Using A.I. to build a better human | The Age of A.I.
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the concept of enhancing human abilities through bionics and artificial intelligence. Starting with a reference to "The Six Million Dollar Man," it delves into real-life advancements in prosthetics and AI, telling the story of Jim Ewing, who regains his ability to climb through a bionic limb developed by his friend Hugh Herr. Herr, whose legs were amputated due to frostbite, innovates bionic prosthetics that integrate with the human nervous system to provide natural movement and sensation. The video also discusses the role of AI in sports, like NASCAR, where AI tools optimize racing strategies, and firefighting, where an AI-powered helmet helps visualize obstacles in smoke-filled environments. The overarching question is whether becoming superhuman is desirable or if our imperfections give life its interest.
Takeaways
- 🦾 Bionics can significantly enhance human ability, as seen in prosthetic innovations.
- 🤖 AI is transforming medicine, sports, and safety practices.
- 🧗♂️ Bionic limbs can restore lost capabilities, allowing individuals to pursue their passions, like climbing.
- 🚗 In NASCAR, AI assists with racing strategies to optimize performance.
- 🔥 Firefighting is being revolutionized by AI, improving safety through enhanced vision.
- 👣 Bionic limbs need to integrate with the nervous system for natural movement and sensation.
- 🧠 Machine learning algorithms drive decisions in bionic technology and other fields.
- 💡 AI is a tool that can push human limits beyond natural abilities.
- 🔍 C-THRU helmets provide firefighters a new way to navigate smoke-filled areas safely.
- 🤔 The ethical and philosophical implications of becoming 'superhuman' are complex and worth exploring.
Timeline
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Narrator discusses 'The Six Million Dollar Man' tv show about a man rebuilt with bionics, expressing intrigue about superhuman abilities through technology. It references historical contexts of human enhancement and poses questions about desired human perfection versus imperfection.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Jim Ewing recounts his life-altering rock-climbing accident that left him severely injured. Discusses his love for climbing, the gravity of his injuries, and the consequent lifestyle change while he and his wife Cathy discuss their lives together before the accident.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Hugh Herr, an expert in bionics and an amputee himself, dedicates his work to advancing prosthetics into the bionic future. He and Jim Ewing have a shared history as earlier climbing partners, and now Herr is set to aid Ewing in regaining functionality and sensation through bionic limb technology.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Jim Ewing grapples with the decision to amputate his injured foot or continue bearing the pain. With support from family, he opts for amputation, becoming the first to undertake a new bionic limb procedure, linking muscle pairs to communicate with his nervous system and feel sensations through the bionic limb.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Ewing undergoes surgery and begins adapting to his new bionic leg, which he can control and feel. Herr's team at M.I.T. works on refining the setup, allowing Ewing to experience movements naturally through neural links, with promising results as Ewing tackles Cathedral Ledge with the new limb.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The narrative explores A.I.'s role in predictive systems across industries, notably sports and racing, illustrating its potential in enhancing performance by processing vast data. NASCAR’s use of A.I. exemplifies both reliance and challenges in executing optimal strategies amid traditional intuition.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
As racing continues, strategic decisions miss achieving optimal results when human intuition overrides A.I. recommendations. This highlights ongoing trust issues with A.I. accuracy, despite proven benefit, leaving a commentary on society's gradual acceptance of A.I. in decision-making processes.
- 00:35:00 - 00:44:27
The exploration of vision-enhancing technology, particularly in firefighting, draws parallels to bionics, underscoring A.I.'s life-saving potential despite teething technological issues. Success in these fields promises transformative impacts, changing human capabilities and perceptions as they advance.
Mind Map
Video Q&A
What is "The Six Million Dollar Man" about?
It's a show about a man who is rebuilt with robotic parts to become better, stronger, and faster.
Who is Hugh Herr?
Hugh Herr is a prosthetics innovator who lost his legs to frostbite and now develops bionic limbs that integrate with the human nervous system.
What inspired Hugh Herr to work on prosthetics?
A personal mountain-climbing accident that resulted in the loss of his legs inspired him to innovate in the field of prosthetics.
What is machine learning?
Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence that learns from data experiences to make decisions.
How is AI used in NASCAR?
AI in NASCAR is used through tools like Pit Rho, which analyses racing data to make strategic decisions like when cars should pit.
How does the C-THRU helmet enhance firefighting?
The C-THRU helmet provides augmented reality vision, allowing firefighters to see structures clearly in smoke-filled environments.
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- 00:00:06[man] Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive.
- 00:00:12We can rebuild him. We have the technology.
- 00:00:15We can make him better than he was.
- 00:00:18Better...
- 00:00:19stronger...
- 00:00:21faster.
- 00:00:22[Downey] Man, when I was a kid,
- 00:00:24the Six Million Dollar Man was all the rage.
- 00:00:27It's a show about a guy who gets rebuilt with robotic machine parts.
- 00:00:30God, I loved it.
- 00:00:32And then 35 years later, I got to play a similar role,
- 00:00:35a character who enhances himself via technology and engineering.
- 00:00:39Now, the term "bionics" goes back to the 1950s,
- 00:00:42but the idea of enhancement actually dates back much further,
- 00:00:46to Greek mythology, Aztec gods, and even ancient Hinduism.
- 00:00:49So these next stories are about augmenting our human abilities,
- 00:00:53everything from a bionic limb that behaves naturally and understands intent,
- 00:00:57to data that improves performance,
- 00:00:59and vision enhancement
- 00:01:00that saves people in actual life-threatening situations.
- 00:01:04It seems with A.I...
- 00:01:07anything's possible.
- 00:01:09So it raises the question,
- 00:01:10do we even want to be superhuman,
- 00:01:12or is imperfection what makes life interesting in the first place?
- 00:01:15Whatevs. I gotta get back to the gym.
- 00:01:18Normally I'd jog, but I got a wonky knee.
- 00:01:20I should probably switch it out.
- 00:01:23We can rebuild me.
- 00:01:25Better.
- 00:01:27Faster.
- 00:01:28Stronger.
- 00:01:31Seven miles an hour...
- 00:01:32full out!
- 00:01:37[Hugh Herr] Designers within the field of bionics,
- 00:01:42they don't view the human body itself
- 00:01:45as designable media.
- 00:01:48We now have sophistication in Artificial Intelligence,
- 00:01:52in motor technology,
- 00:01:55in material science,
- 00:01:57in how to talk to the nervous system,
- 00:01:59setting the foundation...
- 00:02:01[all laughing]
- 00:02:03...for the end of human disability.
- 00:02:09-[Cathy King] Do you wanna do an omelette? -[Jim Ewing] Sure.
- 00:02:11You probably don't want too much onion,
- 00:02:13because you'll have bad breath all day.
