Diary of a Phd Researcher: What Are Young People's Ethical Opinions of What It Means to Be Human Both Now and in the Future Through the Lens of Technology?

By Rich McLean

My name is Rich Mclean, a PhD research student at Victoria University, Melbourne, and I am so excited to bring you the following narratives.

The following six chapters are written and recorded from six interviews with local young people on the topic of:

‘What does it mean to be human both now and in the future through the lens of technology and framed by the Anthropocene yet despite global catastrophic risks?’

The experience was amazing and the young people’s lives had been saturated with data and information unlike the generation I was from, and henceforth they gave amazing answers and discussed complex topics with my guidance.

The chapters are in six-part interpreted narratives from the recorded data collection from student interviews.

This content was written as a section of a PhD dissertation to be officially submitted in April 2019, but I am releasing it early because I am just so excited about this research and finally submitting my PhD!

It follows on and manifests from from a curriculum I made in six parts that that was the ‘Spark of Ideas’, that focussed on three things in cumulative time: The first was artificial intelligence, (AI), and the anticipated superintelligence that will further enable post-humanism including eugenics and co-creating future worlds.

The results I’m sure you will agree are fascinating to behold and creates new global knowledge from localised antipodean settings. We talked about many fascinating things such as cyborgs, digitally downloading information to our brains, technology and disability, alien beings, whether to trust an AI, how we should ethically guide and foster the coming superintelligence, (if we can stop it at all), inter-dimensionality, alien beings, fate, free will and much, much more.

One of the most fascinating aspects was that through interstellar ‘resonance’ that we may be able to ‘tune in’ to other ‘quantum superintelligences’, across the universe like tuning into a radio.

This section of the study ended up in the genesis of a creative component for my PhD, which is not reproduced here, but which is titled: ‘A Splice Of Life; Just because I am ‘mad’, does not mean I'm wrong!; The intersection of spirituality and madness, science and shamanism.’

You will be able to download the whole published exegesis plus the creative component from my website www.richmclean.com.au hopefully by the end of 2019.

But for now, please be delighted with our antipodean intelligent youth of today and marvel at their imaginations which was utilised as a methodology for research.

Thanks for your support and interest.

Rich Mclean

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rich McLean
• Release date: Nov 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463452158

Rich McLean

My name is Rich Mclean, a PhD research student at Victoria University, Melbourne, and I am so excited to bring you the following narratives. The following six chapters are written and recorded from six interviews with local young people on the topic of: ‘What does it mean to be human both now and in the future through the lens of technology and framed by the Anthropocene yet despite global catastrophic risks?’ The experience was amazing and the young people’s lives had been saturated with data and information unlike the generation I was from, and henceforth they gave amazing answers and discussed complex topics with my guidance. The chapters are in six-part interpreted narratives from the recorded data collection from student interviews. This content was written as a section of a PhD dissertation to be officially submitted in April 2019, but I am releasing it early because I am just so excited about this research and finally submitting my PhD! It follows on and manifests from from a curriculum I made in six parts that that was the ‘Spark of Ideas’, that focussed on three things in cumulative time: The first was artificial intelligence, (AI), and the anticipated superintelligence that will further enable post-humanism including eugenics and co-creating future worlds. The results I’m sure you will agree are fascinating to behold and creates new global knowledge from localised antipodean settings. We talked about many fascinating things such as cyborgs, digitally downloading information to our brains, technology and disability, alien beings, whether to trust an AI, how we should ethically guide and foster the coming superintelligence, (if we can stop it at all), inter dimensionality, alien beings, fate, free will and much, much more. One of the most fascinating aspects was that through interstellar ‘resonance’ that we may be able to ‘tune in’ to other ‘quantum superintelligences’, across the universe like tuning into a radio. This section of the study ended up in the genesis of a creative component for my PhD, which is not reproduced here, but which is titled: ‘A Splice Of Life; Just because I am ‘mad’, does not mean I'm wrong!; The intersection of spirituality and madness, science and shamanism.’ You will be able to download the whole published exegesis plus the creative component from my website www.richmclean.com.au hopefully by the end of 2019. But for now, please be delighted with our antipodean intelligent youth of today and marvel at their imaginations which was utilised as a methodology for research. Thanks for your support and interest. Rich Mclean

