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00:02What I find so fascinating about being human is that every generation kind of starts from zero.
00:12Almost every other animal can pretty much stand up within a few seconds and they can kind of make
00:16it on their own. We can't. So to be human means from the very first several seconds to be dependent
00:26and to be in relationship with other humans for not just our basic needs but all of our needs.
00:33To be human means to be in a social context. It means to be in relationship with others,
00:39in relationship with yourself. But our world as it's built right now doesn't drive us towards that.
00:46If anything it actually drives us further apart. We set up offices with cubes where people actually
00:52don't see each other. We have these single family homes and then we take our youth and we send them
01:00for most of the day to one building. And then we take our grandparents and our seniors and we send
01:05them off to another building. While we know what led to kind of flourishing and happiness for tens of
01:11thousands of years, in many ways we're doing the exact opposite. At the end of the day we are now
01:17realizing that this hardware that is the human kind of biological being is now operating in an
01:26environment, in a context, both in terms of politics, in terms of technology, just in terms of the pace
01:31of the world that it just wasn't made for. And we're starting to actually step back and say,
01:36is this actually the way I want to be human?
02:06After dark, it might believe you, but someone could break your life. Climbing up behind you,
02:14what we're coming and you're never having to do. And now I'm in love behind all the vines.
02:20I will wait forever, always looking straight, thinking, counting, all the odds you wait.
02:36The modern moment we're living in and the rapidly changing world around us is forcing us to ask some
02:42new and needed questions about what it means to be human. As my journey continues, I've been thinking
02:48a lot about the role of homo sapiens right now and in the years to come. How is technology changing
02:54us?
02:54Can we evolve past our worst tendencies? And is there something sacred about who we are that
03:00goes beyond just what we can achieve? These questions have big implications for the kind
03:05of futures we choose to create. So today, I've come to spend time with a group of people living together
03:10in a retirement community to hear perspective that only age can provide. So I just want to start off
03:16by just asking anyone, what does it mean to be human at this moment in time? In this day and
03:22age,
03:22where we live in a 55-year-old community, we are being human because we take care of one another.
03:28We look out for one another. For me, I think being human is knowing that I'm imperfect
03:33and that the people around me are imperfect and that I don't have to look for perfection in others.
03:41From a spiritual point of view, being a human is to learn a lesson in this world because we are
03:47now
03:48in a physical form and because a spirit could be reincarnated. So here, I am learning everything
03:55that I can. We want to be heard. We want to be seen. We want to be loved. We want
04:00to find someone that
04:01can really connect with, that can bring that true happiness to life for us. Being human is a lot of
04:08things to me. When I was younger, as someone else pointed out, it was different. It was moving forward in
04:12this very tunnel vision of life, raising children, doing a job, doing everything else. I'm able to
04:19take that experience, though, and share it with grandchildren that I have that are in their 20s and
04:2330s and saying, these are the things to look forward to me. So being human means being compassionate,
04:29having empathy. How would you have answered that several decades ago? I think in the past,
04:36it was all about sacrifice. You sacrifice for your children. You sacrifice part of your own self to
04:44build worth so that you can have freedom later on in life. I also think that years ago, as a
04:51young
04:51mother and homemaker, my focuses were so narrow. It was home. It was work. It was children. And now today,
04:59my focus is so widened. It's like a freedom. A decade ago, it was a blur. It was just too
05:07fast.
05:08There was no time to reflect. Now there is. Exactly.
05:17So what we know about the conditions that lead us either to our best or worst as human beings really
05:23is situational. Humans at their best, humans at their most kind of benevolent have been humans
05:30that have been in a set of conditions where they have felt cared for, where they have felt safe,
05:35and where they have had a sense of security, not just about the present moment, but what is to come.
05:42Now that's obviously going to beg the question about right now, because in this kind of crossroads
05:47moment that we're in, a lot of us don't feel safe. We don't feel secure, whether it's climate change,
05:53racial injustice, or the headlines around what artificial intelligence is doing coming for our jobs.
06:00We're kind of moving into a fear stance.
06:05What I think we're struggling with right now is trying to retrieve what it means to be human
06:12in a digital age. We know something's wrong.
06:17The story you're going to see and hear is about science.
06:21It is also a story about you.
06:26One interesting question to ask right now, what does it mean to be human?
06:31And I think it's good to ask that question,
06:34because what it meant to be human may be different going forward.