- 00:02:15Oh, thanks, yeah. [chuckles]
- 00:02:17Anyway, what were we talking about?
- 00:02:19[Ewing] 26 years, 29 years--
- 00:02:20Twenty six years, almost 29 years together, yup.
- 00:02:24Our first date was, uh, uh... 2000, wasn't it?
- 00:02:28-[King] 1990. -1990, oh my God.
- 00:02:31[King] I could tell when I first met Jim
- 00:02:34that he's highly intelligent,
- 00:02:35and he said, "Would you like to go rock climbing sometime?"
- 00:02:39and I said, "Sure!"
- 00:02:41[Ewing] I started rock climbing in my very early teens,
- 00:02:45and I consider climbing to be...
- 00:02:49it's more than a passion for me.
- 00:02:50It's my lifestyle.
- 00:02:54In 2014,
- 00:02:56my family and I traveled to the Cayman Islands.
- 00:03:00We went rock climbing.
- 00:03:01I set up the ropes for the day,
- 00:03:05and we'd done a few climbs with no problems.
- 00:03:10I started up the final section,
- 00:03:12and... shifted my feet and slipped off...
- 00:03:19...50 feet to the ground.
- 00:03:22[hospital monitors beep]
- 00:03:24[King] When I saw him at the hospital,
- 00:03:26I have never felt so helpless in my entire life.
- 00:03:30It was horrible.
- 00:03:33[Ewing] The front and back of my pelvis
- 00:03:35were completely shattered.
- 00:03:38My left wrist was shattered.
- 00:03:41My left ankle was broken into two or three chunks,
- 00:03:45but the rest of it was kind of pulverized.
- 00:03:49It slowly started to dawn on me
- 00:03:51that this was something that was going to be life-changing.
- 00:03:56[King] You're at the hospital.
- 00:03:58[Jim murmurs]
- 00:03:59[King] We're not looking at the photos right now.
- 00:04:01I'm looking at 'em.
- 00:04:02[King chuckles]
- 00:04:05[kissing him] You look all you want, baby.
- 00:04:09[Ewing] After a year, everything else seemed to heal well,
- 00:04:12but the ankle continued to be a problem.
- 00:04:15The bone was mostly dead,
- 00:04:18and the main fracture was still there.
- 00:04:21[King] He was in severe pain all the time,
- 00:04:23and he just became so depressed.
- 00:04:26[Ewing] I couldn't do the things that I love.
- 00:04:30I could barely walk down the street without pain,
- 00:04:33never mind go rock climbing.
- 00:04:36[King] Rock climbing is his passion.
- 00:04:39I mean, I just see him withering if he could not climb.
- 00:04:45[Downey] Jim didn't know what to do,
- 00:04:48and then, in a truly incredible stroke of luck,
- 00:04:51his past came back to help decide his future.
- 00:04:55I began mountain climbing at the tender age of seven.
- 00:04:58At the age of 17, I was in a mountain-climbing accident,
- 00:05:01and I suffered severe frostbite,
- 00:05:04and my legs were amputated.
- 00:05:09I really dedicated myself
- 00:05:11to redesigning first my own legs,
- 00:05:14and then the legs of many, many people around the world.
- 00:05:18[Downey] A few decades, a couple of M.I.T. degrees,
- 00:05:21and a single-minded focus to innovate later,
- 00:05:23Hugh launched the prosthetics industry
- 00:05:26into the bionic future.
- 00:05:27[Herr] I'm getting a tremendous amount of energy,
- 00:05:30power from the ankles,
- 00:05:31which enables me to walk uphill
- 00:05:34with a perfectly erect posture.
- 00:05:37[Herr] My legs, they have the brain.
- 00:05:39It's a small computer the size of your thumbnail,
- 00:05:42and that brain receives sensory information
- 00:05:44from sensors on the bionic limb,
- 00:05:47and then it runs algorithms
- 00:05:49and makes decisions on how to actuate itself.
- 00:05:52And machine learning is used as part of those algorithms.
- 00:05:57[Dr. Ayanna Howard] So, machine learning
- 00:05:59is what's called a subset field of Artificial Intelligence.
- 00:06:03We learn from experience.
- 00:06:05Machine learning is basically learning from the experience,
- 00:06:08where the experience is the data.
- 00:06:10It takes input from the world,
- 00:06:12and the input could be text in books,
- 00:06:14it can be camera images from a car,
- 00:06:17it applies a very complex mathematical function,
- 00:06:21and then has an output, which is a decision.
- 00:06:24[Downey] The bionic legs allow Hugh to walk, run,
- 00:06:27even climb,
- 00:06:28but for him,
- 00:06:29there was still something missing.
- 00:06:30[Herr] Because I can't feel my legs,
- 00:06:32they... they remain tool-like to me,
- 00:06:35and I believe if I could feel my limbs,
- 00:06:38they would become part of me, part of self,
- 00:06:41and fundamentally change my relationship
- 00:06:44to the synthetic part of my body.
- 00:06:48[Ewing] I would describe it as just this amazing,
- 00:06:51lucky coincidence
- 00:06:53that Hugh and I were roommates 34 years ago.
- 00:06:58[Herr] We were teenagers rock-climbing together
- 00:07:01and living like dirtbags, living like bums,
- 00:07:05climbing every day.
- 00:07:07[Ewing] So I decided I was going to look up Hugh
- 00:07:09and talk to him about what my options might be.
- 00:07:14[Herr] Jim was in excruciating pain,
- 00:07:16and he asked me if I or my colleagues could help him.
- 00:07:19[Ewing] What I really was hoping
- 00:07:21was that he could put me in touch
- 00:07:23with a reconstructive surgeon that could rebuild my ankle.
- 00:07:26Right, so this is your X-ray...
- 00:07:27[Herr] Jim was evaluated, and was provided, uh, options
- 00:07:31of either maintaining the biological limb
- 00:07:34and doing certain procedures
- 00:07:36to try to improve its function and to reduce the pain,
- 00:07:40or... to amputate the limb.
- 00:07:44[Ewing] The thought of amputation was just so big.
- 00:07:48What's life gonna be like for me
- 00:07:49if I choose to amputate this foot?
- 00:07:54But it hurt so bad.
- 00:07:57I spoke with Cathy and Maxine about it.
- 00:08:02They were behind me 100%.
- 00:08:04Whatever I needed to do.
- 00:08:08[Downey] How do you make a decision like that?
- 00:08:11A few months later,
- 00:08:12he agreed to have his leg amputated
- 00:08:15and be the first person
- 00:08:16to try his friend's bold, but experimental procedure.
- 00:08:19[Ewing] It's gonna be good.
- 00:08:20-Yeah. -Gonna be good.
- 00:08:23Love you.
- 00:08:24You too.