Book preview

cover-image, part 1-6 diary of a phd researcher

Section 1:

SIX CONVERSATIONS

(Interpreted Narratives with Young People):

CONVERSATION ONE: 

Wednesday 16th of August, 2017

CONVERSATION TWO:

Wednesday 23rd of August, 2017

CONVERSATION THREE:

Wednesday 30th of August, 2017

CONVERSATION FOUR:

Wednesday 6th of SEPTEMBER, 2017

CONVERSATION FIVE:

Wednesday 13th of September, 2017

CONVERSATION SIX:

Wednesday 20th of September, 2017

More reading and about the author

T he following is six-part interpreted narratives from data collection  of student interviews written as a section of a phd dissertation to be officially submitted in April 2019.

The narrative engages young people in their ethical opinions of what it means to be human  both now and in the future through the lens of technology framed by the Anthropocene and considering global catastrophic risks.

It follows on from a curriculum I made that that was the spark of ideas that focussed on artificial intelligence, (AI), and the anticipated super intelligence that will further enable post humanism including eugenics and co creating future worlds.

The results I’m sure you will agree are fascinating to behold and creates new global knowledge from localised antipodean settings.

Section 1:

Diary of a PhD Researcher BY RICH MCLEAN : Part 1

SIX CONVERSATIONS

(Interpreted Narratives with Young People):

The curriculum used to light the spark of these conversations, was rationally based on science and fact up until the time it was written, (2017), although there have been milestone achievements in AI and profound changes in world politics since that time.

In this six-chapter section of the book, which was written weekly after each session, I interpret the conversations over the six weeks I have had with my year eleven students. The discussions were not only linking generations, but they were intellectually exciting, engaging, and presented new global knowledge from very localised settings which you are about to read.

The manner in which I transcribe or interpret the interviews does not identify the students for ethical reasons; however, the points made by the students I opened my mind to and had no preconceived ideas of the conversations may head. In this way, ‘beyond the event horizon' became a metaphor of what I was to expect, for only limited by their imaginations, I had no idea what was about to transpire. In this collection of six interpreted narratives from our interviews, I think you will be surprised at the young people's candour, intelligence, political awareness, and empathy.

In the way that the imaginative conversations led to unknown and unexpected outcomes, these six chapters have led me, very unexpectedly, to the last section of the book you will read later, entitled ‘Just because I am mad does not mean I'm wrong!' The title is self-depreciating at best. Yet one in which is a valid memory and ‘sprit' driven narrative based in qualitative lived experience research methodology that links in solidly to what you are about to read in terms of the young people's imaginative responses to the world in which they live, and the planet with the subtext of  technology that we are leaving them.

CONVERSATION ONE:

Wednesday 16th of August, 2017

I waited nervously thirty minutes early for the year eleven students to arrive as only one showed up the week before and we could not carry out the data collection.

It got to five past the hour, and one person eventually wandered in casually. I started to reflect on what I might be like showing up to an extra-curricular class when I was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old, not very good or very likely!

In all, only two people eventually showed up to do the data collection, but the session went ahead anyway as my supervisor had suggested. We had one student of each gender which was a delicate balance of my original plan to have approximate equal genders represented.

The conversations happened somewhat organically, initially chatting to the first young person about AI and human level intelligence. His initial knowledge of the topic was unexpected and surprising. I was impressed by what he knew already. At the outset one student said:

‘If you get deep enough into it, mathematically anything can be predicted with an algorithm equation'

When the second person arrived, she joined in, and the conversation flowed quite naturally, but a little bit away from the curriculum I had prepared, which made it hard to ‘reply' in sequence within my ‘book'. The other interviews went this way as well. This is why I have presented the curriculum as to the students, followed by the organic interpreted responses in six parts that reflected more accurately what we talked about. After all, we were using imagination as a research methodology, so I could hardly expect things to go to a rigid plan.

I found the two young people to be intelligent and articulate, already with some knowledge of AI and posthumanism, or transhumanism. As pertains to this text and the title of the book, I have decided to go with the term posthuman instead of transhumanism.  Transhuman or trans-human is the concept of an intermediary form between human and posthuman. At the outset, one student said:

‘With super intelligence I’m pretty sure we will be able to reach our wildest dreams of interstellar but I’m just more concerned if mother nature might cull the weak, if it will deem itself the strongest and exterminate the humans because they’re less intelligent than the robots.’

