THE FUTURE IS HERE

Human Machine Symbiosis | Pattie Maes | TEDxBrussels

Pattie Maes argues that we have become cyborgs: we have become inseparable from our phones and other devices and increasingly rely on them for many aspects of our daily lives. She continues that the way we interact with these devices today is far from ideal resulting in loss of attention, frequent multitasking and short attention spans. The solution according to Maes is to embrace the fact that we are cyborgs but at the same time radically redesign the whole human machine interaction so that our devices become a more seamless extension of ourselves that augments us and assists us in becoming the person we want to be.

Pattie Maes is the a Professor at the MIT Media Lab and head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences.

She directs the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group which researches new interfaces and experiences for human-machine interaction.

Prior to joining the Media Lab, Maes was a visiting professor and a research scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. She holds bachelor’s and PhD degrees in computer science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

Her areas of expertise are human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. Maes is the editor of three books, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for numerous professional journals and conferences.

She has received several awards: FastCompany named her one of 50 most influential designers (2011). Newsweek magazine named her one of the “100 Americans to watch for” in the year 2000; TIME Digital selected her as a member of the Cyber-Elite, the top 50 technological pioneers of the high-tech world; the World Economic Forum honored her with the title “Global Leader for Tomorrow”; Ars Electronica awarded her the 1995 World Wide Web category prize; and in 2000 she was recognized with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council. She also received an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

Her 2009 TED talk is among the most watched TED talks ever. In addition to her academic endeavors, Maes has been active as an entrepreneur as cofounder of several venture-backed companies including Firefly Networks (sold to Microsoft) and Open Ratings (sold to Dun & Bradstreet).

She remains an advisor and investor to several MIT spinoffs.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx