Technology, Connected - Kevin Kelly Asks

Starting point is 00:00:00 In early 2025, Kevin Kelly, one of the great technological philosophers of our time, joined Mark and Jeremy to Think on Paper. Before he left, he asked a question, a question about the future and technology, a question about us. What do we want humans to be? How existential do you want to be? Humans should be humans, first of all. Humans should be creative.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Humans should be kind. Humans are meant to be curious. Humans should be conscious of their true impacts. I would answer in Vietnam is Lingoi. In English, I think they should be wiser. Humans should be a steward of the earth. Humans should be themselves and be individuals. I think humanity should be kind.

Starting point is 00:00:50 And technology can be a tool in helping us. So every time we use technology to communicate in kind ways, in kind ways, it can help. But fundamentally, it's not what's going to make the difference. In a way, the technology that I find most incredible and most conducive to becoming a better human being is books. Books are incredible.

Starting point is 00:01:12 They allow you to have many lives in one to learn about what it's like to be a human being in so many different kind of circumstances that you might never find yourself in. It allows you to communicate with people who have lived across the world in thousands of years away. from you and it allows you to communicate with people who are not here yet to tell

Starting point is 00:01:33 them what it's like to be a human being now what you've learned and what you might have learned that might save them time and pain and that is part of being kind. What's going to make us thrive? Are we healthy? Are we equal? Are we educated? Can we live a sustainable life at peace? And I think that's what human humanity should think about becoming and evolved too. And I think to Technology can help us get there by helping us find cures for diseases. It can help teach and augment every mind. How do we power the world cleanly?

Starting point is 00:02:06 How do we create fair access to opportunity? And how does it free us to focus on meaning instead of just finding ways to survive? And if we do that, then we answer the question, are we using it to build a utopian future or dystopian future? And I think the answer would be using it to build a utopian future. What should humans be? Honestly, I think we should just be nice to each other. I think there's too little of that. Technology helps us do that because it gives us the opportunity to connect with each other.

Starting point is 00:02:32 And I think that in that I have to assume that that connectivity that we have, despite the inordinate amount of time I spend on Twitter, I have to assume that all that connectivity is actually more of a positive than a negative because it allows us as humans to come together across time and space in ways that we never have before. Humans should be humans, first of all, they should say human, They should stay creative, emotional, empathetic, if it's now or 100 years from now or a thousand years from now. Where I would like humans to get to with technology is I really hope that there would be a moment when we think of something that will help us to travel in space much faster

Starting point is 00:03:17 so that we can start exploring other galaxies, other stars and planets and so on, for real, not just looking at them through telescopes. Humans are meant to be curious. This has been my kind of like home base in life. You know, when you find the thing that gives you passion or whatever, for me it's curiosity. And I think a lot of humans operate that way. And I think it's brought the best out of humanity. Humans being curious, they solve problems, they discover new things, they build efficiencies.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Curiosity is what makes humanity great. There's no doubt that these models are no so much more than I do already today. and the gap is only going to get bigger as we move forward here. But the curiosity is something that I can still own and I can be curious about things. These models are tool. They're like not the point of it all. They're just a tool to actually make my curiosity faster, deeper, parallelized.

Starting point is 00:04:11 Like I can just be curious about so many more things faster and move more quickly. And so, yeah, I think curiosity is what humans are meant to be. Humans should be conscious of their true impacts. This could be at a company level, could be at a personal level. And we need to be mindful of our impacts on each other and the entire planet on which we inhabit.

Starting point is 00:04:32 And I see the relationship that tech playing is that tech is a mirror. And as we mentioned earlier, it's a reflection of the values and power structures of those who wield it. And so for tech to get us to become more conscious, we need to find ways to reclaim public power and design this tech equitably, transparently, and in a participatory fashion.

Starting point is 00:04:50 Humans should be kind and look out for each other and be ambitious. and have creative curiosity and imagination. And how does technology get us there? Technology is so important to solve problems that perhaps non-technical people can't see a way through and politicians can't see a way through. Very often there are really capable technology solutions.

Starting point is 00:05:13 And so having greater understanding of science and maths, I think is a really important thing. Humans should be creative. because each one of us is a very interesting soul, where creativity is something, I don't think machine can replace. Like, everybody, every day, we're thinking of new solutions,

Starting point is 00:05:36 we're thinking of new ideas that make us improve, make us strive. And we create AI. Not AI created us. So I think that trend will continue to be the case if humans, we maintain our creativity, Think of new ways, think of ideas, drive things for us. That's where

Starting point is 00:05:56 evolution goes. I think they should be wiser. If you look at it from the beginning of our human history, whether in ancient civilizations in Greece or in ancient civilization in Asia, you always had philosophers

Starting point is 00:06:12 who have been looking at how people can be wiser. And I think what has happened is that technology has evolved much faster. than our wisdom and that today we have a very big disconnect between where technology brings us and all the potential that it brings whether positive or negative and that on the other side in terms of wisdom maybe we are still at 2,000 years back where Socrates or Confucius

Starting point is 00:06:44 we're asking some questions that today are probably still the same and in which we haven't completely evolved.

Technology, Connected - Kevin Kelly Asks

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