06:41Back when I was a little hacker kid, there was something we called an exploit.
06:46And that was when you were hacking, you would find an exploit in the computer so that you could get
06:52in
06:52there and like control the thermostat at the mall, right? Or change your grades in school.
06:57What we're doing now is telling our computers and digital technologies and AIs and algorithms
07:03to find exploits in us, exploits in our psychology, exploits in our emotional fabric, exploits in our
07:11neurology, and to mine them for whatever purposes they deem are important to them.
07:18So when we are living in a landscape increasingly populated by entities that are trying to exploit us,
07:26to destabilize us, to decalibrate our neurology and psychology,
07:31we are going to end up emotionally unstable and cognitively compromised.
07:41There are startups, there are established companies that are working very hard right now to bring
07:47machines and humans together in new ways. We have tools that could transform humanity and we need to
07:58really think through how we're going to deploy them.
08:03These new tools are fascinating and full of incredible potential to improve our lives.
08:08But they also raise all sorts of questions about the impacts and unintended consequences they will bring.
08:15What does it mean to add on to our biology? And what are the implications to who and what we
08:20are?
08:21I've come to Cambridge University where an augmentation designer named Danny Claude
08:25is working on a project called The Third Thumb, a 3D printed hand extension controlled by the feet,
08:32exploring the impacts of body connected technology.
08:37So this is my thumb. So this is controlled with my toes. So there's pressure sensors underneath my big toes
08:45and I'm controlling the two degrees of freedom. It seems kind of bizarre to be controlling something
08:50on my hand with my toes. But there's also so many products that already utilize this really strong
08:57connection between our upper and lower limbs and often it's to extend the tasks that our hands are
09:02doing. Driving is the main one. Instruments, sewing machines, it's very frequent that we'll kind of
09:07lean on the toes to extend the function of the hands.
09:13It does freak me out a little bit.
09:14Yeah, that's a lot more first response.
09:17Is it? I mean, what is that coming from? Like deep down, what is it that folks are responding to
09:23when they see? There's one thing to talk about something like this theoretically.
09:27It's another thing to be talking to another human with six fingers.
09:31It's really important that I find that line and don't try to cross it too much in terms of the
09:36weirdness because I want it to be accepted. You know, I want it to be something that people are intrigued
09:41about trying on. Hesitant but intrigued is my sweet spot and so not scared. So yeah,
09:50so this is what is going underneath your foot. The main control is the dominant kind of flexion control.
09:59And it sits just on your palm there.
10:07So we usually do, so the dominant movement which is flexion extension of our thumb. So this is flexion
10:12extension and then adduction and abduction. So that's where the two degrees of freedom of the
10:16thumb that I focus on. I want to see if I can. Yeah, you're doing good for your first kind
10:20of minute.
10:21What you can probably notice is that straight away it's quite easy to do the big full movements really
10:26quickly. And then it's what you start to learn across the week if you were a participant is those really
10:32smaller,
10:32finer motor movements. And that's when kind of calibrating the sensors to your feet and stuff would really help.
10:38It's already changing the way that you are considering approaching an object. Yeah, there we go.
10:46Just to keep the pressure on it. Yeah.
10:49I mean, but just, I mean, look, I'm a minute into it, but then the ability to... Yeah.
10:56There we go. I'm not as scared anymore. I'm so glad.
11:02Danny's project is designed to be a fun and thought provoking experience.
11:07But it sits inside of a rapidly accelerating new field known as human augmentation,
11:13where designers around the world are working on ways to increase and expand our body's natural
11:18capacities. And as simple as it seems to play with the third thumb, what she's really doing is using
11:26this as a way to learn about how our brains respond to tools outside our biological bodies.
11:31How does this change the definition of human? When we often think of the term human, we think of
11:38the very kind of classic homo sapien hardware set. But you're talking about something
11:42dramatically different. Yeah.
11:43How will that change how we think about what it means to be human?
11:47I mean, I think we're already playing around with, with what it means to be human. We're adapting
11:53ourselves already so much technologically, you know, um, and even something as like simple and
11:59complex as memory, um, with our phones, you know, we've already changing the way, um, you know,
12:05we utilize our memory. I don't know if you can remember phone numbers, but I used to remember
12:08all my best friend's phone numbers and now I can barely remember my own. We're already shifting ourselves
12:12so much. And so when we start to kind of change the way we embody this technology that's implanted or
12:18removable or wearable, the human is going to not stop at the skin level.