However, I note and observe that we are already posthuman beings in the present, or at least, I and my focus group, being the privileged people, we are. This is by way of utilising technology to make us live longer, see better, be inoculated against diseases and utilising technology or science to make us into more efficient beings. For this body of writings purpose, posthuman can be considered a present state of being for both myself and my students. Even though in the initial stages yet to fully be transformed until a ‘normal' or ‘traditional' human being does not exist, or we have modified our biology, can be defined as merely a person or entity that lives beyond the traditional view of a biological human being. On being optimistic or pessimistic, one student said:

‘Being optimistic you can find opportunity. For example if you’re fighting against a lion you think ‘I can do this’, but if you’re pessimistic you have already lost, your mind is closed off.’

In our initial conversations, one of the students mentioned the movie ‘ Gattaca', (REF) and the book, ‘ 1984' (REF) during our sessions. I made a point to watch the film ‘Gattaca' and read 1984 many years ago in high school. The nature of teaching the students is that I was reminded to learn as well and be exposed to new ideas from a different generation. This was two-way learning.

I was very grateful for the experience of interviewing them and told them they would get a gold movie pass if they came to all six sessions and encouraged the others, which they said they would do.

I had originally planned to follow the outline of my ‘book' or ‘novella', and even though we did touch on some topics from the first week's curriculum, it turned to broader conversations about particular topics, ethics, and opinions of what it means to be human now and in the short-term future. In this session, and ultimately there was a mixture of optimism and pessimism.

I was unaware of their level of comprehension about what we were going to be talking about, their willingness to participate, or their attention span for the hour. I hoped there would be no ‘dead spots' - there wasn't, and we talked about many things for the full hour. I gently guided them back to the main question of ‘what it means to be human now and in the future through the lens of technology?' when we drifted off track. On the topic of nature as innate intelligence and super intelligence as happening very quickly one students response was:

‘Nature over rules most things we cant change, but super intelligence is bound to that.’

As one student said, he thinks that general human-level intelligence will be accomplished in about twenty to twenty-five years, and I think upon reflection, this will be a good time frame to aim for in the question of ‘what it will mean to be human in the future?' for our more immediate discussions. He said:

‘I think we are on the cusp of a great renaissance.’

Initially, I had forecast further into the future, but as I went through this study, the name of the title of this book, ‘The Quickening', became apparent and evident due to the rapid acceleration of technology, even over my lifetime. As you will see later, it also refers to the new energies of the open-mindedness and freedom that the younger people exhibit regarding liberal thinking. After all the internet is only twenty-five years old, and it has revolutionised the world in that time.  I am forty-four as I write this, and I have had half my life offline, and half my life online. On humans existing into the future, one student said:

‘I’m pretty sure there is multiple human civilisations that have come to destruction.'

Technology is at a quickening pace. I'd like to term the phrase ‘the quickening', and this relates to how technology has escalated, and also the diverse acceptance and tolerance of all different people of diversity that I think had happened from the counterculture of the sixties.

I reflected with a friend about the initial student, ‘he knew about human-level AI already, it seems!', even without reading my ‘introductory curriculum'. ‘That's the world they live in now', my colleague replied. I reflected on the differences technology and ‘the information superhighway' had had on these students lives compared to my youth.

First, we talked generally about artificial intelligence and superintelligence, and as we went through I noted my position as a facilitator of the group and utilising that role to gain knowledge and information and their opinions. I was aware of my methodology of a/r/tography, (artist, researcher & teacher), and made a mental note of it to myself to practice and be aware of all roles and we chatted. When we talked of a super intelligence making everyone equal financially, two responses were:

Some people actually believe they deserve less money because of their choices and they deserve more.’

I think if computers decided everyone should have the same money it could work in the long run  but in the immediate there would be a lot of rioting because everyone wants to have more than the person next to them.

Sometimes the opinions expressed were differed or conflicted and sometimes they were the same. Upon reflecting I thought I might report back by both attributing non-identifying ways in which individuals reacted and also by summarising what they ethically thought as young people. The students agreed