- 00:08:29Bye, honey, love you.
- 00:08:31Love you, too.
- 00:08:32[Herr] The way in which limbs are amputated
- 00:08:35has not fundamentally changed since the U.S. Civil War...
- 00:08:38[soldiers shouting]
- 00:08:46...but here at M.I.T.,
- 00:08:48we were developing a novel way of amputating limbs.
- 00:08:51We actually create little biological joints
- 00:08:54by linking muscles together in pairs,
- 00:08:57so when a person thinks
- 00:08:58and moves the limb that's been amputated away,
- 00:09:01these muscles move and send sensations
- 00:09:03that we can directly link to a bionic limb
- 00:09:06in a bi-directional way.
- 00:09:07So not only can the person think
- 00:09:09and actuate the synthetic limb,
- 00:09:11but they can actually feel those synthetic movements
- 00:09:14within their own nervous system.
- 00:09:15[Downey] Until recently,
- 00:09:17creating a bionic limb that a person can actually feel
- 00:09:20has been more science fiction than reality.
- 00:09:23Now machine learning
- 00:09:25is revolutionizing the way we think about medicine.
- 00:09:28If anything can solve the hard problems in medicine,
- 00:09:30it's A.I.
- 00:09:31Let's take an example, heart disease.
- 00:09:34No single human being can have in their head
- 00:09:36all the knowledge that it takes to understand heart disease,
- 00:09:39but a computer can.
- 00:09:41Things like radiology, pathology.
- 00:09:43You have an X-ray,
- 00:09:45and you wanna see, like, is there cancer in this lung,
- 00:09:46and can you pinpoint where the tumor is or not?
- 00:09:49A.I.s can, actually, at this point,
- 00:09:50do this better than highly trained humans.
- 00:09:52[surgeon] Can we get the, uh, Esmarch, please?
- 00:10:00It's so light!
- 00:10:02It's weird.
- 00:10:05[surgeon] It really looks good.
- 00:10:07I'm super happy with this,
- 00:10:08and you've got a nice degree of padding here.
- 00:10:10[Ewing] Right after the surgery,
- 00:10:12the incredible, deep, in-the-bone pain
- 00:10:15that I had been experiencing for the past year
- 00:10:17was gone.
- 00:10:18So to me, that was...
- 00:10:21that was a success right there.
- 00:10:25Never mind whether or not
- 00:10:27the experimental part of the amputation was a success,
- 00:10:31I was glad to be free of the painful ankle.
- 00:10:35He was happy. It was done.
- 00:10:37He was ready to move on.
- 00:10:43[Herr] Hey, guys.
- 00:10:44How's it looking? How's progress?
- 00:10:46[M.I.T. tech Eric] Things look good.
- 00:10:48I'm gonna go ahead and get you wired up.
- 00:10:49[Ewing] The first time I went to Hugh's lab,
- 00:10:51Hugh started talking about
- 00:10:53"What do you think about a climbing robot ankle?
- 00:10:57Would you want us to make one of those?"
- 00:10:58[Eric] I'm gonna go ahead and get us started here...
- 00:11:01[Herr] It's a specifically designed limb
- 00:11:02that Jim can control with his mind,
- 00:11:05and actually feel the movements within his nervous system.
- 00:11:08[Ewing] I still need the evert.
- 00:11:10[Eric] Yup, that's the one we're missing.
- 00:11:12All right, so we have you wired to the leg now.
- 00:11:15You're driving.
- 00:11:22[servos whirring]
- 00:11:31[Ewing] Cool.
- 00:11:32[Eric] Yeah. Can you give me a fast up-down?
- 00:11:37And slow, controlled?
- 00:11:41This freakin' blows me away every time you do it.
- 00:11:44It's so good.
- 00:11:45[chuckling]
- 00:11:47When we link Jim's nerves in that bi-directional way,
- 00:11:51we're able to create natural dynamics,
- 00:11:53so even though the limb is made of synthetic materials,
- 00:11:56it moves as if it's made of flesh and bone.
- 00:11:59There.
- 00:12:01Now it's neurally and mechanically connected.
- 00:12:04How does it feel different?
- 00:12:05Now it feels like it's my natural foot, somewhat.
- 00:12:09Like, I don't have the skin sensation,
- 00:12:11but all the motions make sense to my brain.
- 00:12:15[Herr] In the algorithm,
- 00:12:16we make a virtual model of his missing biological limb,
- 00:12:20so when he fires his muscles with his brain,
- 00:12:23we use an electrode to measure that signal,
- 00:12:25and then that drives the virtual muscle
- 00:12:28and sends sensations to the brain
- 00:12:30about the position and dynamics.
- 00:12:32It kind of instantly felt part of me,
- 00:12:34almost as good as having a natural foot.
- 00:12:42[Downey] Cathedral Ledge, New Hampshire.
- 00:12:45Seven hundred feet of awe-inspiring granite
- 00:12:48and climbing routes with names like "Thin Air,"
- 00:12:50"Nutcracker," and "They Died Laughing"
- 00:12:53make it one hell of a challenge
- 00:12:55for even the most serious climbers
- 00:12:57on a good day.
- 00:12:59For Jim, it's a test
- 00:13:01to see if what works at M.I.T. can work out on the mountain.
- 00:13:05[Ewing] I've been climbing here for 40 years,
- 00:13:08and I've probably spent more time on Cathedral Ledge
- 00:13:11than any place else on the planet.
- 00:13:17This climb is actually at the upper limit
- 00:13:20of my ability at the moment.
- 00:13:22I'm not worried at all.
- 00:13:24What could possibly go wrong?
- 00:13:27[Downey] The mountain has no mercy,
- 00:13:29and no margin for error,
- 00:13:31and Jim's about to find out
- 00:13:33if his bionic leg can help him overcome
- 00:13:35and scale heights
- 00:13:37most people wouldn't dare try in the first place.
- 00:13:39[Ewing] That's me.
- 00:13:41[Downey] Can machine learning take us even further?
- 00:13:44Replace not just what was lost,
- 00:13:46but enhance what we already have?
- 00:13:48[firefighter] Okay, stay close. I'll lead.
- 00:13:50This is insane!
- 00:13:53[Downey] Augment performance
- 00:13:54beyond the limits of our natural human ability?
- 00:13:57Make strong, smart, fast people...
- 00:14:00stronger, smarter, and faster?
- 00:14:02[crowd cheering]
- 00:14:04In many ways, sports has been on the leading edge of prediction systems,
- 00:14:06and now, every serious sports contender
- 00:14:08uses sports analytics...
- 00:14:12but the big opportunity going forward
- 00:14:14is embedding devices
- 00:14:16that can collect real-time data
- 00:14:18to update strategies
- 00:14:19to take advantage of that learning.
