BTW: Conference Streams are online at linux.conf.au/stream
The Future of Humans – Pia Waugh
At a tipping point, we can’t reinvent everything or just do the past with shinny new things.
Started as a Sysadmin, helped her see things as Systems
Trying to make active choices about the future we want,
- Started building tools, knowledge spread slowly
- Created cities, people could specialise, knowledge faster
- Surplus created, much went to rulers, sometimes rulers overthrown, but hierarchy started the same
- More recently the surplus has got given to people
- Last 250 years, people have seen themselves as having power, change their future, not just be a peasant.
- As resources have increased power and resources have been distributed more widely
- This has kept expanding, – overthrown you boss at work
- We are on the cusp on a massive skyrocket in quality of live
- Citizens have powers now that we previously centralized
- We are now in a time of suplus not scaricity
- Small groups and individual can now disrupt a country, industry or company
- We made up all of our society, we can make it again to reflect the present not what was needed in the past.
- Choose our own adventure or let others choose it for us. We have the option now that we didn’t previously
- Most people’s eyes glaze over when they here that.
- “You can’t do that” say many people when they find out what software can do.
- People switch off their creativity when they come to work.
How Could the World be better
- Property
- 3D printing could print organs, food, just about anything
- Why are we protecting business models that are already out of date (eg copyright) when we couple use them to eliminated scarcity
- Work and Jobs
- Everybody is scared about technology taking jobs
- What do we care about the lose of jobs
- Why is the value of a person defined by a full-time jobs?
- Transhumanism
- tatoos, peicing have been around forever
- Obsession with the human “normal” , is this a recent thing from the media?
- Society encourages people towards the Norm
- Internet has demonstrated that not everybody is normal – Rule 34
- “If you lose a leg, instead of getting a replacement leg, whey not have seven legs?”
- Anyone who doesn’t make our definition of Normal is seen as something less even if they have amazing abilities
- Spaceships
- Still takes a day to get around the planet
- If we are going to set up new worlds how are they going to run?
- Global Citizenship
- People are seen though the lens of their national citizenship
- Governments are not the only representative of our rights
- “How can we build a better world? Luckily we have git”
- We have the power and knowledge to do things, but not all people do
- If you are as powerful as the tools you use, where does that leave people who can’t use computers or program?
- Systemic Change
- What doesn’t you Doctor say about “scratching your itch” ?
- Example: “diversity” , how do we deal with the problems that led us to not having it.
- Who are you building for? Not building for?
- What is the default position in society? Is it to no get knowledge, power?
- What does human mean to you
- Waht do we value
- What assumptions and bias do you have?
- How are you helping non-geeks help themselves
- What future do you want to see?
- How are Systems changing? How do out policies, assumptions laws reflect the older way?
- Scarcity -> Surplus
- Close -> Open
- Centralise -> Distributed
- Belief -> Rationalism
- Win/Lose -> Cooperative competitive
- Nationalism -> World Citizen
- Normative Human -> Formative Human
- I believe the Open Source Culture is a good model for society
- But in Inventing the future we have to be careful not to drag the legacy systems and values from the past.