12:23What's striking about this field is how little is currently known about how our brains will respond
12:27to these new tools. And that's what Dani is calling for. A lot more study into the effects
12:33and consequences as new products and designs continue to roll out. While I was there, she let
12:39me take part in an MRI based study designed to measure the brain's response to this kind of augmentation.
12:45As participants follow simple prompts to move the third thumb, generating valuable data that she
12:51and her team can analyze. Are we just about to start? Yeah. Are you ready? I'm ready.
12:57Just touch the fingers. So the thumb and the other thing is together like one. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
13:05Okay. You stop now. This is amazing because it's my brain. It is your brain. What is it that you're
13:13curious about? Well, we want to see the impact that potentially that upper limb augmentation
13:19is having on your brain and we have to do MRI to really investigate that. In many ways, what took
13:24hundreds of thousands of years or maybe even millions of years of evolution to give us these,
13:28you know, 10 fingers and 10 toes, you're now doing in a matter of a couple of years. Yeah. I
13:34mean,
13:34we're not sure what a couple of years using augmentation devices would do to the brain. At the
13:38moment where we're running a seven days training study, which is already a lot of data collection.
13:42So, um, yeah, I mean, but, but this is technology that could potentially be used for years.
13:47We need to see the impact that's having on the brain, um, to, to try and investigate what's changing.
13:53The research Danny is doing is fascinating and feels more important than ever. As we look ahead,
14:00augmentation is only the tip of the spear in terms of the scientific transformation we're in the midst of
14:05beyond simply adding on to life. The rapidly expanding field of synthetic biology is actually
14:10editing the very building blocks of life itself. I like to think about synthetic biology as a general
14:17purpose technology. This is a technology that over time has, uh, the ability to generate value,
14:25create new types of jobs and basically become a invisible part of society.
14:31Other general purpose technologies, the steam engine, the internet completely transformed society.
14:40Synthetic biology is a new general purpose technology that will impact just about every industry,
14:48everywhere on the planet. Whether that's coming up with a self healing paint for your car. So if your car
14:56gets stretched, you know, that the paint heals itself or a new type of antibiotic. What if there was a
15:05leaf
15:05that was able to suck more CO2 out of the atmosphere? What would it mean for a computer that combines
15:13human
15:14brain cells and the computer chip? There are reasons that we want to edit to enhance, but we also have
15:25to think
15:25through the sort of knock-on effects, the unintended consequences of, of that enhancement.
15:35As human and non-human technology continues to speed up, it raises both new and very old questions
15:42about who and what we are as people. Why do we feel so disconnected from ourselves, from each other,
15:48and from the kind of future we want to see unfold? What does it mean to not only improve the
15:53human hardware,
15:54but the software as well? I came to Oakland to sit with a Zen priest named Rev Angel to learn
16:00about why,
16:01even with all these new tools, being human today in so many ways feels harder, not easier, than it ever
16:08has before.
16:08What does it mean to be human? To care, to be connected,
16:19and to be compassionate. My take is that we are in deep yearning and we're not comfortable with that.
16:28We've created so much division and separation and connection and we don't know how to get back
16:33to ourselves. We, we put everything outside and then we're turning around looking and going,
16:38am I okay? We just spend our lives going like, am I okay? Where does the pain come from right
16:43now
16:43that is kind of reverberating throughout society? It's disconnect. All of that is disconnect.
16:50Disconnect from, you know, we have a, a planet that is like screaming bloody murder for us to either
16:57like get off of it or get with it. We have come to accept someone else's limited imagination of what
17:04it means to be human, that we are here basically clubbing each other to death trying to get ahead.
17:10We have to yield the notion that we are, we are defined by what we produce. We have to give
17:18ourselves
17:18ourselves over to the understanding that, um, that we have inherent worth and therefore, uh, let go of
17:28the ways in which our worth is being defined. When you get off that train, uh, and you recognize that
17:36care and connection is the thing that allows you to, uh, be alive, to see, to taste, to feel,
17:43it, it shifts entirely what you think is important, uh, what you drive, uh, towards what is actually
17:51moving you is entirely different.
17:55In the face of so much change and turmoil in the world around us, it's beautiful to remember just how
18:02simple and sacred it really is to be a human being. And when I actually slow down long enough to
18:07remember, it does fill me with a renewed sense of hope and possibility for who and what we can become.