- 00:14:21There's a revolution going on in sports,
- 00:14:23and machine learning is at the core of it.
- 00:14:32[Interviewer] The first night race of the season,
- 00:14:33I'm sure you're ready to finally get behind the wheel.
- 00:14:36For sure. Just fired up to get going.
- 00:14:38Triple-A car's been pretty good this weekend,
- 00:14:40and we're pumped to get this thing started.
- 00:14:42Drivers, start your engines!
- 00:14:45[crowd screaming]
- 00:14:47[Eric Warren] The race track's a fairly hostile environment.
- 00:14:51The way I describe racing, and the way I live it,
- 00:14:53it's like war.
- 00:14:54[announcer] Folks, get on your feet. Let's send these guys off!
- 00:14:57Boogity boogity boogity! Let's go racing, boys!
- 00:15:01[Warren] You're trying to take your race car,
- 00:15:03your team, your driver,
- 00:15:05and beat the other drivers at all costs.
- 00:15:07[race team radio chatter]
- 00:15:08[announcer] Austin Dillon,
- 00:15:09stuck in the middle of a three-wide.
- 00:15:13[Andy Petree] This kind of race
- 00:15:15produces a lot of strategy,
- 00:15:18and that's where we have to use all of our tools
- 00:15:20to help us make those strategic decisions.
- 00:15:23[Downey] When it comes to superhuman ability,
- 00:15:26you may think of people like LeBron James,
- 00:15:28Michael Phelps, or Serena Williams...
- 00:15:32but it's not just the body that can be enhanced.
- 00:15:35Sometimes it's something less tangible,
- 00:15:38like human intuition.
- 00:15:41[announcer] What a battle going on here.
- 00:15:44You gotta be real careful here in the early stages
- 00:15:46making contact with somebody.
- 00:15:47[Warren] Information is the next battleground.
- 00:15:49[race team radio chatter]
- 00:15:52Every decision you make can have a big impact.
- 00:15:55[Downey] Back in the day,
- 00:15:56intuition used to play a big part in sports.
- 00:15:59Athletes and coaches relied on their gut
- 00:16:01to make decisions.
- 00:16:03Now some competitors are leaning more and more
- 00:16:06on machine learning,
- 00:16:07looking to gain whatever extra edge they can.
- 00:16:10[Warren] We use the A.I. tools
- 00:16:12to predict what the future not only is,
- 00:16:15but what it should be.
- 00:16:17[announcer] We'll go behind the 20. You just start finish line...
- 00:16:19[Rana el Kaliouby] The strength of these A.I. systems
- 00:16:20come in having access to a ton of data
- 00:16:23and being able to find patterns in that data,
- 00:16:25generating insights and inferences
- 00:16:28that maybe people may not be aware of,
- 00:16:31and then augmenting people's abilities
- 00:16:33to make decisions based on that data.
- 00:16:35[Downey] Machine learning
- 00:16:37is transforming many industries and applications,
- 00:16:40especially in areas where there's a lot of data,
- 00:16:42and predicting outcomes can have a big payoff.
- 00:16:45Finance,
- 00:16:46sports,
- 00:16:48or medicine come to mind.
- 00:16:51Using an emerging technology like machine learning
- 00:16:54in a classic old-school sport like stock car racing
- 00:16:57doesn't necessarily sit well with everybody...
- 00:17:00which may or may not explain why this guy's doing it...
- 00:17:06in a nerve center 250 miles away.
- 00:17:08[man] Clear, clear, hit the marks, drive off, man.
- 00:17:12[Warren] My role there really is looking at the data.
- 00:17:15How do you use data you can acquire at the racetrack
- 00:17:18to get these machines
- 00:17:19to be right on the limit of performance?
- 00:17:20[announcer] His front rotors are really glowing.
- 00:17:23[Warren] We get the braking, steering, throttle,
- 00:17:26all the acceleration off of every car in the field,
- 00:17:29real time...
- 00:17:30[Downey] All this data
- 00:17:31is being fed into an A.I. program called "Pit Rho."
- 00:17:35[race team radio chatter]
- 00:17:37[Downey] Sensors in every car
- 00:17:38measure speed, throttle, braking, and steering.
- 00:17:42Advanced GPS tracks the car's position on the track.
- 00:17:45[man] Watch your middle, watch your middle.
- 00:17:47[Downey] All this data is made available to every team.
- 00:17:51[Warren] This is where the power of A.I. comes in.
- 00:17:54So, our tool basically
- 00:17:55is analyzing the optimum strategy call
- 00:17:59of every car in the field, real time.
- 00:18:01Not just our car, but every car.
- 00:18:04[Petree] It's almost threatening.
- 00:18:06I was a crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Sr.
- 00:18:08Comin' to ya.
- 00:18:0910-4.
- 00:18:11[Petree] I would sit up on the box
- 00:18:12and intuitively kinda figure all these things.
- 00:18:15You kinda just make that gut call,
- 00:18:18"Bring him in now."
- 00:18:19[Downey] Until now, many key decisions,
- 00:18:21like when to pit for tires or fuel,
- 00:18:23were made by the drivers and the crew chief
- 00:18:25using experience and intuition.
- 00:18:27[Petree] Now, we've got artificial intelligence
- 00:18:29that's making all these calculations
- 00:18:31in real time.
- 00:18:32Some of the crew chiefs
- 00:18:33that have done what I've done over the years,
- 00:18:35sometimes it's hard for us to embrace it.
- 00:18:37[tires squealing]
- 00:18:40[announcer] They're trying to get through traffic as fast as they can
- 00:18:43so they don't get a lap down,
- 00:18:44but that's gonna use up those tires.
- 00:18:46[Warren] You can go at this track on fuel
- 00:18:48probably 120 laps, but your tires will be shot way before then.
- 00:18:52[Downey] In a NASCAR race,
- 00:18:54pit stops are the key to a winning strategy.
- 00:18:56[Petree] You're trying to decide
- 00:18:57when in that cycle is the best to make that stop,
- 00:19:00because you lose a lot of time when you come off the track and you have to stop,
- 00:19:03but then you gain a lot of speed when you put new tires on.
- 00:19:06[Warren] This is the first time
- 00:19:07we're facing, like, a strategy call here.
- 00:19:09[Downey] The Pit Rho A.I. interface
- 00:19:11displays one of four suggestions...
- 00:19:15stay out on the track,
- 00:19:16pit for fuel only,
- 00:19:18pit for two tires,
- 00:19:19or pit for four tires.
- 00:19:21[Warren] So right now,
- 00:19:22it's telling him to take four tires.
- 00:19:24[Downey] Eric relays the message
- 00:19:26to the Childress team at the track.
- 00:19:28The final decision on when to pit
- 00:19:30will be up to the crew chief.
