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It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Burger! The Wall Street Journal has recently found a job listing for the company searching for an operations executive to help helm a planned drone delivery takeoff. This looks to be a part of UberExpress, Uber’s drone delivery alternative to UberEats (now that’s branding!). In fact, according to Business Insider, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was quoted in May about the project, saying, “We need flying burgers.” Interestingly, that doesn’t even crack the top 10 weirdest quotes from CEOs this year.

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Uber has undoubtedly shaken up the taxi industry, helping to make ridesharing the new norm when it comes to taking a quick trip while also providing people with a diverse array of cars to throw up in. However, the multi-billion dollar company is looking beyond replacing taxicabs and giving consumers what they really want: greasy cheeseburgers delivered by AI aircraft.

Do Lizards Dream of Electric Bugs? Dreams are still one of the most fascinating aspects of the human condition. After all, who hasn’t spent hours analyzing that dream where they show up late to their classes on the day of the big test naked and begin falling? And everybody’s taken extreme joy in watching their dog “dream running.” But let’s get to the real question on everyone’s mind: Do lizards dream? According to researchers from the CNRS and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, it appears that, much like birds and humans (along with other mammals), lizards exhibit two sleep states, corroborating similar studies involving the Argentine tegu and bearded dragon. Does this mean that scientists will discover more similarities between the scaly reptiles and the human race? A lizard can dream. pexels.com/@shawnreza

Tesla: Impossible Don’t you hate it when your extremely expensive, technologically advanced car gets stolen? Yes, the one percent of us understand that can be a real pain. But what’s almost as bad as getting such a great piece of tech taken from you? Somebody posting a video of the vehicle being stolen on the world’s most popular video sharing website … which also acts as a guide on how to steal it. In the recording posted to YouTube, the thieves utilize a tablet in order to get the passive signal of a Tesla’s key fob, which allowed them to easily enter the vehicle. The only flaw in their master plan? They couldn’t figure out how to unplug the vehicle, costing them several minutes of drivetime and ruining all dramatic flair.

Tesla photo: iStockphoto.com/typhoonski

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

While this may seem like a major flaw on Tesla’s part, the owner admittedly did not utilize such safety features as “PIN to drive” and left passive entry enabled. Regardless, one can only assume that Elon Musk will respond to the incident with a bizarre tweet that will cost the company billions of dollars.

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Worms Just Wanna Be Young What more can be said about worms? They’re slimy, they’re weird, and despite years or urban legends, they don’t grow into two separate beings when cut in half. (Bet you feel really sorry for mutilating all those innocent worms now, huh?) And, unless you’re impaling them to use for fish bait (you monster!), the common earthworm tends to have a lifespan of around six years. Until today, that is. Researchers from Yale-NUS College led by Dr. Jan Gruber have recently created a pharmaceutical drug combination that can both delay the aging process and nearly double the lifespan of the Caenorhabditis elegans worm. Which is great news for all of you grieving your deceased pet Caenorhabditis elegans out there. But while it’s great that these disgusting, monstrous creatures will live longer and look younger, what does this mean for us humans? Well, Dr. Gruber hopes that humans will benefit from this research with longer, healthier lives. Which we will need when we are inevitably overtaken by overpowered, nearly-immortal worms.

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Old Macdonald Had a Bot From cashiers to receptionists, we’ve already seen our robotic companions begin to take over jobs. But, as you’re most likely already storing supplies and weapons for the impending robotic uprising, we assume you’re already aware. Well, in addition to the jobs we expect to be taken by machines in the future, such as taxi drivers, machine operators, and half-assed article writers, you might be able to add the American-asapple-pie occupation of farmer to that list. Based out of Cincinnati, 80 Acres Farms is looking to utilize robotics and unique growing tactics to revolutionize the farming industry. The firm’s indoor farming methods and controlled environment, combined with robots to detect ripeness and disease, hope to increase profits and grow certain crops at any time of year. However, the farmer won’t be completely out of a job, as there will still be someone needed to input data on a smartphone. Just like our forefathers would have wanted. iStockphoto.com/Chiradech

Betcha Can’t Inject Just One! Whether it be the barbed wire tattoo you got in the 90s, the septum piercing you got at the mall after leaving your local Hot Topic, or the stretched-out ear gauges you got to shock and disappoint your grandparents, body modifications have become commonplace in our modern society. However, in this technological age, we have moved far past the simple times of analog body mods, as Swedish citizens have begun injecting microchips under their skin. The procedure, which costs roughly $180, inserts an extremely tiny microchip under the skin, allowing users to access digital readers in order to open front doors and offices, as well as store information such as e-tickets and emergency contacts. The technology has been overwhelmingly popular, with Sweden’s leading chip company struggling to keep up with demand, which is disappointing, since my own freelance chip injecting company has yet to see one customer. iStockphoto.com/vetkit

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Paw Prints How 3D-printed Prosthetics are Giving Injured Animals a Second Chance at Life. By Patricia Miller 3D printing is one of the most versatile technological innovations of the century. Its utility goes beyond crafting helmets for your hamster or replicating a movie-quality Star Trek phaser for your Halloween costume. The tech is being applied to almost every field, from medicine to transportation, manufacturing to education. Now the ground-breaking process has found its way into veterinary medicine, helping rehabilitate animals that may have otherwise been euthanized. These unusual cases are likely to become more common as the technology becomes more widely available. Sonic the Bionic kitten was just four months old when he was fitted for a 3D-printed prosthetic leg. A bone deformity left him with a severe limp that was likely to lead to further disfunction later in life. In many cases, a deformity as severe as Sonic’s would have few treatment options. Fortunately, the Denver Animal Shelter works closely with students from the Art Institute of Colorado to create 3D-printed prosthetics for patients in need. The team started the process by analyzing Sonic’s movements to determine his natural gait. The sprightly kitten was then fitted with a plastic prototype, which was continuously refined to create a comfortable, functional fit. The final prosthetic was 3D printed from carbon fiber to create a durable, resilient structure that would stand up to Sonic’s active lifestyle. Customization is vital for these cases, as further evidenced by the story of Hiss Majesty the lizard. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has been home to Hiss Majesty for more than sixteen years. When he lost his leg to cancer, 3D designers and veterinarians at the Aquarium joined forces to create a custom prosthetic. The team used lightweight silicone to give the aging lizard a flexible limb that wouldn’t impede his natural movements. Researchers used a similar approach when tackling the unique case of Mr. Stubbs, the tailless alligator.

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

Specialists at the Phoenix Herpetological Society work to create a custom 3D-printed appendage for Mr. Stubbs, the tailless alligator. Images courtesy of Phoenix Herpetological Society

In 2013, authorities intercepted a semi-truck full of illegally-poached exotic animals. Among the rescued animals was Mr. Stubbs, an American alligator with a badly damaged tail. The Phoenix Herpetological Society took Mr. Stubbs into their care and fitted him with a prosthetic appendage based on a cast from a similarly-sized alligator. However, each alligator’s tail is unique to the individual. As such, the clunky cast based on another alligator’s dimensions wasn’t much help to Mr. Stubbs. Now, five years later, advanced 3D printing technology has enabled researchers to create a custom-fitted tail based on Mr. Stubbs’ exact body metrics. 3D printing isn’t just for appendages, as evidenced by the perplexing case of Seemore the sea turtle. The plucky turtle was happily swimming through the surf when she was struck by a boat propeller. Her injuries resulted in “bubble butt syndrome,” a life-threatening

condition that prevented her from diving underwater. A team of marine biologists at the Minnesota Aquarium fitted Seemore with weights to help her dive, but the weights had to be continually replaced as she shed her scutes (the plates on her shell). The replacement process was stressful and researchers understood they would have to come up with a better long-term solution for the 100-pound turtle. Undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota turned to 3D printing to create a resilient exoshell for Seemore. Though they are still experimenting with the final prosthesis, their prototypes are showing remarkable promise. The practice is still in its infancy, but as the tech becomes more widely available more practitioners may start to implement 3D-printed prosthetic programs, giving even more animals a second chance at living a full life. ■