18:15If built within us all is the capacity for love and compassion, then what does it look like to
18:21extend that to those around us? In a moment when we constantly see the effects of us at our worst,
18:27I'm interested in people who can show us what's possible when we come to see ourselves and those
18:31around us as innately human. So I came to Los Angeles to spend time with a group of people
18:37who are using music to do just that.
18:39Ready?
18:56So my name's Tony Brown and I'm the CEO of Heart of Los Angeles and I'm the co-founder of
19:01the Eisner
19:02Intergenerational Music Programs. Tell me how it got started. Give me kind of the origin story
19:07and what it is now. So when we first started thinking about the intergenerational orchestra
19:12programs, we wanted to make sure that we were reaching into the African-American communities
19:16in Los Angeles County. We want to make sure we're reaching into the elder communities throughout
19:20Los Angeles. And we want to make sure, of course, we hit not only Latinx, Filipino, but our Korean
19:25brothers and sisters too. This was not just going to be any other orchestra or every other orchestra.
19:32This was going to be one that was truly intergenerational and likely truly multicultural.
19:40So why do that, right? Because it'd be much easier to just have a youth orchestra
19:44and have an elder orchestra. What's the thinking behind an intergenerational orchestra?
19:49This orchestra opportunity gives everyone the chance to dust off their instrument,
19:55right, and pick it back up again and go on a journey together. And I think for the elders,
20:00teachers, it's what they look forward to every week. It's maybe the one thing they look forward to
20:04most every week. And for the young people, the incredible wisdom that they gain from their elders,
20:10and also the sense of empowerment they get from teaching an elder how to remember the fingering that,
20:17you know, we used to know 10 and 15 years ago, is pretty special to see. Those of us who
20:22are providing
20:23youth services realize that it's so critically important for young people to have caring adults
20:29in their lives. And for many of our young people, that's hard to come by. And for, you know, of
20:37course,
20:37our adults, our elders, there's no reason they should ever have to, you know, live or die alone.
20:43They should be able to exit this great earth knowing that they've touched the lives of others
20:49and are loved and will be missed. Tony's love for this unique orchestra is evident,
20:55but even more so is his belief that human compassion has the ability to cut across differences
21:00and transform our lives and communities. You look at an orchestra and it's a metaphor to me of
21:08coming together and producing something beautiful, even though there's different types of instruments
21:14that make different sounds, you know, that are different sizes. And yet, when you bring them
21:19together through this common experience of learning and developing together at the same time, growing
21:24together, lifelong learning together, to then produce this beautiful sound, it gives you hope that
21:33despite our differences, we can come together and make something beautiful happen. And that's what we
21:38should be doing not only inside of an orchestra program, but throughout our communities.
21:48Every single interaction you have with every other human, every single one of them has the opportunity
21:56for an experience of grace and connection and, and wonder. Empathy is our ability to perceive,
22:06understand, and to some extent, feel the emotions and pain of others. And it's so central to us all being
22:15on this planet,
22:16because without collaboration, reciprocity, and helping behaviors, none of us would be here.
22:24It's so simple to look around and see what actually needs to be done, whose hand needs to be held,
22:31who's sitting alone on a bench. The really burning question is, can empathy be taught? Because most
22:40people think it's an inborn trait, you know, that you either have or you don't, and that you can't do
22:45much about it. And I think that's an accepted view, so people don't even try. One of the most exciting
22:52things about our research was that we really dispelled the myth. We learned that empathy can be augmented.
23:00When we realize that there are certain ways to nurture empathy, that's something we can teach. It can
23:06start when children are very young. Feeling with someone is altogether different. That means part of you,
23:16part of yourself has been touched by that person's pain enough to want to relieve it.
23:26Up until having kids, I always kind of viewed my life very much as like a 100-yard dash, right?
23:35Like,
23:35Ari is born, I do a bunch of stuff, and then Ari dies. All of a sudden, I have kids.
23:42I remember at one point holding one of my daughters kind of, you know, skin to skin,
23:47and for the first time, felt emotion that was actually outside of my physical body. Like,
23:54it had actually, in some ways, transcended my biological hardware footprint in a way that was
24:00totally unexpected. The other thing was I transcended time. You know, they were like time machines,
24:06but there were these like gifts from the future. And I now, for the first time, saw how my actions
24:10were going to affect the world that my children will inhabit, that my grandchildren will inhabit.