- 00:19:34[crew chief] When the pits are open,
- 00:19:35it'll be four tires here, four tires.
- 00:19:38[Downey] For the first pit stop,
- 00:19:40the crew chief follows the A.I.'s advice.
- 00:19:42Five, four, three, two, one.
- 00:19:45Put on the brakes, wheels lift.
- 00:19:47[Downey] The crew has to change all four tires
- 00:19:50in as little time as possible.
- 00:19:54This usually takes between 12 and 14 seconds.
- 00:20:00[engine revving]
- 00:20:01[radio chatter] All the way, all the way!
- 00:20:04That's a good stop.
- 00:20:05Really good stop.
- 00:20:06[Warren] Sometimes, what happens is, over the course of a race,
- 00:20:09those little bit better decisions
- 00:20:10puts you in a spot, and it puts you in an opportunity
- 00:20:13at the end of the race to be able to win the race.
- 00:20:22[Warren] Every lap, it's analyzing the field,
- 00:20:25updating its models.
- 00:20:26As the race goes on, the prediction gets more and more accurate.
- 00:20:30[Downey] They're using an A.I. technique
- 00:20:33called "reinforcement learning,"
- 00:20:34which is, basically,
- 00:20:36when the computer is given the rules of the game,
- 00:20:39plays it over and over
- 00:20:40till it learns every possible move and outcome,
- 00:20:43and then through trial and error,
- 00:20:44and patience that no human could possibly have...
- 00:20:47[announcer] I wonder if we have a resignation here.
- 00:20:50[Downey] ...becomes amazing.
- 00:20:53[announcer] Congratulations to AlphaGo
- 00:20:56and to the entire team.
- 00:20:57[Downey] It's what Google's DeepMind did
- 00:20:59to become a world champ at Go.
- 00:21:01[commentator] Here we go!
- 00:21:04[Downey] It's what Open A.I. did
- 00:21:06to conquer the video game Dota 2...
- 00:21:09[commentator] He's dominating.
- 00:21:10Are you scared of a bot here?
- 00:21:11[Downey] ...and build a robotic hand
- 00:21:13with near-human dexterity.
- 00:21:16It's what Eric's hoping to do to get the checkered flag.
- 00:21:21[announcer] You can see he's on his way to the top 10.
- 00:21:25[team] Yeah, we got through, Andrew, focus here.
- 00:21:29[announcer] And you go up a few cars,
- 00:21:31you'll find the 3 of Austin Dillon
- 00:21:33up in sixth place,
- 00:21:34making up time on the race leader.
- 00:21:44So the recommendation is pit on lap 327.
- 00:21:51What my fear is is that they'll pit with the leaders
- 00:21:54instead of actually running to the strategy.
- 00:21:58[Downey] Going to the pits when the leaders do
- 00:22:00is the safe play in the end stages of a race...
- 00:22:02[Warren] Sparks, you got me?
- 00:22:04[Downey] ...but the A.I. tool is recommending a riskier plan
- 00:22:07that might gain them valuable seconds.
- 00:22:13[Downey] By pitting later,
- 00:22:15Austin Dillon will have faster tires
- 00:22:17for the closing laps of the race,
- 00:22:19but he risks falling further behind the leaders
- 00:22:21once they come out of the pits with their fresh tires.
- 00:22:29[Petree] A lot of times when our Pit Rho technology tells us,
- 00:22:32"This is the time to pit," or, "This is how to do it," it doesn't feel right.
- 00:22:38Are you sure you wanna do that now?
- 00:22:40[Petree] Sometimes you might be sitting out there
- 00:22:42running laps on older tires,
- 00:22:43where everybody else is pitted,
- 00:22:45and it's like, it doesn't feel right for the driver.
- 00:22:52[Petree] He's gonna want to pit,
- 00:22:54and you gotta convince him, "Stay, make good laps. Trust us, it's gonna work."
- 00:22:57Some leaders are gonna pit right here, and we need to run.
- 00:23:03[commentator] Looks like the 22
- 00:23:05is gonna choose to come down pit road.
- 00:23:07[announcer] So, all the front four came in on the same lap
- 00:23:10with 82 laps to go.
- 00:23:11[Downey] On lap 318,
- 00:23:13the top four cars enter the pits.
- 00:23:17[team member 1 speaking]
- 00:23:19[Warren speaking]
- 00:23:22[team member 1 speaking]
- 00:23:26[Warren] Here's where the faith in the tool ends up happening.
- 00:23:29When they all pit,
- 00:23:30it takes a lot of faith to just stay out there
- 00:23:32and run to your lap.
- 00:23:36[team member 2 speaking]
- 00:23:38[team member 3 speaking]
- 00:23:39[Downey] Austin Dillon breaks from the A.I. strategy
- 00:23:42and follows the leaders into the pits.
- 00:23:44[team members speaking]
- 00:23:46That's not good news.
- 00:23:47[man] Three, two, one.
- 00:23:50Put on the brakes, wheels lift.
- 00:23:52[Downey] To maintain their position,
- 00:23:54the team needs a flawless pit stop.
- 00:24:08[tires screeching]
- 00:24:09[team member 2] Son of a bitch!
- 00:24:13[team member 1] We lost three seconds.
- 00:24:14We're not gonna be nowhere near 'em.
- 00:24:17Got killed on pit road.
- 00:24:18It's pretty disastrous.
- 00:24:20[Warren] Prior to the pit stop, we were about 4.6 seconds back,
- 00:24:24but when we came out, we were nine seconds back,
- 00:24:26so we lost about four and a half seconds
- 00:24:28on that-- in that exchange. That's hard to get back.
- 00:24:31[man] Let's go to work on him. This won't be easy.
- 00:24:34Just fight hard here.
- 00:24:35[Downey] They've dropped from 6th place to 12th...
- 00:24:38and Austin Dillon has very little time left
- 00:24:40to fight his way back to the leaders.
- 00:24:42[Eric] Come on, Austin, get him.
- 00:24:46[Downey] ...but the new tires give him an edge...
- 00:24:51[announcer] The white flag waves,
- 00:24:53one lap to go.
- 00:24:55[team member 1 speaking]
- 00:25:01Get it, get it, get it!
- 00:25:05[announcer] Short track win number one for Martin Truex!
- 00:25:09[race team] Sixth place is awesome.
- 00:25:11[Downey] ...and he ends up finishing sixth.
- 00:25:13[team member 2] Hell of a freakin' drive, Austin Dillon.
- 00:25:16[team member 3] Hey, nice work tonight, man, way to fight hard there.
- 00:25:20[team member 4] Hell of a job, boys.
- 00:25:23Hey, good job, guys.