CONNECTED CAR

Behind the Scenes of the First Electric Jaguar An Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart, Technical Design Director, Jaguar

Nick Dimbleby

David Shepherd

By Michael Coates, Automotive Editor

Jaguar’s foray into the electric vehicle world started almost casually. Tesla’s Model S sedan had recently hit the market – and hit it hard. Traditional vehicle enthusiasts as well as environmentalists fell in love. Rumbles reverberated throughout the automotive world. At Jaguar Land Rover, the Indian-owned classic British brands, several top executives huddled and decided they must take a new, electric direction. “Let’s do an electric car,” was the go statement Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart remembers as the start of the I-Pace. Ziebart said Jaguar’s Design Director Ian Callum did the initial sketches himself. It was a clean sheet of paper design, something Dr. Ziebart says was critical for the company’s approach to an allelectric car. As Dr. Ziebart told Innovation & Tech Today in an exclusive interview, Callum handed off the sketches, which depicted a crossover that didn’t resemble a traditional car, yet held an

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

unmistakable Jaguar look but with an uncharacteristic short nose. The design team built one model (rather than the usual several iterations). Management made a bold decision to move forward. Four years later, the I-Pace electric crossover is now arriving at dealerships around the world, wowing journalists and building up a quick constituency embracing Tesla’s first serious competitor. Dr. Ziebart occupies a unique position at Jaguar. His title is Technical Design Director for the I-Pace; previously he was JLR’s Director of Global Engineering. His resume includes extensive experience with BMW as well as suppliers Continental and Infineon and a stint with an electric car startup.

Rethinking the Car; Rethinking the Company That an established car company like JLR was

able to produce a solid, competitive EV is not that remarkable. That they were to go from sketch to production in four years is a revelation. Dr. Ziebart shared some of the story behind what he called a corporate culture change at the storied automaker. The small I-Pace team, when it was created, quickly moved to an off-site location to be more focused on its new product. The new location has one large room where things moved along faster than a normal project because of the size of the team and its sole focus. Ziebart said one key element of the new structure – and differentiator from the traditional corporate culture – was a new structure for problem solving. All the people involved were in the same room, so problems were solved more quickly and thoroughly. The team was arranged based on its different communication needs, a logic not typically found in corporate office structure.

CONNECTED CAR

David Shepherd

The 1968 Jaguar E-type (Left), once hailed as the “world’s most beautiful car” by Enzo Ferrari, is slated to go back into production come 2020, but this time with an electric twist.

“Resolution speed is a term in engineering,” Ziebart added. “It’s a critical measure of efficiency. With the I-Pace, it was two times normal,” he continued. It resulted in engineering efficiency that reduced waste and created a lean system based on easy and quick communication and decision-making from a tight-knit team. This new pace is affecting the rest of the company, too, as many elements from the I-Pace development are becoming common practice within Jaguar, where there is now one level of management at a company producing 600,000 vehicles a year.

The Move to Electrification While not the first to make a move into mass market electrification or even the first major OEM to do so, Jaguar occupies a unique position. The company has leveraged its relatively small size to move quickly and beat larger and better-financed rivals like Mercedes, BMW, and VW’s Audi to market. “Never in my life has there been this kind of excitement,” said Ziebart, a comment he underscored by noting he has been developing cars for 35 years. “Now we are a different [company].” He also strongly believes that the new JLR structure born out of the I-Pace development process, tied with new electrified vehicles, will give room for smaller manufacturers like Jaguar to survive. This notion runs counter to much of the conventional wisdom of the industry, led by comments from the late FCA Chairman Sergio Marchionne, that consolidation was the only way for those smaller companies to survive.

Rewriting the Rules Something else quite significant came out of the I-Pace design process, Ziebart said. A new definition for the electric car. Jaguar’s aesthetic principal, he explained, was that form follow function. So, in defining what a Jaguar electric car would look like, the team strived to meet two not-always-compatible goals – the I-Pace would have to be instantly

recognizable both as an electric car and as a Jaguar, a path not being pursued (at least so far) by luxury competitors Mercedes and Audi. The results are Jaguar styling cues – a rear end borrowed from the F-Pace, a grill and door handles familiar to fans of the British carline. The electric cues are subtler. The traditional Jag grill is closed since there is no engine to be cooled, though it channels air through a scoop in the hood and up over the roof, enhancing aerodynamics. The nose of the I-Pace is truncated (because there’s no need for an engine up there—or a “frunk,” Ziebart adds), and the overall exterior footprint appears compact. Once inside, that compact exterior opens to a larger-than-expected interior. It’s a full class (or two, Ziebart notes) size bigger than the exterior would indicate. Designers were presented with the engineering decision to place the 90 kilowatts of batteries in 432 pouch cells under the floorboard. That results in a slightly (150mm) higher ride height, which Ziebart’s designers turned into a crossover stance that straddles the territory between a sport sedan and the new category of crossover coupe.

The Eternal Battle Between Finance & Engineering Early on, the I-Pace faced a decision that would define the vehicle’s ultimate configuration as well as its position in the marketplace. Engineering proposed that the electric Jag should have two identical electric motors, one to drive each set of wheels. Finance, said Ziebart, insisted that this small company needed to be prudent with its first foray into the electric world and conserve cash by using a single, larger motor. Engineering won, resulting in that spacious interior and, more importantly, a more balanced weight distribution (50/50 front/rear) leading to better directional stability, better handling, and an exceptional ride for the size of the car. Ziebart adds that the vision delivered was a “radically optimized electric vehicle,” taking advantage of EV design.

Those two electric motors were developed inhouse by the small I-Pace team, boosting space utilization, lowering weight, and upping efficiency compared to off-the-shelf solutions that were their options. The weight savings translate directly to the I-Pace’s 200+ mile range on a single charge.

Pace to Market & Competing with Tesla Tata Motors – the Indian-based parent company of JLR – is a blessing, Ziebart tells us, because it means the company is owned by car enthusiasts. “They may be petrolheads,” he said, “not really convinced at first about electrification, but then they made the commitment.” It’s not clear to Ziebart how fast electric cars would happen, but he sees the path forward. For Jaguar, all new cars from 2021 on will be electrified. Even before then, expect to see more electric models. “Electrification is good for the auto industry,” he said. Further, he believes that the coming proliferation of electric models will just expand the overall EV market. “There will be no losers,” he added firmly. The upper end/ most luxurious cars will be full electric because that market will accept the price premium and wants an “environmentally correct appearance.” “It’s not about us replacing Tesla or competing with Audi,” Ziebart said. “Tesla needs this type of challenge.” Feeding into JLR’s future technology development is its incubator in Portland, Oregon, a vital component of the company’s focus on growth in electrification. Another future path the company is exploring is a longterm partnership with Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company. Part of that is a commitment to supply 20,000 I-Paces to Waymo to be outfitted to become self-driving vehicles in Waymo’s fleet starting in 2020. This small (600,000 vehicles per year) car company has almost a century of automotive history, but appears firmly positioned for the challenges of the coming century. ■ WINTER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

CONNECTED CAR

What Blockchain Offers Autonomous Vehicles:

Security, Safety, A Whole New Approach to Ownership By Michael Coates

There’s no shortage of feats that blockchain is supposed to accomplish. Let’s add one more to the list – autonomous vehicles (AVs) – and dig a little deeper into how this arranged marriage might work. First, we need to agree on the definition of blockchain. Blockchain built its reputation around monetary transactions because it allows people to set up their own secure financial system. Taking it a little broader than conventional wisdom, blockchain is described by Bebo White, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hong Kong, as a “secure way of facilitating data transfer.” Some have described it as a secure electronic ledger.

A Startup’s Vision A Silicon Valley startup, HereYouGo, thinks blockchain is a great tool for autonomous vehicles. Konstantin Maslennikov, HereYouGo’s CEO and founder, is designing a program using blockchain to address issues of liability, financing, and job losses with shared autonomous vehicles. The concerns raised were that shared ownership would create liabilities and financing complications, and suddenly

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

drivers would no longer be needed. Those vehicles aren’t here yet, but all indications show that they could be on the market by 2020, so it’s not too early to start planning. HereYouGo’s software will be a mobile application with three different roles – passenger, owner, and car administrator. The role of administrator is a new job created that could offer a work transition for former drivers. That person will oversee the car systems management, paying for fuel, car washes, and other services. The app will allow for fractional ownership of a vehicle, setting up online consensus decision-making as needed, and making proportional payments when the car is used. Passengers would use the app to book cars for transportation.

Built on Ether(eum) HereYouGo is built on Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is an open-source, public, blockchainbased distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. White said the smart contract aspect could be the key component for the AV system HereYouGo envisions. Ethereum would be a contact “disassociated from the legal

system,” but capable of being programed to not only set an AV ride, but could even tell the cars when they need to go in for service. Since this would be a non-centralized database at its core, any entity using it would not be relying on any server in someone else’s building. Of course, on top of this, White said the private structure offered by this kind of blockchain process adds a further layer of security and would keep transactions away from hackers, an ongoing concern as AVs add more connected software. Such a system could go a long way to address trust issues that are currently one of the biggest question marks about AV deployment. “This is why blockchain is good,” White said. “It has no centralized store – or a need for one.” As more and more devices are connected, blockchain may be needed more and more to ensure security in all data transactions. When it comes to AVs, security and safety go hand in hand. “Blockchain is not the answer for everything,” White added, “although when dealing with certain issues, like data security, it’s the best tool.” ■

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Assessing the Risks to IoT Devices By Ang Cui, founder & CEO of Red Balloon Security

iStockphoto.com/Petmal

There’s no question that the Internet of Things is growing rapidly, and connected devices are finding their way into every conceivable nook and cranny of our daily lives, from the human body to home appliances, cars, office buildings, and more. Most major industries are also actively incorporating IoT into their supply chains, production processes, and facilities in the hopes of cutting costs and improving efficiency. But what is less understood is just how vulnerable these devices actually are to attacks, and how these vulnerabilities can expose consumers and businesses to new threats which they may not have anticipated. Device manufacturers continue to roll out new products with little built-in security, and

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

updating the software and firmware of a device once it is “out in the field” is not always easy. Basic security mistakes like default passwords, remote device management, and unencrypted web connections, all of which are common among IoT devices, expose these products to serious threats, whether in the home or office.

Current Threats MALWARE

Malware attacks on IoT products continue to grow. Kaspersky Lab identified three times as much IoT malware in the first half of 2018 as they found in all of 2017, and there is no reason to believe the trend is slowing. Currently, IoT malware has been mostly limited to botnets like Mirai and Reaper, which enslave devices in order to harness their

processing power for DDoS attacks, spam campaigns, and cryptocurrency mining. Fortunately, botnet malware typically presents a low risk for the end-user, but there are two important caveats to this, particularly for businesses. First, a device’s functionality and performance could deteriorate if the malware interferes with its normal processes. Secondly, if the malware has a “downloader” component (which many do), it could install new malware later on that may not be so harmless.

REMOTE ACCESS The holy grail for an attacker is to gain administrative control of a device. This type of remote access allows them to spy on the user, steal information, or manipulate the device itself.

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more. Even when the manufacturer discloses its privacy policies, there are real questions about the short- and long-term implications of its data sharing practices – particularly when it comes to private health information, such as Google’s 2016 patents for cardiovascular health monitoring in smart bathroom devices.

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For several years, this type of attack has been ongoing against lower-end IoT devices like baby monitors, webcams, and IP cameras. However, these same tactics can also be used to compromise more important products – like a major home appliance, car, or embedded device in a manufacturing plant. The 2015 Jeep Cherokee hack is one example of the havoc an attacker could wreak with remote access.

be expected. This type of attack (sometimes referred to as “jackware” when it affects a physical system) would essentially “brick” the machine, rendering it useless. Given the enormous loss for victims, they would be even more inclined to pay a ransom. Ransomware is already a big business for criminals. It is estimated to generate over $2 billion annually. The WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017 offered a sneak preview of jackware attacks, as it infected more than 200,000 devices around the globe, including MRI scanners and blood-storage refrigerators in U.K. hospitals and police traffic cameras in Australia.