24:18How can we expand the temporal horizons that we're all operating within and are comfortable
24:26thinking within, and really look beyond a time that goes ahead of our own individual lifespans?
24:36How do we think about generations who will inherit this planet? And in the policies that we're making,
24:43in the businesses that we're launching, in the products that we're designing,
24:46how can we lead from a place of care?
24:51These ideas of seeing beyond ourselves and our one lifetime are more important right now than ever.
24:58If empathy is a muscle that grows when we use it, what does it look like to foster more of
25:03it,
25:03in a world desperate for more compassion and connection? In Amsterdam, these ideas aren't
25:08theoretical. They're being put to use, creating new ways of caring for the most vulnerable in our
25:14societies. I want to talk a little bit about aging kind of in general. How do you see those stigmas
25:27around
25:27aging and how do you see those changing? I sometimes think that old age is seen as as an illness.
25:35It's
25:35also maybe kind of a nuisance. And that really has to change because there will be so many elderly people
25:43in the future. One in three people in the world will die with a diagnosis of dementia. Imagine that.
25:51It is fearful to think of that. And especially when you are aware that we cannot segregate all these
26:00people from society. So what are some of the characteristics that we'll find in this village that,
26:06for instance, we wouldn't find in a, you know, a block institutional setting? What we try to do is to
26:11get away from the institute. Nursing homes are, well, as I see them, awful institutes where people are
26:19locked in and segregated from society. Everything that you will find in the Hoogwijk is different from a regular
26:28institute. The way people live together, for example, we created houses where seven people live together.
26:35Every meal is cooked in the houses. And you have to go to a supermarket to get your, your groceries
26:42to
26:42be able to, to, to create that meal. So we have a supermarket on the premises. You can decide by
26:49yourself
26:49if you want to go for, for a walk, or if you want to become a member of a club,
26:53or you just want to visit
26:55the concert in the theater. People who live here need support, but they are still part of society.
27:02This is a complete humanization of the care, what you see.
27:07I think that we must accept that growing old is just part of what life is, and that we must
27:17accept
27:17everything that comes with it. And how well intended the institutions we build to keep people safe
27:26actually take away everything that you have as a human being. And I think that if we are able to
27:33think different about that, that's a good start. This unique form of community and care has led to
27:41significant results, including greatly reducing the dependency on medication. That's a big deal,
27:47in a future where the number of people with dementia is expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050.
27:54The work they're doing here asks all kinds of questions about how we can adapt our methods of care,
28:00and even extend beyond just human care alone. As we train machines to be more and more human-like,
28:06as AI technologies continue to accelerate, what are the values we are imbuing them with?
28:13In the 1800s, there was a mathematician, Ada Lovelace, and in the footnotes of papers that she was
28:20translating about one of the very first computers, she starts describing a computer that someday may
28:26think just like humans. This is really important because for hundreds of years we've been trying to
28:33figure out how to replicate life, how to replicate the human experience. The machine uses only two
28:40sounds produced electrically. Say she saw me. She saw me. Slowly over time, we've started to make inroads,
28:51developing computers that feel more human, that seem like they might be thinking. If you're talking to a
28:59chatbot and that chatbot appears to exhibit emotion or appears to want to connect with you on a deeper
29:07level, would you say that that chatbot is human? Boy, that really blows my digital mind. Now, most people
29:15would say no. They would describe it as a really human-like interaction, but we're still using the word
29:23human. All of these different philosophical questions, they actually matter a lot because
29:29these are the very research ideas that are being pursued as we're building out these technologies
29:34that eventually are going to impact all of our lives.
29:48Someone who has been at the forefront of this work is the musician Grimes. And I wanted to get her
29:54perspective on where we are in this evolution, the creative potential she sees, and the importance of
29:59hope in what comes next. As an artist, what do you feel is, like, the moral imperative of this moment
30:09in time? I did a poll recently on Twitter where I asked people, like, if they had any purpose in
30:13their life. And, like, it was like 70% of people said no or something. Like, if there's ever a
30:19moment
30:19to have a feeling of purpose, I think it would be now because, um, what we do and the things
30:25we create
30:26over the next few decades will probably shape, like, all minds going forward for the rest of time.
30:33And so if there was ever a time to have purpose, I think it's really, yeah, like right now.
30:39How should artists then be thinking about how they work with technology and really in many ways
30:45specifically AI? I really think there is actually, like, a beautiful amount of opportunity here right now.
