WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.060 Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. 2 00:00:04.380 --> 00:00:05.760 My name's Robert Sims. 3 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:08.320 I'm your Master of Ceremonies for today, 4 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:12.180 and it's a great pleasure to be able to welcome you 5 00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:16.160 to the 2016 Adelaide Festival of Ideas 6 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.800 and today's session, which is looking at the future. 7 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:23.280 Before we begin, I want to acknowledge 8 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.760 that today we're gathered on the traditional country 9 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:28.960 of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. 10 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.540 We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, 11 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.620 their beliefs and relationship with the land. 12 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:38.540 We acknowledge that these are of continuing importance 13 00:00:38.540 --> 00:00:40.280 to the Kaurna people living today, 14 00:00:40.440 --> 00:00:44.520 and we respect their elders past and present. 15 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:48.640 Before we begin, I do also just want to take us through 16 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.980 a few housekeeping matters for today. 17 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:55.880 Can you please ensure that you switch off your mobile phone 18 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:57.420 during today's session? 19 00:00:57.660 --> 00:00:58.760 You are welcome. 20 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:00.500 I'm going to ask you to connect with the festival, 21 00:01:00.660 --> 00:01:04.140 and you can tweet and go on Facebook. 22 00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:07.280 The tweet handle is at ADLFOY. 23 00:01:08.020 --> 00:01:11.500 The hashtag is hashtag ADLFOY, 24 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.580 and the Instagram is also ADLFOY. 25 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:17.700 So easy to remember. 26 00:01:17.820 --> 00:01:20.460 Definitely log on after the recording. 27 00:01:20.860 --> 00:01:24.680 Also, please note that recordings of any kind 28 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:26.900 are not permitted during this session, 29 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.580 but today's session, 30 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:31.240 will be recorded by Radio Adelaide 31 00:01:31.240 --> 00:01:34.580 for broadcast and future broadcasts. 32 00:01:34.660 --> 00:01:36.180 In terms of the format today, 33 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.740 we will hear from Dr Fiona Kerr, 34 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:40.260 and then we'll have an opportunity 35 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:41.900 for you to ask questions 36 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:43.360 and to have a bit more of a discussion 37 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:45.620 at the end of the session. 38 00:01:46.520 --> 00:01:50.600 Dr Fiona Kerr combines a half-time academic role 39 00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:53.600 in the areas of neural and systems complexity 40 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:57.080 with public speaking and consulting to companies, 41 00:01:57.340 --> 00:01:58.560 industry sectors, 42 00:01:58.960 --> 00:01:59.800 and governments. 43 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:03.900 She advises leaders on how to build better brains 44 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:04.500 and businesses, 45 00:02:04.820 --> 00:02:06.940 as well as an artificial intelligence, 46 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:10.880 and the neuropsychological impact of humans interfacing 47 00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:13.180 with both humans and technologies. 48 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:17.780 I'm really interested to hear Dr Kerr's presentation today. 49 00:02:18.440 --> 00:02:22.980 Please join me in welcoming her to the stage. 50 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:23.980 Thank you. 51 00:02:30.980 --> 00:02:31.420 Hello. 52 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:32.440 Hello. 53 00:02:33.720 --> 00:02:36.000 I'm not used to being corralled into one space. 54 00:02:36.140 --> 00:02:37.280 I like to walk around. 55 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:39.580 Now, I'm going to put this down, 56 00:02:39.640 --> 00:02:41.320 because I'm a lot smaller than you are. 57 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:46.500 So, in thinking about what shapes us 58 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:49.420 and what we can shape, 59 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:51.820 I thought of a number of things, 60 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.920 and I'd like to share some of them with you today, 61 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:57.440 and then have a discussion about what keeps you up at night, 62 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:58.940 and what you're thinking about, in terms of what you're thinking about. 63 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.140 So, what's going to shape us, 64 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:01.420 and what we should be doing. 65 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:04.880 And we probably, in just about all of those areas, 66 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:05.760 should be doing more, 67 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:11.460 because we have a huge capacity to shape both ourselves 68 00:03:12.040 --> 00:03:14.800 and the society and the world in which we live. 69 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:19.100 So, I thought I'd take you through from the individual to the maximum, 70 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:20.500 because while I was trying to think of this, 71 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.260 I had just been interviewed about my own kind of weird, 72 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:26.460 I guess, work history, 73 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.940 and I was thinking about a couple of them, 74 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:30.120 and I thought of a couple of the things that shaped me. 75 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:34.160 And they were strange kind of things, 76 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.060 like having, well, starting in, I was going to be a geneticist, 77 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.220 and then within a year, I was looking at witchcraft, 78 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:41.180 which fascinated me. 79 00:03:41.220 --> 00:03:42.640 It was a half subject I had to pick up, 80 00:03:42.660 --> 00:03:43.760 and so I ended up in anthropology. 81 00:03:44.880 --> 00:03:48.520 And there I got to be able to look at the religious 82 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:53.760 and the social and the, I guess, the economic aspects 83 00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:55.820 of how humans built their societies, 84 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:56.860 which fascinated me. 85 00:03:56.860 --> 00:03:59.460 And after another couple of things that I did, 86 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:01.300 I was in power generation. 87 00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:04.520 And because I was female and not an engineer, 88 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:06.380 they didn't know what to do with me. 89 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:08.920 And so I ended up in overalls for three years, 90 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:10.760 because luckily my father had shaped me 91 00:04:10.760 --> 00:04:15.020 by being a very technical Scot 92 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:17.640 who by about 10 years old said to me, 93 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:21.020 right, there's a toaster, take it apart, fix it. 94 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.320 You know, see what's wrong with it and see what you can do with it. 95 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:25.260 So I loved technical things, 96 00:04:25.260 --> 00:04:28.400 so I was very happy to learn to change transformers 97 00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:29.060 and that kind of stuff. 98 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:31.800 But what I realised was when I was with people, 99 00:04:32.020 --> 00:04:35.180 the trust that we built in doing things together 100 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:39.620 led me into industrial relations and strategy. 101 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:42.780 And I learnt about the connectivity of people 102 00:04:42.780 --> 00:04:46.080 and the fact that if you do work really well together, 103 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:48.160 that you increase that capability 104 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:51.900 and you increase your capacity to understand other people. 105 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:55.040 And you seem to increase the capability to actually be able 106 00:04:55.260 --> 00:04:58.260 to do complex things as well together. 107 00:04:58.700 --> 00:04:59.980 So I got fascinated. 108 00:05:00.340 --> 00:05:04.160 And in working then in organisations and strategy, 109 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.280 it kind of led me back to university 110 00:05:06.280 --> 00:05:10.240 and engineering and complex systems, how do they work. 111 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:13.840 But that still didn't answer the neuroscience 112 00:05:13.840 --> 00:05:16.240 of what's happening in people's brains. 113 00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:19.040 Do they have different brains and can we grow our brains? 114 00:05:19.260 --> 00:05:21.200 So that's where I am. 115 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:24.300 So you never know what's going to shape you and where you go. 116 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:27.700 But if you are curious and proactive in a lot of things, 117 00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:30.540 then you can go places you never thought you'd end up. 118 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:34.000 So I want to start with your brain individually. 119 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.280 And what fascinates me is that all of us 120 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:40.140 are shaping our brains all the time. 121 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:41.600 So for your whole lives. 122 00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:44.040 So yes, we start off with 100 billion neurons 123 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:47.240 and we end with hopefully close to 100 billion neurons, 124 00:05:47.380 --> 00:05:48.420 but they're not the same ones. 125 00:05:48.840 --> 00:05:51.280 And constantly what you're doing with your brain 126 00:05:51.280 --> 00:05:54.280 is you're pruning it and you're reorienting it 127 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:56.120 and you're reorienting some parts of it to do things differently, 128 00:05:56.280 --> 00:05:59.660 neuroplasticity, and you're growing new brain, neurogenesis. 129 00:06:00.380 --> 00:06:02.000 And you prune all the time. 130 00:06:02.080 --> 00:06:04.120 You prune things that you don't use. 131 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.340 So what you pay attention to and what you're interested in 132 00:06:08.340 --> 00:06:11.600 and what you learn about grows those parts of your brain. 133 00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:15.340 And what you don't pay attention to gets pruned, disappears. 134 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:18.960 So you shape the way that you think. 135 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.060 And you can grow a new brain through, just for you to know, 136 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:27.000 individually, through exercise, through sleep, 137 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.560 so get enough sleep, even through what you eat. 138 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:32.640 Our second brain is our gut, 100 million neurons. 139 00:06:32.960 --> 00:06:35.860 And our microbiome, it makes our neurotransmitters, 140 00:06:35.900 --> 00:06:36.960 it changes how we feel. 141 00:06:37.400 --> 00:06:39.440 So it does an awful lot of things like that. 142 00:06:40.260 --> 00:06:41.740 Also, learning new things. 143 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.300 So think about it like real estate that you have to build 144 00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:46.800 for brand new concepts to put it in a new place. 145 00:06:47.520 --> 00:06:50.880 Most of all, we shape our brain and we grow our brain 146 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:52.060 through interconnection. 147 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:54.120 So connecting with other human beings. 148 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:56.900 And it's because we're hardwired to connect. 149 00:06:57.080 --> 00:07:00.460 So I got really fascinated in exactly what happens 150 00:07:00.460 --> 00:07:02.560 when you connect with another human being. 151 00:07:03.380 --> 00:07:05.880 So even the first time that we met today, 152 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.380 we've been looking at each other face to face. 153 00:07:10.520 --> 00:07:12.340 Then we get spindle neurons that go off, 154 00:07:12.380 --> 00:07:13.540 mirror neurons that go off. 155 00:07:13.580 --> 00:07:14.860 We get dynamic resonance. 156 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:17.760 We get all sorts of chemicals starting to go around in our system. 157 00:07:18.340 --> 00:07:22.040 And we start to build a neurophysiological system 158 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:23.200 that's a very simple map of the other person. 159 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:25.860 And it begins a trust process. 160 00:07:26.440 --> 00:07:29.080 And those sorts of things don't happen 161 00:07:29.080 --> 00:07:31.120 when you're not face to face. 162 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:35.060 So there's actually an awful lot of importance 163 00:07:35.900 --> 00:07:40.180 in being in the same space as other human beings. 164 00:07:41.580 --> 00:07:45.100 We have something called interpersonal neural synchronization. 165 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:48.380 So it does mean that you actually physiologically 166 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:50.000 synchronize parts of your brain. 167 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:54.880 And I was talking a couple of days ago on leadership 168 00:07:54.880 --> 00:07:57.420 and talked about the fact that a good leader 169 00:07:58.400 --> 00:08:01.840 can increase that synchronization with people that they lead. 170 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.960 And it's not because they can talk more or they know more. 171 00:08:05.320 --> 00:08:09.640 The good leaders that do it are the ones that have good quality communication. 172 00:08:09.880 --> 00:08:13.000 They're able to build an understanding and a story 173 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:17.000 in someone else's head and share that and take them with them. 174 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:19.800 So it's a fascinating capacity that we've got. 175 00:08:20.700 --> 00:08:22.040 It also changes our thinking. 176 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:24.080 I think it's a good thing for us in the neurophysiological way 177 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:29.560 to do with healing and to do with all sorts of things to do with health. 178 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:34.820 So I'm lucky enough to also work with the health sciences department. 179 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.540 We've just finished, or just nearly finished, 180 00:08:37.680 --> 00:08:41.840 a year-long study on the neurophysiological effect 181 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.060 of touch and eye gaze on healing. 