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We begin the discussion at minute 19:45 in the video that just went live after some unusual Microsoft VR demo at minute 18. Jaron opens with an argument that the people who unknowingly feed machine learning algorithms should receive compensation for the value generated by their efforts, and he used document translation as the canonical example. Whether feasible or not, his plea is to shift capitalism from a system that generates power laws in income distribution to one that looks like a bell curve, bulging with a middle class. I question that at minute 22.

TE15 Program Overview: Re-Humanizing Society:

“Technology as scapegoat has driven fears since at least the industrial revolution. That is as true as ever today, with fears of privacy intrusion, our devices inducing inattention, withdrawal from human contact into screens, job-killing robots, and innumerable business models being destroyed. We believe tech holds enormous promise for society’s advancement. But to advocate for tech means also to take responsibility for the maintenance of values–how can we remain, or become, a people-centered world of amity and brotherhood as tech transforms everything around us? Yes, we see the risk of people dehumanized, reduced to numbers, becoming interchangeable cogs on an ever-more-efficient assembly line of production and output. But we think more likely, if we work for it, is that we are on the cusp of an era of tech-enabled empowerment, connection, triumph and imagination, a time when tech asserts itself as a truly re-humanizing force.

A key challenge today: With so many creative entrepreneurs and every company trying to become a tech company, how can we insure the resulting innovation benefits people rather than just helping businesses find new ways to make money?”

One response to “Are we optimizing the future? The Techonomy 2015 discussion with Jaron Lanier and Sir Colin Blakemore”

  1. Goofing on the VR antlers in the Microsoft video Jaron showed at minute 17 or so DSC07822 Experimental rig for autonomous driving by Ford IMG_6653

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