Emerging Threats ID THEFT

OTHER EXPLOITS Given the wide range of IoT products entering the market, there are any number of one-off hacks which can occur, by exploiting the bugs and security mistakes specific to a brand or type of device. Since most devices are vulnerable, these attacks can vary widely. Examples run the gamut, including: bypassing a building’s access control system by spoofing an ID badge, turning a printer into a bugging device, remotely unlocking smart door locks, or even hijacking pacemakers to harm or kill patients.

DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING Misuse of private information by the device maker itself is another ongoing threat. This ranges from collecting user data without consent to improperly storing and transmitting customer data, accidental data exposures, and

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

Identity theft is already highly profitable for cybercriminals, and it will undoubtedly transition to the IoT market. Since many of these devices collect, store, and share sensitive user information, any attacker who breaches this device could conceivably gain access to the same data. To make matters worse, if the device connects to another device, external service, or database (i.e., a smart bathroom scale with a mobile app, which in turn connects to a medical provider), the hacker could quickly escalate this attack into a much larger data breach. This is equally true for businesses – imagine an attacker gaining entry to a manufacturing execution system, which would offer a rich source of intelligence on production methods and practices. “Device ID theft” is another potential threat. By impersonating, or “spoofing,” a consumer appliance for example, an attacker could send the person fake text or email messages presumably from the device (like a water leak alert from a water heater). This could bait the user into clicking on a malicious link or sharing account credentials.

JACKWARE Ransomware attacks on big ticket items like cars and manufacturing equipment are also to

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PERSISTENT INFECTION IoT devices tend to exist on the periphery of a network, which means they aren’t top of mind for consumers or IT managers when it comes to security. They also offer less visibility into their running processes than a PC. This makes it harder to detect a breach or malware. For these reasons, hackers will increasingly exploit IoT devices in order to get a backdoor into a home or business. Once on a device, they can use it as a base camp to launch additional attacks on any other device sharing the network, as well as to hide out and maintain a long-term presence in the home or company. Case in point: hackers stole the high-roller database from a large casino after first hacking into its fish tank thermometer.

VENDOR BACKDOORS Device makers may also create hidden backdoors to troubleshoot problems or monitor the user’s activity and collect information. Common backdoors include hardcoded passwords, remote management software, and debug mode. Backdoors should be especially alarming for businesses. This level of access gives the manufacturer God-like control over the user. They can use it to spy, steal data, make changes to the device, reduce its performance, or even sabotage it. The U.S. government has been particularly worried about the potential for Chinese backdoors in mobile devices and telecommunication systems. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently launched the Mobile Security R&D Program to find hidden vendor backdoors and “implants.”

TACKLING THE SECURITY PROBLEM So how do we solve the IoT security dilemma? It’s most necessary for manufacturers to build strong security into these devices from the very start. In the meantime, companies have been transitioning PC security solutions like antivirus and firewalls to the IoT market, but these have limitations. They may miss attacks that hide or

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change signatures, imitate a legitimate program, or exploit an unknown vulnerability (“zeroday”). They also need regular updates to remain effective, and may not work in resourceconstrained IoT environments, or be difficult to extend to devices out in the field.

iStockphoto.com/metamorworks

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

One alternative is DNS security (or DNSSEC). This has been widely used on corporate networks, but applying it to IoT devices offers a new way to block them from malicious redirects, which would have prevented the Mirai botnet. New technologies are also being developed that can immunize devices against malicious behavior. Instead of trying to catch every new malware strand or hacker tool that comes along (a la antivirus), these techniques simply force the device to do only what it is supposed to do. In this way, even if a hacker gains remote access to a thermostat and orders it to raise the temperature to 110 degrees, the device would be unable to comply. In the meantime, consumers and businesses need to take charge of their own security. Before buying an IoT device, ask a few basic questions: What is the device maker’s reputation? Does the company mention any security features or explain its privacy policies? Does the company offer ongoing software support? Users should also change any default passwords, check for an https web connection, and avoid devices with remote access software in place. Network managers should try to isolate IoT devices from the rest of the network, so a breached fish tank won’t unravel the business. ■

connected life

Do You Mind? Sam Harris discusses the importance of mindfulness in our relationships with artificial intelligence – and each other.