182 00:08:45.660 --> 00:08:48.600 And we have a remarkable impact on each other. 183 00:08:49.260 --> 00:08:53.420 when we physiologically interact, when we directly interact. 184 00:08:53.920 --> 00:08:57.640 So I'll give you one example because people always seem to like this one. 185 00:08:58.180 --> 00:09:03.420 So if I'm your nurse, you've come in to the hospital 186 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:07.040 and we meet for the first time. 187 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:12.400 The fact that I'm looking at you and if I take your hand to take your pulse, 188 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:15.360 then I start off your C fibres in your skin. 189 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:20.240 The C fibres are moderated by the emotional parts of your brain. 190 00:09:21.160 --> 00:09:24.100 And what happens then is not only have we finished, 191 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:28.280 started that spindle mirror neuron connection by the eye gaze, 192 00:09:28.520 --> 00:09:31.380 but we also, oh, you've started an afferent connection 193 00:09:31.380 --> 00:09:32.740 because I've touched your skin. 194 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.620 And that begins that trust process that I talked about. 195 00:09:38.140 --> 00:09:42.560 That doesn't happen if when you come in the door, I'm looking at my iPad to put 196 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:44.980 in your details and I clip a little thing 197 00:09:44.980 --> 00:09:45.340 on your phone. 198 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:46.800 I'm looking at your finger to take the oxygen in your blood. 199 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:47.720 It doesn't start. 200 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:50.120 So why is that important? 201 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:56.220 You go in, you have your operation, you come out and you're feeling okay. 202 00:09:56.420 --> 00:09:59.480 So you can have the robot nurse running around and giving you your lunch. 203 00:10:00.060 --> 00:10:04.160 But then you either get pain or you're anxious about something else. 204 00:10:04.900 --> 00:10:07.520 What then happens is your physiology changes. 205 00:10:07.900 --> 00:10:09.220 So up goes your cortisol. 206 00:10:09.520 --> 00:10:11.800 There's all sorts of things that start to change in your body. 207 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:13.900 And you need a human being. 208 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:15.320 Because if I come into the room, 209 00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:19.080 and you know me, and you see me around because I've been on shift, 210 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:22.540 and you trust me, then an amazing thing happens. 211 00:10:22.640 --> 00:10:27.800 When I look at you, the retinas in our eyes align. 212 00:10:28.540 --> 00:10:31.680 The right hemispheres of our brains synchronize. 213 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:33.820 And I can calm you down. 214 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:35.920 Your amygdala actually changes phase. 215 00:10:37.520 --> 00:10:41.320 So that's a neurophysiological effect that does not happen with technology. 216 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:45.320 It's also why you can do that with your child or with another person. 217 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:47.260 When they're upset and you're a trusted other, 218 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:51.360 and you directly gaze at them, especially if you also can hold them. 219 00:10:51.560 --> 00:10:56.360 Because touch is a huge communication vector. 220 00:10:57.560 --> 00:11:02.640 So we have all sorts of things that work with us and shape us and assist us. 221 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:11.980 And often reflect on what that means for the growing technological world that we live in. 222 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.300 So I also look at the interaction of humans. 223 00:11:15.300 --> 00:11:16.000 And technologies. 224 00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:20.980 It's one of the things that I work with, with Dr. Jordan Nguyen, who's an associate. 225 00:11:23.020 --> 00:11:25.760 And there's fantastic things that can be done. 226 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:31.660 I was part of building a buggy for a young boy who could only move his eyes. 227 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:32.520 And he wanted to drive. 228 00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:35.760 So there's a catalyst becoming superhuman. 229 00:11:35.920 --> 00:11:37.200 You've probably seen me for about two minutes. 230 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:39.900 Jordan's the gorgeous young one you see for 95% of the time. 231 00:11:40.380 --> 00:11:43.160 And so those sorts of things are amazing. 232 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.080 It's not that I don't think. 233 00:11:45.300 --> 00:11:46.500 Technology has huge promise. 234 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:49.440 Medical technology, technologies in industries. 235 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.300 But I think we have to be wise in how we work with them. 236 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:57.560 So I spend time in organizations looking at technologies. 