30:54When I started making music, there was sort of this revolution happening in music production,
30:58where people were being able to make music at home on their computers. And I think there was a massive
31:04democratization of who was allowed to make music that, like, I took huge advantage of that was
31:09fully the byproduct of technology. And I think this is about to extend to all of art. You know, when
31:14I see
31:15some of the new stuff coming with AI, like video to video and text to video and all this stuff
31:19that,
31:19like, is about to explode. And I think it's so beautiful that, like, when everyone has the same
31:26tools that can make professional quality stuff, then, like, you get to see the actual talent,
31:31like, really rise to the top. You've said consciousness is sacred.
31:35Yeah. Tell me more about that.
31:37I think because we're all alive, we all, like, take it for granted that, like,
31:41I can think and I have agency and I can feel. You know, if we're really alone in the universe,
31:45which it seems like, I think the thing that's happening here right now, like, this is, like,
31:50literally God or something. This is, like, the universe waking up and perceiving itself.
31:53I think the single most important thing is to make sure that this spark that exists here on planet
32:00Earth gets to be elsewhere. And I don't even really care if it's biological life or digital
32:05life or something like that. I'm really a proponent of, like, keeping the humans alive. But, like,
32:10if it's silicon-based life that goes out there, I think that's just as good. I just,
32:17I think the universe is empty and quiet and it wants to be woken up and filled with beautiful things.
32:26It makes me excited to think that we really are on the threshold of wild and wonderful new ideas
32:32about who and what we can become. But if we're going to create the futures we want to see for
32:36our
32:37kids and grandkids, new technologies will only take us so far. How we choose to use them matters more
32:43than ever. In Brooklyn, a group of artists are using AI to create an immersive art experience aimed at
32:49examining our relationship with these tools in fascinating new ways. What we're seeing today is a
32:56collected work of what Ouch Collective calls data-generative painting. What that fundamentally
33:02means is that they, in their studio, took enormously large data sets, millions of lines of text,
33:10millions of paintings, petabytes and petabytes of data, fed them into a computer and let the computer
33:15seek out patterns within it. The computer then generates new data and then the folks at Ouch
33:22Collective feed that into software and the software puts it on the walls. Through these powerful
33:28algorithms that they built, they could take the human experience in total, right? Massive data sets
33:35and you could learn something. So this is the server room. This is where all the stuff lives that
33:43operates all the stuff in there. So the EEG takes six different types of brainwave data. Each of those
33:50different dimensions gets assigned something to manipulate within the visual palette, right? So
33:56it could be that, you know, the amplitude of the wave is the thing that changes the color frequency.
34:01All it takes is a little bit of human input to say, okay, we'll make a scene with these shapes
34:07or
34:07with this patterning, but the possibilities are endless. It's only a matter of sort of the length of your
34:11creativity.
34:16It's the same.
34:27It's the same.
34:45When we have a large audience, we'll have the audience wear heartbeat monitors on their
34:48wrists.
34:49Those get fed into the computer, and those start to manipulate the visuals as well.
34:54If the goal is great collective experience, which I would hope immersive art should be,
35:01we get ever closer to it when we incorporate audience into performance as well.
35:07What we've really been able to do is tap into the feedback loop of the human soul.
35:14That musician is having an emotional response to whatever they're doing in the moment, whether
35:19that's the music itself, whether that's the audience's reaction to the music, whether
35:23it's the visuals on the wall, they're having an emotional reaction.
35:31It's a profound feeling to experience both humans and machines collaborating in real time.
35:37This is just the beginning, and as these tools continue to evolve, expanding our ability to
35:42imagine and create, what will we choose to use them for?
35:46What new possibilities will we unlock?
35:48And what kind of human and non-human potential is waiting to be unleashed?
35:57But as limitless as these new tools are proving to be, we are still finite beings.
36:02And one of the things that holds us back from imagining and creating better futures is we
36:07often work so hard to deny our own mortality.
36:11But what would change and what could be possible if we didn't see death as the end?
36:16How much bigger could our imagination about the future become if we were comfortable thinking
36:21further forward than our own single lifetime?
36:24I came to Arizona to meet Alua Arthur, someone who has spent her life helping people face death
36:30with grace and dignity.
36:32She is what's called a death doula, and in addition to working with her own patients, this weekend
36:37she is here to train others who are embarking on this unique form of service themselves.
36:42Life is an utter gift.