- 00:25:25[Warren] Progressing through the race
- 00:25:27definitely the cars have gotten faster,
- 00:25:29so, you know, we'll see good things
- 00:25:30that we'll take back next time we go to Richmond.
- 00:25:32Hell of a job this weekend, boys.
- 00:25:34[Warren] The hardest thing
- 00:25:36as we've incorporated more A.I.-based tools
- 00:25:39is trust.
- 00:25:41Sometimes we're the ones that get in the way, right?
- 00:25:44There's still times when it's counterintuitive,
- 00:25:47and everybody's like,
- 00:25:48"It's the wrong call, it's the wrong call,"
- 00:25:50and over time, we have these battles
- 00:25:52because most of the time, the A.I. tools is right.
- 00:25:55Nine times out of ten, or even more, it's the right call.
- 00:25:58[Downey] Andy and Eric's team were using A.I.,
- 00:26:01and on track for a strong finish,
- 00:26:03but they fell behind
- 00:26:05when the team ignored the machine
- 00:26:06and went with their intuition.
- 00:26:09That'll do it.
- 00:26:11[Lav Varshney] Convincing humans
- 00:26:12that machines know what they're doing
- 00:26:13is the central difficulty
- 00:26:14in deploying A.I. out in society,
- 00:26:16whether it's the pit boss in car racing,
- 00:26:19or even astronauts flying to the moon.
- 00:26:22[Downey] Do we trust the A.I. to make decisions for us?
- 00:26:25We already do with GPS maps.
- 00:26:27Perhaps here, the team just didn't have enough experience with it
- 00:26:30to override their own intuition,
- 00:26:33but what about other situations?
- 00:26:37At what point do we start trusting A.I.
- 00:26:39in more serious matters?
- 00:26:41[dawn birdsong chorus]
- 00:26:42Matters of life and death?
- 00:26:45[firefighter] It was a smoldering fire that filled the whole house with smoke,
- 00:26:48and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
- 00:26:51You literally had to feel your way up the stairs.
- 00:26:54Totally blind search.
- 00:26:56Yeah. Sometimes that's the best thing we can do.
- 00:26:59Yeah.
- 00:27:00[Kirk McKinzie] Every two hours and 45 minutes,
- 00:27:02a U.S. citizen dies by fire in their own home.
- 00:27:06We've lost more than 3,000 a year
- 00:27:08consistently for 30 years.
- 00:27:10[firefighter] The Worcester fire.
- 00:27:13Three guys go in. They all get disoriented and get lost.
- 00:27:17Two more go in to find them.
- 00:27:18They get lost. Two more go in.
- 00:27:20I mean, before you know it, they finally had to, "Okay!
- 00:27:23We're not sending any more guys in there,
- 00:27:25'cause they're all friggin' lost."
- 00:27:27[news broadcast] On his radio, a commanding officer heard two firefighters
- 00:27:31desperately crying out for help.
- 00:27:33[Worcester fire chief] "Mayday, mayday. We're running out of air.
- 00:27:36Come to the door so we can see where you are,"
- 00:27:38and then, we did that, and we went beyond the door,
- 00:27:41and we yelled, and we had lights,
- 00:27:43and they were...
- 00:27:44they were inside somewhere that they couldn't see us.
- 00:27:48[firefighter] All those guys who died in that...
- 00:27:56[McKinzie] When we go into a structure that's dark and smoky,
- 00:28:00the biggest challenge is the visibility.
- 00:28:03The ability to navigate is a... is a challenge,
- 00:28:07and often firefighters have become disoriented,
- 00:28:11and then they run out of air.
- 00:28:17With the challenge of smoke and having no vision,
- 00:28:20I knew that there was a possibility of changing that.
- 00:28:26That's when I finally met the C-THRU team.
- 00:28:29[Sam Cossman] Okay, is the system turning on?
- 00:28:31Let's see.
- 00:28:33I'm gonna unplug that one.
- 00:28:35I guess the best way to describe myself
- 00:28:38is I'm infinitely curious.
- 00:28:41I like to solve problems,
- 00:28:43look at things through a new lens.
- 00:28:44All right...
- 00:28:47[Cossman] I was in disbelief that firefighting in a smoked-out building
- 00:28:51involves training their personnel
- 00:28:52to revert back to feeling around the room.
- 00:28:55How's the battery level doing?
- 00:28:57That was really the inspiration
- 00:28:58behind creating C-THRU.
- 00:29:05[Downey] Sam Cossman saw the light when he jumped into a volcano.
- 00:29:08Line!
- 00:29:10Fire!
- 00:29:12[Downey] Part globetrotting adrenaline junkie,
- 00:29:14part computer engineer,
- 00:29:16the self-proclaimed Indiana Jones of tech
- 00:29:19envisioned a tool that would help firefighters
- 00:29:22and save lives,
- 00:29:24a kind of X-ray vision.
- 00:29:28[Cossman] The problem that C-THRU is trying to solve
- 00:29:31is really flipping the lights on
- 00:29:33for people operating in zero-visibility conditions.
- 00:29:37[Omer Haciomeroglu] The concept of C-THRU
- 00:29:39was the helmet that had enhanced audio,
- 00:29:42enhanced vision...
- 00:29:43[man] I see you! I'm on my way.
- 00:29:46[Haciomeroglu] ...outlines their surrounding geometry
- 00:29:50so that they can navigate faster.
- 00:29:52So is it this plane right here that... that changed recently?
- 00:29:55[Haciomeroglu] Yes, basically like a simpler design that can achieve more.
- 00:29:59[Cossman] We have a mask,
- 00:30:01and we have a thermal-imaging device
- 00:30:02that sits on the side of that mask,
- 00:30:04and we process that image through a small computer.
- 00:30:08[Downey] Sam and Omer created a mask
- 00:30:10with special glasses clipped inside
- 00:30:12which allows firefighters to see edges as green lines
- 00:30:15in an augmented reality overlay.
- 00:30:18How's the alignment look on that one?
- 00:30:20It's not bad.
- 00:30:22We need to calibrate it a little bit more.
- 00:30:24Omer and I have been working on refining the prototypes
- 00:30:27for the last couple of years,
- 00:30:28just trying to MacGyver some of these problems
- 00:30:30with off-the-shelf parts, you know, duct tape and bubble gum.
- 00:30:34Move your hand around a little bit.
- 00:30:36-Okay. -Other hand, like that one.
- 00:30:38Yeah, this is definitely better.
- 00:30:41[Downey] It may look like old Tron-era night vision,
- 00:30:44but there's actually
- 00:30:45some pretty slick artificial intelligence at work here.
- 00:30:48Thermal imaging cameras
- 00:30:50stream video from the firefighter's helmet
- 00:30:52into an A.I. processor.
