Dear Monday explorers, here is a story unfolding right now, right before our wide-open eyes. You see, my friends, we are living in a troubling, fascinating, almost theatrical era, where two unlikely forces meet, size each other up, and sometimes even challenge one another.
On one side, there is Man, magnificent in his intuitions, subtle in his wanderings; on the other, artificial intelligence, cold, surgical, almost insolent in its power.
But what is this famous "AI" whose name everyone whispers with fear or excitement? Let me tell you: it is a prodigious dancer that could end up eclipsing humans, making them obsolete, superfluous. It arrives gently at first, discreetly, taking care to improve our little daily affairs. A friend, you might think? Not so sure...
Picture a company where everything was going wonderfully until one morning, someone whispers in the boss’s ear: "You know, at the competitor’s, everything is automated?" Suddenly, he feels dizzy. He has no choice. He automates, anxiously, worried about being left behind. And suddenly, employees start disappearing, little by little. Where do they go? It’s a mystery, a silent drama of our times. They say that soon, a third of all jobs will be swept away... Frightening, isn’t it?
Man, threatened with obsolescence, might be tempted by a strange escape route: integrating AI chips into his own brain, to compete with these machines that are now stealing the spotlight. A transhumanist evolution, my friends, to avoid reverting to being an ape.
In Nexus, human beings connected to each other form networks of minds, shared consciousness. An augmented humanity, but also a transformed one.
Imagine: thoughts being exchanged. Emotions transmitted. Minds blending, creating new collective entities. United for better... or for worse.
But beware, the story isn’t over; there’s another possible outcome: the famous universal basic income, which some talk about as a miraculous remedy. Imagine a society where everyone could finally devote themselves to what matters: creating, dreaming, living. Is this our salvation or our downfall? A mystery...
AI, my friends, confronts us with ourselves. It calculates, but it does not doubt. It analyzes, but it does not feel. It has neither our chaos, nor our poetry, nor our sublime imperfection.
So, what will we do? Will we be wise enough to shape this strange encounter to our advantage, or will we sink into a golden laziness, outpaced, fascinated by our own creation
The curtain rises slowly on this play in which we are all actors, a play with no possible rehearsals. We must play it right. Play it fast.
The TEDxSaclay ticket office is open for the conference on June 28, 2025, at Châteauform'.