36:43And to watch life leave a body, the utter stillness that happens after a death has occurred, is
36:52a really poignant reminder that life hangs on the breath, you know, that it's here one minute
36:59and gone the next.
37:00And so by virtue of continuing to have it, I am still partaking in this tremendous gift that
37:05I've been given, that I'm still alive, that I still get to talk to people and feel cold
37:12on my skin and eat delicious food and hug and laugh and dance and just be here while
37:17I'm here.
37:18I've also learned that humans are extraordinary, they're such a miracle.
37:24It takes so many quadrillion functions just to keep our bodies going.
37:27And so when the body can no longer and it's time to die, that's also really awe-inspiring,
37:33that it carries on for so long and then when it can't, we have no choice but to surrender
37:38to the fact that it can't.
37:39What is it that, in your experience, leads to the level of kind of death anxiety or the
37:46fear of death in our society right now?
37:48At its root, I think, is the very fragile human ego that thinks of itself as the main
37:53character in the story and is so afraid of it not existing anymore.
37:58And so we shun it, we recoil against that idea.
38:04We want to stay alive, we want to be around, we want to do all the things because we are
38:08so attached to who we are and our being alive.
38:11We're afraid of it.
38:13It's a big unknown also.
38:14Like nobody knows what happens after we die and that makes us really uncomfortable.
38:18We feel powerless in the face of the unknown.
38:20We also feel powerless against death itself.
38:22And that makes us want to avoid it at all costs.
38:31Rather than avoiding it, Alu has spent years now helping those who are dying as well as the
38:37loved ones they are leaving behind.
38:39She's come to believe that our relationship to death is directly connected to our relationship
38:44to the future and to life itself.
38:53Welcome.
38:55This evening, we're going to do a death meditation.
38:58This next time that we have together is about you and your death.
39:02You with you, one on one, one on one, you and your body and the journey that you're going
39:07to go on with your own body, all right?
39:10So get comfortable as much as possible, get cozy.
39:21Death is inevitable.
39:24All of us will die sooner or later.
39:28In about a hundred years, all the humans currently on the planet will be gone, except for the few
39:34who are just being born and will live long lifespans.
39:39No one has escaped death, not even the great masters and teachers of our time.
39:46Every person and every creature on the planet will die.
39:51When it's time to actually die, it will be in an ordinary moment, just like this one.
39:58Your breathing is getting shallower.
40:01Your energy is draining.
40:03Your body temperature begins to drop.
40:06Your connection to this earth beneath you is slipping.
40:11You are aware now that you are dying.
40:15Your body is no longer relevant.
40:18Your material possessions cannot help.
40:21Your loved ones cannot save you.
40:24You will speak no more words.
40:27You begin to experience a sense of expanding, connecting with all that ever was and all that ever will be.
40:36See yourself as a candle, a small flickering flame.
40:42And with a gust of wind, see that flame now extinguished.
40:50Now take another deep breath in.
40:53Bring in strong, holding it, and release.
41:01You are very much alive.
41:04Bring awareness to your body.
41:06Wiggle your toes.
41:08Rotate your feet.
41:10Life forces are swirling inside of you.
41:13Everything is functioning.
41:15You just did a death meditation.
41:18And I'm very proud of you.
41:21I will never, ever forget the feeling of being in the room there that night.
41:26It's counterintuitive.
41:27But facing our own mortality holds the key to seeing ourselves as just a part of the larger human story.
41:34One piece of the future that we can both build and soon leave behind.
41:40What does it mean to live like we're dying?
41:45It means to live presently.
41:47It means to be with where I am today, recognizing that everything I have in this moment, what I've done
41:53so far,
41:54what I've given so far, who I've been so far has been enough.
41:58And that if tomorrow's it, I can go satisfied.
42:05I think we have to change the register at which human activity is taking place.
42:16Right now, we're really stuck in an industrial register where we understand ourselves in terms of our utility value.
42:25Right?
42:26How much work can I get done?
42:27How valuable am I?
42:28How much money can I make?
42:30There's always a metric.
42:31How many likes did I get?
42:32How many of this?
42:33How many followers do I have?
42:34It's very utilitarian.
42:37I mean, I was raised on Mr. Rogers, right?
42:40And Mr. Rogers at the end of every show would say,
42:42I like you exactly as you are.
42:46I took him seriously.
42:48I took that to mean I am okay just the way I am.
42:53I don't need to do anything to justify my existence.
