TEDxFactory798

On Jan.17th, 2015, we will launch TEDxFactory798 at Pavilion, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. The theme this time is Singularity. Singularity is a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of human intelligence. Once Singularity has been reached, new rule will dominate the world. Ray Kurzweil, the top futurist in US, predicted in The Singularity Is Near, that Singularity will arrive at 2045, when machine intelligence will be more powerful than all human intelligence combined, and intelligence will radiate outward from the planet until it saturates the universe. Kurzweil says evolution moves towards “greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and greater levels of subtle attributes such as love”. These attributes, in the limit, are generally used to describe God. That means the evolution is moving towards a conception of God and that the transition away from biological roots is in fact a spiritual undertaking. We chose Singularity as the theme because we currently stand at the time 30 years before Singularity approaches and now human history lingers at the crossroad. We bring up the questions we have to face——it’s a challenge, also an opportunity; it’s to be enlightened, as well as imagined. In our current time, technology destroys old order, bringing fear; at the meantime, it indicates a new world to be reconstructed, full of hope. We need to look further, finding the prints and location of the whole timeline that salutes the technological innovation that our times dare to disrupt; we also beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past, preserving authenticity and purity of human souls against riding tide of time. TEDxFactory798 will invite 20 thinkers and doers from various fields, together with 500 audience, to imagine, review and challenge the future in 2045. Session 1: The S-Curve Our future will not only evolve, but explode. How far are we from Singularity? Where are we now? Will the future be scary or optimistic? Speakers will include scientists tackling Artificial Intelligence, researchers understanding neuroscience, inventors of drones, doctors bringing in technological applications to medical fields, designers of ergonomics, entrepreneurs on economic paradigm shifts like sharing economy and virtual currency, etc. Session 2: The Renaissance We return to the resilience of body and nature, guarding the human souls reside in our minds. How can we save endangered traditions? Will our civilization and art co-exist and sustain itself alongside technology? What’s deep in our humanity? Speakers and performers will be publishers of elegant print magazines, dancers like body architects, skillful hand-craftsman creating good old stuff, owners of vintage shops, great artists of our time etc. Session 3: The Timeless In mathematics, Singularity is point X = 0 from Y = 1 / X function, which is the restricted area of mathematics, therefore leaving people unlimited imagination. At this point science and humanity converge and this timeless convergence stands up against the rise and fall of time. Invited speakers will be exploring the world’s most eternal things regardless of time change, they are astronomers looking up into the sky, environmentalists protecting our homeland, musicians hybridizing traditional and modern tones and philosopher and poets putting our future to words.