Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Communicators 20150511 : vimarsan

Species. What do you mean by 3. 0 . Guest well, i guess theres a couple ways to look at it. When i first started the book, i talked to anthropologists and got a sense of what stage of evolution we were in scientifically, and theres not really agreement there. Some of them are saying we could be considered humans 4. 0 actually. But where i kind of starts from was the earliest humans were the ones that were largely subjugated by nature. Natures perceived and then we involve, of course, through technology. Technology played a major role. I think for the last 200,000 years or so we have been humans 2. 0 and thats more of a case of humans living in relative harmony with nature. You know, it hasnt kicked our butt basically completely. Humans 3. 0, i think is where anthropologists call it the [inaudible] and thats where humans are starting to affect nature, master nature both in the sense of the environment and our own biology through technology. And theres debate over when that started. Some say it was the Industrial Revolution others say its more recent more of the digital revolution and the internet. Whichever the case is, were certainly in the midst of it now where were starting to develop things like getting really into bioengineering and neuroscience and all these things. So these are all fields that are going to be big over the next couple of decades. So were definitely in the [inaudible] as i worked on the books it took about three years to do. I developed a more complex idea of what humans 3. 0 is 3. 0 is. And it has to do once i went through all these various chapters which well talk about i came to the conclusion that humans for most of our history have been, weve been kind of torn between these two historical forces between competition and cooperation. And when i say competition, that includes conflict and killing each other as well as more, you know mundane subjects. And i think humans 3. 0 is kind of a, were starting to realize that both of those forces work for us together and theyre synthesizing. We can compete with each other not kill each other do the mundane competition but also cooperate with each other. And this actually benefits us all. I think were slowly realizing it. Thats my more in depth definition of humans 3. 0. Host so do you believe that we became humans 3. 0 through your research during the industrial era or through the digital era . Guest i think its i dont think you can draw a line. I think its ongoing. One thing that i try to do in the book is i think i didnt have this conclusion when i started. I kind of i followed the data. And i looked at each different aspect of society and culture and what we are as people. So the chapters are kind of neatly divided into heres where we are on, in economics heres where we are in Health Life Expectancy relationships religion and beliefs, privacy happiness u all this stuff. I tried to chart the evolution through sensory through cave men and cave women. And then come to conclusions from that. So again, i dont think theres i didnt draw any lines between the Industrial Revolution and digital revolution. I just kind of looked at it all in some cases though, it was hard to come up with any kind of numbers or data because we havent been tracking a lot of things for a long time. So asking basic questions like are we more private today than we were 2,000 years ago thats very hard to tell because how would you have tracked that 2,000 years ago . Same as in the chapter i have on relationships of my favorites because it deals with things all of us can represent to i talked to founder of ashley job madison. Com which is a web site for extramarital affairs, and i asked him if we were having more affairs than 30 years ago and hes not sure because the data that theyre getting now is going to give him a lot of information, going to give us a lot of information years from now, but we dont really have anything back in the 60s and 70s. We dont have anything to compare against. Host one of the recurring themes in your book is the issue of solitariness. An increased solitariness. Is that a downside to the digital revolution . Guest i think so if you look at some of the numbers. The one i found a little, maybe not disturbing, but disheartening was that studies have shown people are today identifying that they have fewer close confidants than ever before. I dont remember the exact numbers, but its Something Like 30 years ago the average person would say they would have four or five close confidants whereas now they might have one or two. And thats really interesting compared to what we know about the internet and social media and the digital revolution, is everybody has hundreds of friends on friends on facebook and thousands of followers on twitter. So kind of our social circles have theoretically expanded, but a lot of the other and not just the information about the close con my adapts, but you look at family sizes, family sizes are shrinking, the marriage rate is going down people are not joining things like clubs. Theyre not joining things like kiwanis as often. And you also have religion. Relidge juicety people who identify as part of religion, thats also going down dramatically. So people are not joining things as much. I dont know if theyre substituting that with joining groups on facebook, i dont know. But that is i think, that is one of the downsides. There is a kind of reaction to this internetbased social explosion that were kind of shrinking inwards. Host now mr. Nowak this overall is it fair to say that your book, humans 3. 