Fervent, overly determined techno-optimism has much in common with the ideation of conspiracy theories relating to advanced technologies. In fact, advocates of techno-optimist futures, and the proponents of conspiracy theories such as the supposed causal relationship between 5G and COVID-19, share common cognitive, dispositional and contextual characteristics.
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Historical thinking, futures thinking
When we study history, we come to understand that the structures of the contemporary world are not inevitable, they are a choice, and other choices were possible. Other choices are possible even now. More earthy choices. More natural choices. More imaginative choices. Choices more full of meaning. Choices which allow us greater agency. The study of history allows us to reclaim these choices for our future.
Beyond tech philes and phobes
Making AI regenerative is going to require that we are not prompt engineers but devious bricoleurs, in the sense intended by Claude Lévi-Strauss, working with our hands on this tool and recombining it with others to do things it was never intended for. For good. For fairness. For community. For real wealth. For the environment.
Degenerative AI
For AI to be regenerative, it must enable us to generate and preserve real wealth. It must promote and sustain community wellbeing, fairness, and sustainability, the fundamental values of the generative economy, and it must do so by design, through its normal functioning, and not as a regulatory compliance exercise or CSR/ESG afterthought.
Degenerative innovation
Innovation is degenerative. It exploits and erodes our prosperity and health on the promise that success will repay the losses, a promise that is seldom if ever kept. So, what if our processes for innovation were regenerative, in the sense that they nourish and strengthen teams, organisations, communities and environment continuously, regardless of the outcome? What would this regenerative innovation process look like?
Before wage work
Regular full-time employment at a single job may seem like the natural way of things, but it is, in fact, a fairly recent phenomenon. For hundreds of years before 1800, work took multiple forms and had varied meanings, motivations and outcomes. Making money was just a part of it, and often not a very important part.
Techno-optimism, perverted histories and stolen futures
AI has been ‘leveraged’ since 2014 to ‘transform’ the oil and gas industry, by enabling exploitation of previously hard-to-access reserves of fossil fuels, in full awareness of the irreparable damage done as a result. Techno-optimism is not merely naïve. Future histories of ‘transformation’ are often part of a political project to protect and advance the rights and interests of extractive capitalism while destroying cultures, societies and the environment without a care.
EU removes ‘emotional robots’ from the classroom
The new EU AI Act bans ‘unacceptably risky’ AI applications, including emotion-aware systems which educational researchers believe can significantly improve learning in the classroom. Is the EU right to outlaw emotional AI for learning along with such nefarious uses as social scoring and behavioural manipulation? And with the diffusion of emotional AI in mainstream consumer products including virtual reality headsets, might the ban be a backward step for European learners?
Emotional AI in education: applications and implications
With the passing of the EU AI Act, emotional AI in education may become another ‘failed idea’ in AI’s history. But we can also see it as a speculative future. If we imagine that an emerging technology will become mainstream, what are the possibilities, and what are the implications for how we design learning experiences?
What if courses are not the answer?
Universities are finding that creating and supporting more and more courses in an already saturated market is an unsustainable model. Instead, they should move to developing new value propositions based on things that are scarce, such as bespoke, learner co-created experiences, and challenge-based and entrepreneurial learning, creating opportunities for learners to practice skills, receive feedback, reflect, and build confidence and psychological capital.
Matthew Moran 