- 00:30:54Using infrared light
- 00:30:56and a powerful edge-detection algorithm,
- 00:30:59the mask detects subtle changes in brightness
- 00:31:02to predict shapes invisible to the human eye,
- 00:31:05like a wall hidden by smoke,
- 00:31:07or a kid hiding under a bed.
- 00:31:12[Cossman] There you go, take this mask.
- 00:31:14[Downey] Sam and Omer
- 00:31:16are now at a familiar point in the innovator's journey...
- 00:31:19get out of the garage and into the real world
- 00:31:22to see if their invention can take the heat.
- 00:31:25[siren wailing, horn blares]
- 00:31:27Fire Dispatch, Medic 71 arrived on scene,
- 00:31:29have report of smoke showing.
- 00:31:30Fire Dispatch, copy.
- 00:31:32[McKinzie] One of the most important things any fire department does
- 00:31:35is regular hands-on training.
- 00:31:38There he is.
- 00:31:39How you doing, Captain?
- 00:31:41Good to see you, brother.
- 00:31:42[McKinzie] We're gonna give the C-THRU solution a hard run...
- 00:31:45[Cossman] We've got a prototype fresh off the print.
- 00:31:47...and we're gonna put it in fire and smoke,
- 00:31:50and we're gonna see how it acts while crews are working with it.
- 00:31:53-Shall we get him inside the smoke? -Let's do it!
- 00:31:56[radio chatter]
- 00:31:57...cleared for dispatch.
- 00:31:59I am a Cyborg.
- 00:32:01Okay, we're ready.
- 00:32:05[McKinzie] Crews will be doing live fire drills
- 00:32:07in our training tower.
- 00:32:10It is active, real fire
- 00:32:12with temperatures at the ceiling at 1,200 degrees.
- 00:32:20[yelling through masks]
- 00:32:22[man] Anybody over here?
- 00:32:25[McKinzie] Firefighters are in a hurry,
- 00:32:27looking for victims.
- 00:32:28Visibility will be limited at best.
- 00:32:35Often, firefighters will be able to see nothing.
- 00:33:02[Downey] C-THRU's maiden voyage
- 00:33:04is cut short by a malfunction.
- 00:33:06[McKinzie] In an active firefight,
- 00:33:08it's critical that things work.
- 00:33:10It's life and death.
- 00:33:12Uh, at first, it was good. I got through, went down to the floor,
- 00:33:17and I looked, and I could see everything clear.
- 00:33:19Yeah.
- 00:33:20Really well, everything was lined out. Once I started working...
- 00:33:23-Yeah? -I lost it.
- 00:33:24-Yeah, the signal went out. -Signal went out.
- 00:33:27I'm not sure what that was, but we're gonna figure it out.
- 00:33:29There was a lot of interference, or maybe a cable issue.
- 00:33:32We did encounter some challenges, the biggest of them
- 00:33:35was some wi-fi interference that we've encountered
- 00:33:37where the system would just shut down.
- 00:33:39Yeah, it's actually like over here with the connections,
- 00:33:42-like, this pin, you know? -That's what's...
- 00:33:45Yeah, the pin connections here, and here, actually.
- 00:33:49We should just shield the cables as best we can
- 00:33:52and give it another go.
- 00:33:56Battalion Ten, Fire Dispatch,
- 00:33:58uh, we got a caller on the second floor
- 00:33:59trapped in the bathroom.
- 00:34:01So, if you wanna go ahead and try it on for a fit,
- 00:34:04we'll see how it goes.
- 00:34:05-Fire Dispatch, Battalion Ten... -[radio chatter continues]
- 00:34:09[on-scene dispatch] Engine 72 arrived on scene, reporting of heavy smoke showing
- 00:34:14from the first and second floor.
- 00:34:16[radio chatter continues]
- 00:34:20We've got smoke showing
- 00:34:22from the first and second floors.
- 00:34:29[dispatch] Engine 7-1,
- 00:34:30you're gonna be taking fire attack.
- 00:34:46[dispatch] 71, who is on scene,
- 00:34:49smoke showing from the second and first floor.
- 00:35:05Command copies, one victim coming out of the second window, you need EMS.
- 00:35:09Medic 72, you're gonna have to take patient care.
- 00:35:12As soon as I got in, I could see the outline of the room.
- 00:35:16As I stepped in, I just kinda took a look around,
- 00:35:18I could see where the victim was and an outline of the door.
- 00:35:22-I mean, hands free, you know? -Yeah.
- 00:35:25[chatter on radio]
- 00:35:27It is kind of like, I mean, like Iron Man, you know,
- 00:35:30being able to see through the smoke,
- 00:35:31and having everything so clear-cut, um...
- 00:35:35It's... it's pretty cool.
- 00:35:37[Cossman] What we're working on is really a game-changing tool
- 00:35:41that completely has the potential to transform
- 00:35:44how the work here is done.
- 00:35:45[firefighter] This is, uh, some of the videos
- 00:35:47of the C-THRU mask, okay?
- 00:35:49[firefighter 2] That is way crisper than I've seen.
- 00:35:51That is insane.
- 00:35:53[McKinzie] Over the 30 years that I've been at this, I've seen a lot of changes.
- 00:35:57We have mobile data computers,
- 00:35:59we have computer-aided dispatch systems...
- 00:36:01-No, that's gonna... -Wow.
- 00:36:03That's gonna be a game-changer.
- 00:36:04[McKinzie] ...and now we have the possibility with machine learning and A.I.
- 00:36:09to progress to a place
- 00:36:11just a couple of years ago we couldn't have imagined.
- 00:36:13-Is that completely pitch dark in there? -That recording--
- 00:36:16-[alert sounds] -Oh, gotta go!
- 00:36:18That is actually what you see in the mask.
- 00:36:20[firefighter] We're gonna go on another call, gentlemen.
- 00:36:24[Downey] It's impossible to know
- 00:36:25if this technology could have saved
- 00:36:27those six firefighters in Worcester,
- 00:36:29but it's hard to believe it wouldn't have helped.
- 00:36:37Back on Cathedral Ledge,
- 00:36:38Jim is about to see if his new bionic leg
- 00:36:41will help him scale a 700-foot sheer rock face.
- 00:36:44[Ewing] I'm just gonna kinda bring everything.
- 00:36:50[M.I.T. tech Emily] All right.
- 00:36:52[Ewing] My own personal M.I.T. pit crew.
- 00:36:55-[Emily] Got the socket. -[assistant] The socket...
- 00:36:57[Ewing] What we're gonna do today
- 00:36:59is climb on Cathedral Ledge with a new robot foot
- 00:37:03designed specifically for climbing.
- 00:37:10We can set up camp here.
- 00:37:13[Emily] All right,
- 00:37:14we should be ready to start calibrating.
- 00:37:18[M.I.T. tech Joe] Counterflex.