0, is a positive look at technology, or you take a positive attitude towards advancement . Guest i think so. Yeah, generally its an optimistic book, and i think thats almost its selling point because as a journalist, you know, i know we often focus on the negative. And one of the i spoke to a veteran science journalist in denmark. I went to denmark to talk to happiness experts because denmark is the happiest country on earth according to many of the surveys. He said something really poignant that i remember because he was talking about or we were, i was asking him why are, why is the media focused so much on negativity, and his answer was that the media is kind of like our nervous system. Its our collective nervous system where we are our own nervous system doesnt tell us were perfectly fine today. If we had all that information bombarding us, we wouldnt know what to do it, but it does tell us when somethings wrong. And thats kind of what the medias there for, i suppose. So i think its counterintuitive to say things are Getting Better largely thanks to technological technology doesnt magically solve problems but it does enable things particularly in terms of economics. One of the great Untold Stories that i mention in this book is the United Nations and the world bank both of them both officials there are almost unexpected that their stories arent being told more that extreme poverty has been cut in half in the world faster than they thought was possible. Infant mortality is dropping faster in africa than anywhere at any point in history. These are massively good news stories, but we dont hear a lot about them. So it is counterintuitive to come out with a book that, a book that has a relatively optimistic and positive conclusion. It was hard for me to believe my own data because everybody has bad things happen to them in their daily lives. Im a journalist, and we have layoffs and cutbacks on a daily basis. So its hard to step back from the daytoday and remember and take a look at the data from a distance and say, no, things are actually Getting Better. So its kind of that was a hard thing. But, yeah, it is an optimistic book. Host three examples of technology you talk about in your book, neuroscience, robots, youtube. Guest yes. Well robots, i think is an especially interesting one because 2014 i think was the year of robot angst. I dont know if i could a day went by when i didnt see some kind of story about how robots are stealing jobs from humans and that were all going to end up out of work. On a daily basis you hear stories about theres a better robot whos a better bartender than humans, waiter or waitress than humans and so on and so on. The point that i think is missed a lot in that is that every prior revolution or advance in automation has actually resulted in better jobs for humans. Is so to give you an example 200 years ago over 75 of the American Population was farming. Now its about 1 . Those farmers could not have imagined that 200 years from now jobs like web designer or video game designer or whatever they couldnt imagine those jobs would be possible. And i think were in that same situation right now where were really worried about the robots taking our jobs and having a hard time imagining what were going to be doing even ten years from now. I think that history has shown that we will figure out a way to combine with the robots to create new jobs again that were previously unimaginable. Host neuroscience. Guest neuroscience is an interesting area too. We have some Major Projects underway both in the United States and in europe to try to understand the brain. And thats going to have incredible effects. Just as the human genome project has led to a lot of different therapies for all kinds of physical ailments, neuroscience the brain projects are going to result in a lot of things positive, amazing developments. What theyre going to be is hard to imagine but you can kind of project forward some possibilities are well finally come to understand the brain and theres some periods out there, some of the futurists out there believe that the brains just pattern, and once you understand that pattern, you can replicate that a pattern. If thats true, then thats going to be amazing because that means well be able to replicate our brain our personalities and transfer them into Virtual Worlds robots whatever and, of course, live forever. In the more short term, its going to result in neuroscience. You can combine neuroscience with genetic, for example. The sequencing of dna is getting cheaper every year and i think were its not too far into the future where were all going to be able to sequence our dna. Thats going to result in more individualized drugs which is going to give us better treatment for whatever ails us. I know you watch commercials for certain medicines on tv, and they have this horrifying list of side effects. Laugh hopefully, thats going to change soon because drugs today are done, theyre created to service a mass market. And then so youre going to have all these side effects. Youll have to take this drug to count they are side effect and so on and so on. So i think you going to have more tailored and effective drugs, and thats going to result in better health. Host finally youtube. Guest youtube is, i think youtube is a good proxy for whats happening creatively for humans, for people. We have and this is, i think mostly endemic to the internet digital revolution is weve had an explosion of creativity and expression. So people now, anybody can take a photo. People take photos on their cameras. We take thousands of photos a day, and you can dump them all out if you want online and you can show somebody that ham sandwich you had for lunch. Thats not art. Most people wouldnt consider that art but it is a form of expression. That wasnt possible just 20 years ago. To take a photo 20 years ago actually cost you a lot of money. You had to develop it, print it, wait a couple weeks. So thats happening. Photos blogs youtube videos, video games. The same people are able to are Getting Better tool toss create their own video games. So the question a lot of people have been asking is, well how do we how do artists and people who do this stuff professionally how do they get paid . Thats a valid question, but the point that shouldnt be forgotten is that everybody can do this now. Everybodys able to express themselves, and i think thats a massive leap forward for us as people. Host you have a chapter in here marx was right, sort that. [laughter] guest its karl marx not groucho. That was i kind of delved back into high school sociology and politics in that one i think. Marx, i think is associated with the dialectics, historical dialectics of, you know, briefly its masters slaves, and then they have conflict between them that results in the two merging and the ultimate roots of communism was eventually people would get sick and tired of that, and there would be no ruling class and under class. In some ways i think were still very far from that, but i dont think where i think some of what 20th century communism got wrong is some of the World Leaders tried to impose it. But i think going back to the original definition of humans 3. 