I become quite excited when I see forward thinking about topics I’m passionate about, from sources that would otherwise surprise me. I have been listening to “Getting Smarter” Podcast as part of my background investigation for this project and couldn’t help but listen to the episode “Human Algorithm”. Flynn Coleman is a unique polymath (social justice advocate, lawyer, international athlete) who wrote Human Algorithm: How AI is Redefining Who We Are. What drew me to this, was a) my own interest in how AI and automation will upset current social order; b) interdisciplinary approaches to solving the crises of education, environment, economy, etc; c) how can we give more people as diverse a career as hers.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation will drastically change the economic landscape in short order, thus we need an educational upgrade to make sure that people will be able to find a place in the unrecognizable economy of the next 50 years. Flynn is able to make these concerns relevant to a very general audience. Raising awareness is the first step to being able to address these issues, and I feel we are criminally neglecting how much our world be turned upside and we need to prepare for this with new learning institutions, income redistribution, and even human rights!
Flynn’s curriculum vitae is inspiring and intimidating, and at first glance makes a book about (AI) seem out of left field. What this demonstrates is how diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives are vital to the necessary consciousness raising if we want to avoid ecologic disaster and economic collapse. So much of problem solving is currently silo-ed, we treat mental health, diet, learning, and technology through independent bureaucracies. Additionally people feel that any one intervention will be a failure (image), and to some degree they’re not wrong.
But, as I’ve mentioned before, we need an ecology of practices and systems that compliment each other and mutually reinforce. So, until we really embrace a complex integral theory of human well-being, isolated interventions will land flat on their faces.
In terms of simple interventions that might expand global consciousness, I’ve often wondered how subsidizing international student exchanges for any and all interested students would help. The 21st century is a cosmopolitan one, and we have a hard time dehumanizing people we’ve lived around. Flynn has had an inspiring sequence of experiences all over the world through various avenues. Hopefully we can emulate that (a fraction of it?) with this school project.