01:24:37,605 --> 01:24:38,811
as long as we can remember.

1797
01:24:38,840 --> 01:24:42,083
All of this Kind
of scare mongering

1798
01:24:42,110 --> 01:24:46,149
about harm and risk
and stuff like that

1799
01:24:46,181 --> 01:24:50,425
really is--it's based on a kind
of psychological illusion,

1800
01:24:50,452 --> 01:24:54,628
namely that you imagine that you
kind of see the bad state

1801
01:24:54,656 --> 01:24:57,466
as a bad state when it happens,

1802
01:24:57,492 --> 01:25:00,132
whereas in fact,
what more likely happens

1803
01:25:00,161 --> 01:25:02,767
is that you kinda get adjusted
to the various changes

1804
01:25:02,797 --> 01:25:04,401
that are happening
in your environment

1805
01:25:04,432 --> 01:25:06,139
so that when you actually
do reach that state

1806
01:25:06,167 --> 01:25:09,808
we're talking about,
it'll seem normal.

1807
01:25:09,838 --> 01:25:12,114
And because, look,
when the automobile

1808
01:25:12,140 --> 01:25:14,484
was introduced in
the early 20th century,

1809
01:25:14,509 --> 01:25:16,511
people were saying
this is just gonna pump

1810
01:25:16,544 --> 01:25:18,387
a lot of smoke
into the atmosphere,

1811
01:25:18,413 --> 01:25:20,290
it's going to ruin
our contact with nature

1812
01:25:20,315 --> 01:25:21,885
'cause we'll be in
these enclosed vehicles,

1813
01:25:22,117 --> 01:25:23,494
we'll be going so fast,

1814
01:25:23,518 --> 01:25:25,293
we won't be able
to appreciate things,

1815
01:25:25,320 --> 01:25:27,391
there'll be congestion,
blah, blah, blah,

1816
01:25:27,422 --> 01:25:29,368
they were right!

1817
01:25:29,390 --> 01:25:30,630
They were right, but of course,

1818
01:25:30,658 --> 01:25:32,831
by the time you get
to that state

1819
01:25:32,861 --> 01:25:35,205
where the automobile
has had that impact,

1820
01:25:35,230 --> 01:25:36,732
it's also had all
this benefit as well,

1821
01:25:36,764 --> 01:25:39,210
and your whole life has been
kind of restructured around it.

1822
01:25:39,234 --> 01:25:42,147
Arguably, people who are using

1823
01:25:42,170 --> 01:25:47,518
or have been conceived
using in vitro fertilization

1824
01:25:47,542 --> 01:25:53,322
are cyborgs way before
they were ever even people.

1825
01:25:53,348 --> 01:25:56,386
Now that doesn't mean
that we understand kinship

1826
01:25:56,417 --> 01:25:58,226
in a radically different way.

1827
01:25:58,253 --> 01:25:59,857
Just look at
the Industrial Revolution!

1828
01:25:59,888 --> 01:26:03,426
Is anyone actually--
does anyone actually regret

1829
01:26:03,458 --> 01:26:05,301
that the Industrial Revolution
occurred?

1830
01:26:05,326 --> 01:26:07,602
No, it was fairly
turbulent, right?

1831
01:26:07,629 --> 01:26:10,576
You know, we did actually
have a little bit of strife

1832
01:26:10,598 --> 01:26:13,272
in the translation
from a pre-industrial world

1833
01:26:13,301 --> 01:26:14,575
to the world we know today.

1834
01:26:14,602 --> 01:26:16,604
But the fact is, we adapted.

1835
01:26:16,638 --> 01:26:18,914
The most important thing here
is to try to compare it

1836
01:26:18,940 --> 01:26:20,783
to something in the past.

1837
01:26:20,808 --> 01:26:24,517
Imagine we were--
it was 1914, 100 years back,

1838
01:26:24,546 --> 01:26:26,924
and I told you that
most people on the planet

1839
01:26:26,948 --> 01:26:28,518
would have the ability to have

1840
01:26:28,550 --> 01:26:30,461
this tiny cell phone screen
in front of them

1841
01:26:30,485 --> 01:26:33,432
and video conference with ten
of their friends all at once.

1842
01:26:33,454 --> 01:26:36,264
If it was 1914,
you would look at me and say,

1843
01:26:36,291 --> 01:26:38,271
"That's absurd,
this guy's insane."

1844
01:26:38,293 --> 01:26:40,603
However, it's
the son of same concept

1845
01:26:40,628 --> 01:26:42,335
when I tell you now in 50 years

1846
01:26:42,363 --> 01:26:44,604
we're going to be digital
beings of ourselves,

1847
01:26:44,632 --> 01:26:46,270
it's no so far-fetched.

1848
01:26:46,301 --> 01:26:48,338
You have to look at it
in the historical context.