237 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:05.940 Because very often we get, I guess, fooled or sucked into thinking that they make us really highly productive. 238 00:12:06.300 --> 00:12:11.700 You know, having 24-7 email and messages and all of those sorts of things will mean that we can do a lot more. 239 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:12.960 Well, we do different things. 240 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:14.860 Because we tend to be very busy. 241 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:22.740 But deep work and thinking deeply about things, having that time, has to actually be done offline. 242 00:12:24.180 --> 00:12:26.500 Because our brains go into something called abstraction. 243 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:34.040 It's a process whereby we can take out all of the information in specialist areas that we've got. 244 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:40.700 And almost kind of lay it out and see it and think about it and reconnect it and change it around in our brains to get new patterns. 245 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:44.900 And that doesn't happen when you're flicking off and on to email. 246 00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:45.280 And when you're thinking about it. 247 00:12:45.280 --> 00:12:48.060 When you hear the ding of a message. 248 00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:52.460 That actually, because we're so addicted to that, that actually sets dopamine going. 249 00:12:52.820 --> 00:13:01.300 And what happens in your brain is if you have been deep in thought and then off goes an email alert, even if you think that you've ignored it, 250 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:09.700 what your brain actually does is all of those pieces of information that's unpacked for you to be able to do something, it has to pack up. 251 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:15.260 And it unpacks the prioritization judgment that you have to make about it. 252 00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:17.120 And it unpacks the prioritization judgment that you have to make about whether or not you'll even look at that email. 253 00:13:17.680 --> 00:13:19.040 And then you decide you won't. 254 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:20.120 So it packs that away. 255 00:13:20.280 --> 00:13:23.540 And it has to unpack again all of that information that you've been looking at. 256 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:28.080 So when you want to do deep work, go offline. 257 00:13:28.380 --> 00:13:29.780 Don't look at your technology. 258 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:33.460 So technology is brilliant there used appropriately. 259 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:45.260 So some of the things I've been sort of reflecting on are a critical part of the interaction, the connection with people, is empathy. 260 00:13:46.420 --> 00:13:53.120 And empathy is one of the things that allows us to build a really healthy, I guess, individual group and society. 261 00:13:54.040 --> 00:13:56.400 And it changes the way that we make decisions. 262 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:01.460 So empathy's got a fascinating physiological path in your brain. 263 00:14:02.540 --> 00:14:10.080 If you're dealing with a complex problem, then what your brain says is there is information that I haven't got, so I need to go away and find it. 264 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:13.720 And it might be tucked in my long-term memory or my knowledge. 265 00:14:13.880 --> 00:14:15.240 And I'm going to now go and find it. 266 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:15.720 And I'm going to go and look for it. 267 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:21.680 And as soon as you go into empathy, your motor neuron system kicks you into something called discernment mode. 268 00:14:21.900 --> 00:14:28.800 And that's like a different set of filters that dip down into your knowledge and come back up with completely different information. 269 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:39.060 And that information is based on consequences, and it has a long-term range of thinking about things. 270 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:42.720 So instead of what do I want to do right here, right now, just for me? 271 00:14:43.880 --> 00:14:48.760 I've started to think differently about how I judge what's important in this decision. 272 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:56.980 And that changes all sorts of things that we ponder and all sorts of decisions that we're going to make. 273 00:14:57.880 --> 00:15:04.200 And when we start to think about the fact that empathy is really critical and that interconnection becomes critical, 274 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:08.160 what does that mean for the way that we do connect more and more by technology? 275 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:12.320 So some of the things that I've been wondering about are, 276 00:15:13.260 --> 00:15:15.100 the scale at individual scale. 277 00:15:15.900 --> 00:15:21.260 So if we take things like teenagers, which luckily mine are past teenagers now, 278 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:26.240 but I see a lot of them around the university, and they're always looking at their phones. 279 00:15:26.420 --> 00:15:31.200 And if you sit with them, they get 50 beeps a day on these kind of messages. 280 00:15:31.260 --> 00:15:34.220 And I wonder how on earth they'd go into deep mode and learn anything. 