- 00:37:22Rest.
- 00:37:23-[Emily] You're driving now. -[Ewing] That's me.
- 00:37:26[Emily] How's it feel?
- 00:37:27[Ewing] Pretty accurate.
- 00:37:29It's going everywhere that I'm telling it to go.
- 00:37:31[Ewing] This climb is gonna be very challenging,
- 00:37:34because there's a variety of holds at different angles,
- 00:37:38different heights.
- 00:37:39I'd say there's a high probability
- 00:37:41of there being some falling action here and there.
- 00:37:47I was really afraid,
- 00:37:50very... worried
- 00:37:51whether or not I could make it all the way up a climb.
- 00:38:05We good there, Joe?
- 00:38:13Harness is on.
- 00:38:16I got plenty of gear.
- 00:38:22All right, we're climbing.
- 00:38:30I think I'm at a crux section here.
- 00:38:35[wincing]
- 00:38:36Well, first fall.
- 00:38:39I'm not sticking very well.
- 00:38:47It's hard. Hard business.
- 00:38:53[grunting with effort]
- 00:38:56Slack!
- 00:39:03[cracking]
- 00:39:04Oh!
- 00:39:08We have failure.
- 00:39:10The whole mechanism broke.
- 00:39:13[Ewing] I remember looking down at it,
- 00:39:15seeing the foot at a strange angle,
- 00:39:18and, "Holy crap, that is gonna hurt.
- 00:39:20"That--" Like, I was bracing for pain.
- 00:39:23I mean, how much more of a part of you
- 00:39:26does it need to be?
- 00:39:35[Emily] Oh, my God.
- 00:39:36[man] I would call that a catastrophic failure.
- 00:39:38[Emily] Pretty catastrophic.
- 00:39:39But it was... it was a strange sensation, though,
- 00:39:42because all of a sudden, my ankle was broken,
- 00:39:45and you feel like you're losing your limb
- 00:39:49all over again.
- 00:39:51[Eric] How're you feeling? You feel like you wanna go down again?
- 00:39:54We... we did bring a spare.
- 00:39:56Uh, sure.
- 00:39:58Okay, we'll swap it over to this one.
- 00:40:02[Emily] In engineering,
- 00:40:04we're kinda used to things not exactly going right
- 00:40:07the first time,
- 00:40:07so that's why we have contingency plans.
- 00:40:10[Eric] So, this is the last climbing robot leg
- 00:40:12in the world, Jim.
- 00:40:14[laughter]
- 00:40:16We're good to go again.
- 00:40:23I'm a little nervous about trusting this foot now.
- 00:40:28Watch me here.
- 00:40:29If the left-- if the robot breaks...
- 00:40:33I'm going for a ride.
- 00:40:43Actually, it did that move.
- 00:40:44[Eric] Well done.
- 00:40:46[Ewing] We're rock climbing, dude.
- 00:40:49[Ewing] With the robotic leg, I found that I could move more naturally.
- 00:40:54Life on the edge, man.
- 00:40:55I was pain free, and it was, I don't know,
- 00:40:58it was just kind of fun and satisfying.
- 00:41:00[Herr] We have always hypothesized
- 00:41:03that if we can link the nerves of a human being
- 00:41:07to a bionic limb,
- 00:41:08the limb would become part of the person,
- 00:41:11part of identity.
- 00:41:14Toppin' out.
- 00:41:16Remarkably, it's happened.
- 00:41:18Cyborg power!
- 00:41:20[laughing]
- 00:41:22[team clapping]
- 00:41:23[Downey] It's a tall peak,
- 00:41:25but pales in comparison
- 00:41:27to the one Hugh is ultimately trying to climb.
- 00:41:30[Herr] We also have the goal
- 00:41:32of extending human capability beyond physiological function,
- 00:41:35jump higher, or run faster...
- 00:41:38So bionics not only seeks to achieve normative function in humans,
- 00:41:42but also to extend human expression
- 00:41:45beyond what people were born with.
- 00:41:48[Downey] Human enhancement and augmentation
- 00:41:51have been around through human history
- 00:41:53and mythology,
- 00:41:54from Prometheus stealing fire
- 00:41:57to the Civil War.
- 00:42:00Using tools to improve our abilities
- 00:42:02is a fundamental human development,
- 00:42:04whether it's stone spears to protect our families
- 00:42:08or airplanes to transport us farther.
- 00:42:10...and that's really what we're seeing, the transformation of society,
- 00:42:14and not just racing, not just sports,
- 00:42:16is really using these A.I. tools, and they'll become commonplace,
- 00:42:19won't even be thought about otherwise.
- 00:42:21[Downey] A.I. and machine learning...
- 00:42:23they're just tools,
- 00:42:25ones that makes us stronger, smarter, faster.
- 00:42:30[Herr] A.I. will play an increasingly dominant role
- 00:42:33across all the many dimensions of what it means to be human.
- 00:42:36[Downey] There's a good chance
- 00:42:38A.I. will continue to enhance us in ways both known and unknown,
- 00:42:42eventually becoming as invisible as the air we breathe.
- 00:42:46[Herr] That narrative will play out
- 00:42:49across all types of human conditions.
- 00:42:51That will enhance human capability,
- 00:42:54fundamentally change who we are as a human race.
- 00:42:59[Downey] The question then becomes,
- 00:43:02if it does,
- 00:43:04what do we do with our newfound superpowers?
- 00:43:14[dog panting]
- 00:43:16[Ewing] This one's meant to be
- 00:43:19kind of an all-around athletic foot.
- 00:43:21I can run with it, hiking, biking, whatever I want.
- 00:43:25I even use it for surfing,
- 00:43:26'cause it has a good bit of flex to surf with.
- 00:43:30I actually liked the fit so much
- 00:43:32that it's the only one I use now.
- 00:43:35As good as this fit is, it still...
- 00:43:37like I said, high activity days, I get some pressure sores.
- 00:43:40Every night, you have to look over the skin,
- 00:43:42make sure you've got nothing nasty going on,
- 00:43:45nothing growing where it shouldn't be.
- 00:43:48This guy is a gel liner.
- 00:43:51It doesn't breathe,
- 00:43:52but this is what keeps the leg on.
- 00:43:55A lot of, um, amputees
- 00:43:57talk about forgetting that they don't have a leg
- 00:43:59in the middle of the night,
- 00:44:01and they get up in the middle of the night
- 00:44:03to go to the bathroom,
- 00:44:04and then instantly fall on their faces.
- 00:44:06That's only happened to me once,
- 00:44:09but I managed to catch myself before I hit the ground.
- 00:44:12[chuckling]
- Bionics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Prosthetics
- Enhancement
- Superhuman
- Jim Ewing
- Hugh Herr
- NASCAR
- Firefighting