Description

The Neurogeneration: The world we’re about to step into will be unlike anything that has been seen before. This speed of change, as much as the specific changes it brings, will transform the ways we work, live and think. It is impossible to predict exactly what is coming but what we do know is that social systems, political norms, and popular expectations are going to be disrupted in a dramatic way. The nature of work, the way we interact with each other, the principles on which we organise our societies … all these will be questioned in the very near future. The advances that are on the near horizon offer us ways of integrating humans and machines. The hybrids that result will combine the analytical processing powers of computers with the creativity that is uniquely human, becoming something much more than the sum of their parts. Such capabilities might sound like science-fiction but they are fast approaching. The fundamental technologies are already in place and it is only a matter of time before machine learning, portable processing power, and brainwear tech are developed and integrated enough to make this reality possible. Once that happens, the question of automation takes on an entirely different light. Automation and AI appear not as competitors to humans, but as part of an extended, augmented human organism. IRI Achievement Award Winner, Tan Le, presents her work on brain mapping and how her breakthroughs will have the capability to change every life on earth.