By Dylan Rodgers & Patricia Miller

Sam Harris, author of numerous bestselling books and host of the Waking Up podcast, is no stranger to deep or difficult topics. In fact, he built an advertiser-free podcasting model in order to discuss ideas openly, without fear of losing sponsors. Often focusing his energy on exploring consciousness, ethics, and artificial intelligence, he recently ventured into a new type of conversation with the launch of the Waking Up Course app, a series of guided meditations and lessons focused on mindfulness. Appropriately, our conversation about technology-enhanced dialogue, ethics, and artificial intelligence has an undercurrent of mindfulness. Innovation & Tech Today: You’ve built a career on having deep and difficult conversations, whether that be via your books or your podcast. Social media is another way to have a public conversation, but while it’s useful for getting your message

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

out, it’s often a driver of hyperbole and outrage. What do you think a healthier social media would look like?

with how people engage these media, and it is somewhat analogous to road rage, which is this paradoxical fact about the human mind.

Sam Harris: Well, I think in virtually every case anonymity is a bad idea. I understand the need for it in certain cases, like with whistle blowers or dissidents who would have their lives threatened if it were known who they were, but generally speaking, I think anonymity is almost entirely a toxic influence on our public conversation. So the fact that on Twitter and YouTube you really don’t know who anyone is, I think largely accounts for how vile the comments can be.

In the case of road rage, if you put someone in a car and just have them interact with other people in cars, they are often plunged into states of mind and into patterns of reactivity that would never be available to them if they were walking around on the street.

And I’ve noticed, for instance, if you select in Twitter that you just want to hear from people who have verified email addresses, that cuts down immensely on the craziness that I see coming back at me. So that’s one very easy lever to pull and if all the platforms did it, I think it would improve the conversation immensely. Beyond that, we have a psychological problem

It’s like the level of outrage, the kinds of things they’ll say and even do while in the imaginary safety of their car, it becomes its own form of mental illness, and there’s something about being behind the keyboard on social media that selects for a similar level of overreaction where they lose sight of the fact that they’re dealing with other human beings who are actually going to read the products of their typing. So it allows the inner maniac to come out in a way that simply wouldn’t come out in conversation with other people, certainly not face-to-face conversations.

Deasy Simanjuntak / Orange Photography

connected life

Harris frequently hosts live podcasts, book clubs, and tours which attract thousands of avid fans, often resulting in sold out venues. His new app Waking Up utilizes guided meditation and a series of lessons to instill mindfulness habits into the everyday lives of its users.

So we have to learn to notice what this deeply unnatural circumstance is pulling out of us and I think we need to remind ourselves that there’s a person on the other side of the thing on which you’re typing and they’re about to read it when you hit send. Making that more vivid does change people’s behavior. I&T Today: In other words, we need to be mindful of others. How do you think mindfulness connects to ethics? SH: Well, traditionally in a Buddhist context, the connection is very direct. I think it does go in both directions empirically, it seems, which is to say that living ethically is viewed as a real support for one’s meditation practice. If you’re spending your days lying, cheating, stealing, and killing, you don’t have the kind of life that allows for equanimity and any kind of profound focus. And so you just need to simplify your life and your relationships and ethics is what does that. Treating people well naturally causes them to

treat you well, and your practice in that context can draw further energy from your desire to just be a better person in relationships. What’s the whole point of learning to meditate and be happier? Well, it’s not merely this selfish pursuit; it is a way of dealing with all of the limitations on your well being you discover in relationship to others. It’s an antidote to your pettiness and enviousness and just mediocrity in relationships, even in relationships with the people you claim to love. So the desire to be a better person is intrinsically an ethical and pro-social one, but then there’s also the fact that the kinds of insights one has in meditation do feed back into one’s behavior in the world in that you become more sensitive to your actual motives in situations and you can become less committed to motives that are antisocial. You can erode your attachment to yourself through meditation. All of the conventional