281 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:41.360 But what's even more worrying is when they're teenagers, especially because their brains are pruning, 282 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:42.700 they're pruning out the information. 283 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:46.060 They're pruning out connections with their parents, and they're pruning in huge connections with their peers. 284 00:15:46.300 --> 00:15:50.840 So they become even more desperate to connect with people of their own age. 285 00:15:51.380 --> 00:15:55.140 And they've got social media, which is, yes, meant to be the really good way to connect. 286 00:15:55.400 --> 00:15:57.220 And so they can be on there all of the time. 287 00:15:57.460 --> 00:16:05.360 But they're not getting that face-to-face empathic connection that does all those beautiful neurophysiological things in their bodies. 288 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:12.700 So you start to feel alone, even though you have lots and lots of people that are around you. 289 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.140 That you're not looking at. 290 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:18.060 And that you have people that you're consistently talking to on your phone. 291 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:21.560 And so you can get hundreds of messages. 292 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.660 And you message even more because you want that connection. 293 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:26.680 But it doesn't give you that direct connection. 294 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.680 It doesn't give you that physiological impact of being with someone else. 295 00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:34.580 So it's a really important aspect. 296 00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:36.560 Is it linked to the increase in depression? 297 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:38.740 Is it linked to the decrease in resilience? 298 00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:41.560 Is it linked to a number of things that we're seeing as trends? 299 00:16:42.160 --> 00:16:46.820 There's interesting studies in girls between, especially girls between about 8 and 12, 300 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:55.360 that are coming out because of the amount of time that the parent is on the phone just saying, 301 00:16:55.420 --> 00:16:56.540 hang on, I'll just check an email. 302 00:16:56.640 --> 00:16:57.860 Hang on, I'll just check a message. 303 00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:02.660 And that consistent, no, this is more important here and now than you are, 304 00:17:02.780 --> 00:17:08.880 is starting to lower the self-confidence of that age of child. 305 00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:10.600 You know, when you're a little baby, 306 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:11.440 I guess you can yell. 307 00:17:11.560 --> 00:17:16.740 When you're a peer or a partner, then you can say, put your phone down if we're having dinner. 308 00:17:16.800 --> 00:17:19.060 But you can't do it at that age. 309 00:17:20.060 --> 00:17:22.980 And I've heard awful things every now and then. 310 00:17:23.020 --> 00:17:24.400 When I talk, someone will come up afterwards. 311 00:17:24.580 --> 00:17:29.740 There was a midwife a few weeks ago that came up and said, well, you're absolutely right. 312 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:34.200 And I'm now watching young mums with babies of a day. 313 00:17:34.300 --> 00:17:39.400 And they've got the baby on the breast in one hand and they've got their phone in the other hand. 314 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:41.540 And I'm thinking, oh, I've got to do this. 315 00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:50.160 What is this? 316 00:17:51.340 --> 00:17:52.140 What is this? 317 00:17:52.280 --> 00:17:52.520 What is this? 318 00:17:52.520 --> 00:17:52.580 What is this? 319 00:17:52.580 --> 00:17:53.300 What is this? 320 00:17:53.520 --> 00:17:54.260 What is this? 321 00:17:54.320 --> 00:17:54.620 What is this? 322 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:56.200 What is this? 323 00:17:56.580 --> 00:17:58.360 What is this? 324 00:17:58.360 --> 00:17:58.940 What is this? 325 00:17:58.960 --> 00:17:59.320 What is this? 326 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.140 What is this? 327 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:01.540 What is this? 328 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:02.320 What is this? 329 00:18:02.500 --> 00:18:03.220 What is this? 330 00:18:03.220 --> 00:18:03.700 What is this? 331 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:04.340 What is this? 332 00:18:04.340 --> 00:18:04.360 What is this? 333 00:18:04.360 --> 00:18:04.720 What is this? 334 00:18:04.860 --> 00:18:05.060 What is this? 335 00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:06.100 What is this? 336 00:18:06.180 --> 00:18:06.700 What is this? 337 00:18:06.860 --> 00:18:07.620 What is this? 338 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:09.080 What is this? 339 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:09.540 What is this? 340 00:18:11.540 --> 00:18:15.320 maybe, but in doing that, you make all these changes. 