0 where were subconsciously learning that we can cooperate and compete at the same time, further to that is the understanding that we actually do benefit if without somebody else losing, you know what i mean . So i think were getting towards that, were getting closer to that understanding. And some countries i think, are further ahead than others. Again, i bring up denmark because i visited denmark. Denmark is considered by many to be a socialist country. But one thing that they do have there is a very large sense of trust amongst all their people. And even the, you know, Business Owners understand that taxes and that sort of thing are necessary because they can result in, say, Transportation Systems that get their workers to the jobs on time, and theyre not miserable when they get there. That improves their own productivity and so on. So thats, i think thats a more enlightened understanding of my neighbor doesnt have to suffer in order for me to benefit. And i think thats, if i can bring marx into that, then i think thats where he was right. Host and how does that tie into technology . Guest because technology and that conclusion is, that is the conclusion of the book, and i think all the other chapters where we look into all the other enabling factors whether its Health Life Expectancy whether its economics, whether its jobs and is so on, technology is fueling all of those aspects so that it may not directly fuel that conclusion, but it is fueling all of the contributing factors to that conclusion. Host and your conclusion in humans 3. 0, if you could expound on this just a little bit, as for humans 4. 0, i cant wait to transfer my essence into a machine and fly across the galaxy, but we wont have to cross that bridge or write that book for at least another two [inaudible] guest yes. Well, i think, first of all by the time we get to humans 4. 0 maybe people wont be writing books anymore. Maybe itll be robots writing them, i dont know. Thats also another wink back to the future as we believe we can transfer our minds into machines eventually at some point in the future. Thats still largely Science Fiction, and i am a Science Fiction fan, so i think thats a tongue in cheek way of ending the book. And i think that is one thing i guess i should mention is that although the book is very data driven, its not i didnt write it for geeks, i didnt write it for the numbers nuts. Im very much, i very much like pop culture. I play video games, i go to movies. So i try to take those numbers and illustrate them or shine them through a pop culture lens. So i talk to writers, i talk to video game makers, and i got their input on this. So its not just numbers its also, i guess colorful interpretations of some of those numbers as well. Host now finally, why are you here at ces international in las vegas . Guest well, im always here. Ive been here, i think this is my eighth show. Im generally here as a journalist seeing whats happening and writing about it and talking about it. This year im also on the other side of the fence where im part of the garys book club which is the book showcase that they have host Gary Shapiro Cea head. Guest exactly. So they have some Books Technology books that they showcase here at the show, and i was fortunate enough to be selected for that club. So im on both sides of the fence here. Im wearing two hats. Host peter nowak, humans 3. 0 is the name of the book, thanks for being on the program. Guest my pleasure. Host the communicators is on location at ces international, the Consumer Technology trade show held every year in las vegas. And one of the areas here that were looking at is the new Technology Area and Startup Companies. And we want to introduce you to Clement Rosset guest yes. Host and the company is called iskn. Mr. Rosset, what to can you make . Guest we started with six authors one year ago, we need to go to 35,000 and finally we reached 350,000 host to develop what . Guest yes. We went here to the ces last year and today we continue [inaudible] you can put any paper and any notebook on it. And with the realtime, it tells you host this is like a slate. This is a slate correct . Guest this is a slate correct. Host all right. So you can draw anything you want here, and it will immediately guest digitize. Host on to your laptop or your phone . Okay. Demonstrate the project. Guest so i can demonstrate with a new page, for example. Maybe that one. Im not a good drawer, so im going to use a template. [laughter] okay . So with the realtime host and when you say a real pen, is this a difference from the samsung note guest actually, there is no battery and no Electronics Inside the pen. Host just a normal pen. Guest just a normal pen with a magnet thats right here. We can see that this time were using [inaudible] no battery no electronics, just a simple, permanent [inaudible] host okay. Guest because with our technology, there is a [inaudible] and were about to track the orientation of the pen. So this is the first bit, just make the eyes. And then for production [inaudible] host okay. Guest or maybe something larger. You can change size of the lines, and then you can have