selfish motives that would get expressed in the world – your grandiosity, your egocentricity, your arrogance, your grasping at pleasure, and your fear of what’s unpleasant – all of that stuff can get relaxed as well, and that becomes a very durable basis for improving one’s ethics. I&T Today: Speaking of mindfulness, humans often don’t take a mindful approach to disruptive technologies. We tend to release a technology, realize the issues it’s created, and then figure out how to clean up the mess later. A great example of that, I think, is how speed limits were invented 30 years after cars became popular. Similarly, AI is a huge leap forward, but it can spread worldwide instantly. Is it too powerful of a tool to popularize now and regulate later? SH: Well, as it gets more and more powerful, I think the regulation has to be in step with the growth and its power. Superhuman intelligence can’t be regulated after the fact. We have to get the cadence of our having conversation about WINTER 2018 | INNOVATION & TECH TODAY

connected life

Harris guides a conversation around mindfulness and ethics during a live recording of the Waking Up Podcast in Washington, DC.

the possible downside of what we’re doing to more closely track the curve of innovation and after the fact just doesn’t work when your technology is more powerful than you are. So at some point we have to get that right. We don’t yet have superhuman AI or even human AI, but what we do have are these narrow AI projects that get regulated or reacted to long after they’re launched, and that’s at some point going to have to flip. I&T Today: But since AI is in its infancy, as you said, what do you think the AIs that are available today could do if they go unchecked? SH: Well, I’m not worried about what’s available today spontaneously becoming more powerful than we understand or anticipated. I think we, the people who are doing the work, will one day bring us general intelligence. I think we’re almost certainly aware that they’re doing this work, and it won’t be a matter of some narrow AI suddenly becoming general in its capacity… I think what has to happen is that the people, the groups that are doing the work that could conceivably bring us general intelligence, they need to have some clear landmarks along their development pathway that would cause them to stop and reflect on where all this is going. Like what capacity could a computer

INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | WINTER 2018

demonstrate in the lab at Google that would force, and should force, Google to call a meeting with everyone else who is doing this work, all their competitors, and in a moment of transparency say, “Okay, this is what we just achieved. We need to think about the implications and what can go wrong if we flip this switch.” And I don’t know, frankly, if that’s top of mind for anyone to do at this point. I think what we more likely have is an arms race where people are just trying to advance the technology as quickly as possible before anyone else advances it more quickly than they do, and that’s obviously not incentivizing any kind of truly cautious path forward.

and celebrated, and I think we really do want AI to solve these problems for us. Self driving cars is perhaps the most obvious example, and that’s just a fact that people are bad at driving cars. We’ve been bad ever since we started driving cars. We’ve looked like we’re going to be bad forever and the moment robots are better than we are, we should be letting the robots drive, and that’s just because it should be intolerable to us that, year after year in the United States, tens of thousand of people are dying despite the fact that we’re making our best efforts not to kill one another while driving.

I&T Today: People often conjure up doomsday scenarios when thinking about AI, but it’s already doing some good. What are some of the most important challenges you think we should be using AI to solve?

There are many cases of that sort of thing. I think if you look at the prevalence of medical errors, people get the wrong drugs in hospitals because of doctor or nursing errors. Anyway we can use automation or AI to prevent the predictable errors of the inattention of apes like ourselves, that’s just something we should do and we shouldn’t be sentimental about replacing that human labor with automation because real lives hang in the balance. It’s just something like a hundred thousand people die every year from hospital errors. Any way in which AI could solve for that is something we want. ■

SH: Well, I think there are some isolated cases which have been much talked about

For the full interview, visit innotechtoday.com/samharris-interview.

People at this point just don’t see any real need to worry about caution because we seem so far away from any of these potentially scary breakthroughs, but we really have no idea how long it will take us to make breakthroughs that fundamentally change the game.

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