341 00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:19.600 So that was one of the things I was starting to think about 342 00:18:19.600 --> 00:18:23.500 with the isolation. A couple of other things, I guess, if we 343 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:27.360 start to kind of come up wider is, I work in a number of countries around 344 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:31.460 and with a few governments, and there are different levels 345 00:18:31.460 --> 00:18:35.680 of connectivity with governments in things like decision making, 346 00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:39.160 in engagement, and 347 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:42.340 it just seems to me that the governments that 348 00:18:42.340 --> 00:18:46.660 are more openly connecting with people in those 349 00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:51.060 countries tend to make more of the long-range decisions. 350 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.360 So could it even be that if we 351 00:18:55.360 --> 00:18:59.320 get the lack of that connection and the 352 00:18:59.320 --> 00:19:03.320 lack of that engagement in where we're going and what we do as a society, we 353 00:19:03.320 --> 00:19:07.180 also get less of those long-range consequential decision 354 00:19:07.180 --> 00:19:08.880 making, because we're certainly seeing 355 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:12.440 here that we've got a lot of the short-range decision making. 356 00:19:13.780 --> 00:19:17.620 And we reward that as well. As a complex system, 357 00:19:17.780 --> 00:19:21.500 a lot of the politicians are rewarded for right here, right now 358 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:25.360 making a decision. Don't give the credit to the next cycle. And so 359 00:19:25.360 --> 00:19:29.520 we end up only building these really, really short-term things that are never 360 00:19:29.520 --> 00:19:33.500 going to actually gain in momentum and capacity. And we've 361 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:36.920 got a media that just gives us that kind of dumbed-down little short bits as well. 362 00:19:37.060 --> 00:19:38.820 So we don't get that really 363 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:42.460 long view, and it's very difficult then to be making those 364 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:45.960 decisions. So we get steerage that's short-term 365 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:50.340 and short-lens in what we're trying to do. 366 00:19:51.800 --> 00:19:55.340 We've also got the health and medical sector. So as I said, I work in technology. 367 00:19:55.860 --> 00:20:00.700 And Jordan and I work in looking at how people interact directly with 368 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:04.340 technologies. So what turns on, what doesn't turn on when you look at a screen? 369 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:07.040 I would never have an interview over a screen for a job. 370 00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:10.040 And what turns on with a robot, 371 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:13.120 what turns on with virtual reality and augmented reality. 372 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.240 And we have to get smart about things like robot nurses 373 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.300 and robot carers, even smart bots. 374 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:24.920 Because just as we talked about with the retinal eye lock, 375 00:20:25.180 --> 00:20:28.340 it's one thing to have a robot carer 376 00:20:28.340 --> 00:20:31.660 with someone who's in an old-aged centre 377 00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:33.440 or someone who's in a hospital 378 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:34.820 and they're quite happy. 379 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.260 But once they're under stress, it's called allostasis. 380 00:20:38.280 --> 00:20:40.920 So if they're stressed, if they're upset, if they're in pain, 381 00:20:41.520 --> 00:20:43.380 then they need that human being. 382 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:46.580 So if we go back to the hospital analogy, 383 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:50.840 it's actually more effective, economically effective, 384 00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:54.000 to have the nurse be able to come and sit 385 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.860 and hold the hand of someone at that time for five minutes 386 00:20:57.600 --> 00:21:00.720 than it is to have them running off doing things 387 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.420 and give the person either a tablet 388 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.420 – the pharmaceuticals are quite happy – 389 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:09.820 or a technological interface. 390 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:11.720 The technology companies are quite happy. 391 00:21:12.060 --> 00:21:17.380 But even profit-wise, it's better for the hospital 392 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:21.000 because what they get is a patient who will heal faster 393 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:23.960 because part of what happens when you interact directly 394 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:26.140 is your serotonin goes up. 395 00:21:26.260 --> 00:21:29.520 Your serotonin is directly related to growth hormones 396 00:21:29.520 --> 00:21:30.980 and enzymes to do with healing. 397 00:21:31.820 --> 00:21:33.320 So it actually means that that five, 398 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.380 five minutes of calming the patient down 399 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:36.800 is better for the patient. 400 00:21:37.080 --> 00:21:38.880 They will heal faster. 401 00:21:39.820 --> 00:21:42.880