the replay of your drawing and you can share it with your friend on your social media. Host now, has that drawing been downloaded to your tablet . Its already on the tablet, correct . Guest its already on the tablet and you can even use the plate without the ipad. There is a battery and memory inside host and blue tooth connected . Guest yes. At the end of the day, you can transfer the day. Host where did you get the idea for this technology . Guest actually, we are a french startup, again but we are a spinoff of [inaudible] so the project started three years ago, and we were four people last year and today were 16 people in france with more than 15 partners. Host and is this on the market . Guest yes. Actually, you can preorder. We started to ship out in december first 2,000 projects. Now were in mass production, and were going to [inaudible] host iskn is the name of the company. Guest yes. Host and whats the product culled . Guest the pad is the slate and [inaudible] host thank you for your time. Another new product being displayed here at ces in vegas is a product called fuel tech developed by a Company Named nova the ach what is your company . Guest wearable devices only using the sense of touch. Host and this is it right here. Guest yes. And its using to communicate in many situations silently. Host and its a softer, kind of flexible wristband. Guest allows you to communicate without speaking without read aring or without writing, only using your sense of touch. Host and how would you communicate if you wanted to send somebody a message to say help me or guest we have [inaudible] around the wristband so i can sense [inaudible] host so that right here is, i feltal buzz there. Guest yes. I receive vibrations on my wrist. Host and where do those messages go . [inaudible] host okay. Guest relay of information. Here is the mobile help we use to define the [inaudible] i use with my colleagues, for instance. If i push the button here, it would mean that im injured, two big vibrations on their wrist. If i push these buttons here, i say then that, its okay, all is under control. And they will feel a cycle around their wrist. So we have designed like a library of patterns of vibration s depending on intensity, duration and sequence of vibrations, so you can have many host can you create your own messages . Guest yes. You create your own with your friends, with your family, with your colleagues. Host now ms. Cane yacht, is this product on the market now . Guest its on the French Market now. We work with professionals that try to increase the safety of their employees. For instance, we equip women working in the field women working in Emergency Services [inaudible] professionals like this. Host and they could discreetly if they were in trouble guest they can discan creasely use the discreetly use the wristband. By pushing a button they will receive a vibration that will mean that the [inaudible] and someone will come through to help them. Host youre in vegas in ces are you trying to break into the u. S. Market . Guest yes. Its really key for us to be international. We must be [inaudible] and the u. S. Is a key market. Host weve noticed a lot of French Companies Tech Companies are here. Is there a Silicon Valley in france . Guest we have like a french [inaudible] there is 66 Startup Companies this year at the ces in las vegas. Host the coo of novatact, here is the product. Youve been watching the communicators on cspan. If youd like to see more programs, go to cspan. Org communicators. Two sunni leaders from iraq discuss the security situation and the political future in their country. Hosted by the brookings institution, live coverage begins today at 9 a. M. Eastern here on cspan2. Defense secretary Ashton Carter and joint chiefs of staff chair general Martin Dempsey held a News Conference thursday at the pentagon. They discussed the fight against isis, the u. S. Led Training Program of Syrian Forces and the potential effects of sequestration. This is just over 30 minutes. [inaudible conversations] okay. Well, good afternoon. Its been a very busy week, so let me provide a few updates. First, earlier today i met with Iraqi Kurdistan regional president barzani. We talked about our progress in the fight against isil. I recognized the sacrifice that all iraqis have made in this struggle and congratulated him on retaking territory lost to isil. We reaffirmed our commitment to working together by, with and through the government of iraq to deliver a lasting defeat to isil. I understand that some on capitol hill would like to bypass the Iraqi Government and directly arm the kurds and some iraqi tribes. But we oppose such a move because we believe a unified iraq is critical to the longterm defeat of isil and because it could put some of our personnel at risk. Second, were announcing today that combat training has begun for a companysized group from the new Syrian Forces. This program is critical and a complex part of our counterisil efforts. We expect a second group to begin training in the next few weeks. Third, the chairman and i testified yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on defense. Given that the current budget approach is, as i said yesterday, a road to nowhere we need members of congress to come together as theyve done in the past including in 2013 and agree to a multiyear budget agreement that provides the stability dod needs and the resources our troops deserve. Fourth and to change gears a bit, i want to commend seven former secretaries of defense and ten retired fourstar general and flag officers for releasing a letter today Encouraging Congress to pass the trade Promotion Authority or tpa so that the president can finalize two critical trade agreements; the transpacific partnership, tpp and the transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership ttip. This important letter builds on what i said last month at Arizona State university, and i encourage every member of congress and all of you to read it