1849
01:26:48,369 --> 01:26:51,407
All concepts of
technological progress

1850
01:26:51,439 --> 01:26:55,581
in that way are linked
to post-enlightenment ideas

1851
01:26:55,610 --> 01:26:58,386
or non--they're linked
to the idea

1852
01:26:58,413 --> 01:27:01,553
of the arrow of time
being in free flight forward,

1853
01:27:01,583 --> 01:27:05,588
but they're also chiliastic,
they propose an end state.

1854
01:27:05,620 --> 01:27:06,894
They propose the end state,

1855
01:27:06,921 --> 01:27:08,662
and the end state
is the singularity,

1856
01:27:08,690 --> 01:27:11,330
but they propose it
as something desirable.

1857
01:27:11,359 --> 01:27:14,772
Now any kind of philosophy
like that, it's, you know,

1858
01:27:14,796 --> 01:27:18,505
jam tomorrow, jam yesterday,
but never jam today.

1859
01:27:18,533 --> 01:27:20,911
They're all philosophies
that are about

1860
01:27:20,935 --> 01:27:24,405
accept the shit you're in--
work, consume, die--

1861
01:27:24,439 --> 01:27:26,646
because there is something
better in the future,

1862
01:27:26,674 --> 01:27:28,585
or there's something
more innovative in the future.

1863
01:27:28,610 --> 01:27:30,920
There are good scenarios
and there are bad scenarios.

1864
01:27:30,945 --> 01:27:32,549
I don't know where we're headed.

1865
01:27:32,580 --> 01:27:35,891
I mean, I don't think
anyone really knows.

1866
01:27:35,917 --> 01:27:37,897
You know, if anyone
claims to know the future,

1867
01:27:37,919 --> 01:27:39,626
they're guessing,
they're extrapolating forward,

1868
01:27:39,654 --> 01:27:41,292
and we draw
some lines and curves

1869
01:27:41,322 --> 01:27:42,801
and see where
technology's gonna be.

1870
01:27:42,824 --> 01:27:44,633
What that means,

1871
01:27:44,659 --> 01:27:46,297
I don't think any of us
really understand.

1872
01:27:46,327 --> 01:27:48,967
Everyone assumes that
the future is going to be

1873
01:27:48,997 --> 01:27:50,670
dramatically different
from today

1874
01:27:50,698 --> 01:27:52,041
and that's absolutely true,

1875
01:27:52,267 --> 01:27:53,905
but it's also true
that the future will be

1876
01:27:53,935 --> 01:27:55,608
an extension of today's world.

1877
01:27:55,637 --> 01:27:58,481
The problems
that exist in today's world

1878
01:27:58,506 --> 01:28:01,385
are still gonna be
with us in the future.

1879
01:28:01,409 --> 01:28:03,389
Human nature is
not gonna change.

1880
01:28:03,411 --> 01:28:06,017
The end point
in all of this game

1881
01:28:06,047 --> 01:28:08,687
will become a bit of a moral

1882
01:28:08,716 --> 01:28:12,357
and an ethical question
for society

1883
01:28:12,387 --> 01:28:14,526
where decisions
will have to be made.

1884
01:28:15,657 --> 01:28:19,662
Like life itself, work
and death, for better or worse,

1885
01:28:19,694 --> 01:28:21,833
are two features
of the human experience

1886
01:28:21,863 --> 01:28:23,934
that are thrust upon us.

1887
01:28:25,400 --> 01:28:27,710
Whether or not
we define work and death

1888
01:28:27,735 --> 01:28:29,976
as problems in need of remedy,

1889
01:28:30,004 --> 01:28:33,850
human ingenuity is a progressive
and natural extension

1890
01:28:33,875 --> 01:28:35,855
of our own evolution.

1891
01:28:35,877 --> 01:28:43,694
♪

1892
01:28:43,718 --> 01:28:46,824
Advancing our technological
capabilities is a way

1893
01:28:46,854 --> 01:28:50,427
of dealing with our limitations
as human beings.

1894
01:28:50,458 --> 01:28:51,960
♪

1895
01:28:51,993 --> 01:28:53,666
Must we do something

1896
01:28:53,695 --> 01:28:56,403
just because we're capable
of doing something?

1897
01:28:56,431 --> 01:28:58,536
Or can we withhold
our hands and say

1898
01:28:58,566 --> 01:29:00,978
"No, this is not
a good thing to do"?

1899
01:29:01,002 --> 01:29:04,006
This is something
that the human species

1900
01:29:04,038 --> 01:29:05,813
must decide for itself.

1901
01:29:05,840 --> 01:29:08,616
You and I, we can't just
leave it to the scientists.

1902
01:29:08,643 --> 01:29:10,850
We have to know
what's going on and why!

1903
01:29:14,649 --> 01:29:17,649
♪