42:59The positive human future involves us recognizing and retrieving what matters about our existence.
43:13So if you could give yourself some advice, you know, talk to yourself when you were in your 20s,
43:22what would you say to your 20-something self, knowing what you know now?
43:25I would tell myself everything's going to be okay because I worried so much in my youth, in my 20s,
43:33my 30s, also as a single mom and a lot of different things.
43:36But it was very difficult and I worried about everything.
43:39Instead of living for the days, I was surviving through the days.
43:43I would tell myself, you did good, girl.
43:47You got to this point.
43:49You got it.
43:50I would tell my 20-something-year-old self that there is time.
43:55Experience life and don't be in such a hurry to be put into that task-oriented day-to-day existence.
44:05I would tell myself that I'm not invincible and I'm not exempt.
44:09You're going to get through this and you're going to be okay and, you know, it's going to be all
44:14right down the road.
44:15I would tell myself, you are enough.
44:18You are wonderful.
44:19You are precious.
44:21Be patient.
44:22I go, you will learn everything you need to get to the destination you want.
44:27I would say stop and smell the flowers.
44:31Go visit your grandparents.
44:33Listen to their stories.
44:34You know, go pay those ones respect and time because you don't have them anymore now.
44:40And it would have been nice to have a little more time spent with them.
44:55You know, on the one hand, visiting your parents' grave site is really intense because it's like where they are.
45:02But it's also not where they are, right?
45:04I was thinking this earlier, like when I tell like an off-color joke, that's where my dad is.
45:09Or when I see like 47 different colors in a sunset, that's where my mom is.
45:15So on the one hand, it feels like this is the place.
45:20But then like the whole planet feels like the place when certain things happen.
45:26You know, I was 18 years old and my father passed away, but the love was very thick in the
45:32home.
45:33I don't see such a stark line between like his life and my life, like different biologies, different names.
45:43But there's a kind of a, there's a thread both with my, with my father and my mother that just
45:50feels like it just going through me and going into the kids.
45:54And so, whereas I feel like, yes, there are different bodies, that thread, whatever that is, feels very deep and
46:04continuous.
46:09The future is not set in stone and I don't believe in destiny.
46:14I know that at any moment, we can change course.
46:19We just have to make a decision that we're going to do that.
46:22Which means that we have agency.
46:24We have the ability to create a future that we want.
46:27And I'll be honest, I, you know, I am seeing some pretty, pretty dark things on the horizon.
46:37There's no turning these things off, but we can forge a path forward.
46:44Even though I read the paper like many people do and see so many challenges that we have in cities,
46:50counties, our country, dysfunction.
46:52You know, what motivates me is that I know that I'm helping to develop young people into making the future
46:59a heck of a lot brighter than sometimes the things I read in the paper.
47:04It's the greatest luxury in the world to be able to intelligently design the future.
47:10Like this is something that is new.
47:11This is something that is like really just like a product of modernity.
47:15And I think we should definitely take that opportunity.
47:18A lot of what we need to do right now is actually evolve our tools to better fit how our
47:23minds work with the technology that we have.
47:27Creativity is the fuel for all of this.
47:30There should be a place for humans, for human life in the digital future.
47:36Not revolution, but renaissance, the rebirth of old ideas in a new context.
47:43Then we can begin to live sustainably as a form of human flourishing rather than sustainably as some negation of
47:53human need.
47:55The Dalai Lama said that love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
48:03And without them, humanity will not survive.
48:08I think the primary story is about our connection rather than the story about our disconnect.
48:14It is true that we are suffering from disconnect.
48:17But understanding the reason that we feel so much pain from it is because we have a yearning to be
48:22connected.
48:23I think part of the magic of being human is that the mundane is where all the juice is.
48:30When I know that the time that I have here is finite, then every breath matters more.
48:36Every birthday matters more.
48:38Every hug matters more.
48:40We're at this inflection point for Homo sapiens.
48:44And a lot of folks are basically focusing on the external futures environment.
48:51Super important, obviously.
48:53Artificial intelligence, bioengineering, climate change, inequality.
48:57A host of issues, conundrums, problems and opportunities that manifest in the external reality,
49:04external world around us.
49:06But at the same time, we have to focus on internal futures.
49:11How do we evolve the internal as much as we evolve the external?
49:16How do we evolve the internal?
49:29This lesson isadasm
49:48Transcription by CastingWords