Conversations

Dec. 6-7 at the 92Y in NYC

We are bringing scientists, technologists, writers, policymakers and artists back from the bleeding edge to meet with you. We’re going to have mind-expanding conversations about our future––and what to do about it in the present.

All of the topics below will have universal impacts on how we live, work, learn and play in the future. These conversations might sound super-techie, but they’re for everyone. That includes you.

Keynote: Rob High, Chief Technology Officer, IBM Watson

Contrary to the media hype about the miracles of AI—or the grave existential crisis it poses—this keynote will explore the current state of AI and where we’re headed. A moderated Q&A will follow.

Keynote: Paola Antonelli, Director of R&D at The Museum of Modern Art

How can we apply design fiction and speculative design principles to our thinking about the future? A moderated Q&A will follow.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence

This isn’t yet another conversation about whether or robots will kill our jobs (or even us). Instead, we’re going to have a more challenging conversation about how AI will augment daily life—how we conduct business, how we learn, how we take care of ourselves and each other—on this planet. Given what we know to be true in 2016, is it irresponsible of us not to be using AI? How can we move beyond the hype and dystopian scenarios to plan in an effective way for the future?

The Future of Brain-Machine Interfaces

In the future, machines will assist humans with everything, including transferring our thoughts to each other. What will it mean to be “human”? Are we in some way augmenting humanity? What are the ethical considerations we must consider in the present?

The Future of Techno-Governing

In the future, technology will both complicate governing and bring global citizens closer together. Technology and technology policy have become deeply politicized. What responsibility does our current government have to our future selves? How important is it that our elected officials are able to have productive meetings about science and technology, without politics getting into the way? (Or is that an impossible ask?)

The Future of the First Amendment

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, we learned about the rise of fake news on social networks–and how algorithms might have influenced the outcome. What does that mean for us in the present? In the coming decade, we will have more and more conversations with our machines. But what happens when those machines start behaving badly? There is no caselaw governing the free speech of a chatbot, or AI-powered conversational computing systems. When these systems start running amok how will we define “speech”? Is our legal system adequately preparing for a future in which we must consider the free speech infringements of technology?

The Future of Digital Frailty

Humanity has never recorded as much of its history as we are right now, today. And yet, most of it is ephemeral—will all of our tweets, Snapchat pictures and Facebook Live videos still be around 100 years from now? News media are shifting to online-only publications, but what happens when the money runs out—and those archives are gone? What part of the human story are we telling future generations? How will future historians look back on this moment in time?

The Future of Biohacking

In the future, how will we extend the frontiers of human longevity? What are the ethical/ legal implications of genetic editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, especially given that other countries outside of the U.S. have different attitudes towards augmenting human biology? If we alter the biology of seeds to make our plants more productive, could that potentially destabilize international relations with China and India? What are the potential unintended consequences of our actions?