The Implications—Bright and Dark—of Powerful New Technologies
Setup
As our society grapples with the ramifications of developments like machine learning and genetic testing, a surprising new generation of even more powerful technological advances is already brewing in labs. Researchers are teaming up with machines to create reasoning systems that reach beyond the mere correlations in data to understand the underlying causal mechanisms in extremely complex systems of every sort. Gene editing and synthetic biology are opening the door to genetic modifications not only of our plants and our environment, but also of ourselves. And neurotechnologies are step by step unlocking the mysteries of how our brains control motion, perceive sensation, manage memory, and experience emotions. These technologies beckon us with their phenomenal potential to solve previously intractable problems and to enhance the human experience in ways hardly imagined until now. Simultaneously, they perplex and disturb us with difficult questions about control and equity, about personal agency and authenticity. The industrial era emerged from technologies to help us do; the information era from technologies to help us think. Next will come new advances so deeply symbiotic with their human creators that they have the potential to help us be. Who will we become in this profoundly melded future? That choice belongs not to our machines but to us.
- 2017 Festival
- Technology
Explore More
Technology
With many students returning to school from the comfort of their living rooms, educators are using this unique period to address long-standing problems of equity.
The reality of educating children during a pandemic can be overwhelming. Learn how educators and policymakers are working to ensure every child is digitally connected.
Tech tools that can keep students engaged and help guard against learning loss are suddenly front and center.
Time on your hands? Looking to escape into learning? Dive deeply into a broad array of topics from Aspen Ideas. Discover how soul music became a soundtrack to some of our nati...
A changing climate means a changing diet.
New technologies in 2020 may demand more of our already overloaded attention. Tech titans and communications companies are releasing advances like 5G and quantum computing tha...