Il nucleo umano

From Marconi’s London patent to AI

Neil D. Lawrence

Italian Embassy, London

Communication Bandwidth

  • Human communication: walking pace (2000 bits/minute)
  • Machine communication: light speed (billions of bits/second)
  • Our sharing walks, machine sharing …

From Marconi to AI

  • Marconi made communication wireless and scalable
  • AI makes prediction and decision scalable
  • The question shifts from “can we transmit?” to “what do we transmit and trust?”

Security and Creativity

  • Security: where do we place trust when systems act at machine speed?
  • Creativity: what remains uniquely human when machines can mimic style?
  • Culture is the interface: institutions, norms, and art shape adoption

For sale: baby shoes, never worn

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Questions

  • Where do we place trust when decisions happen at machine speed?
  • What do we want to keep human when imitation is cheap?
  • What can cultural institutions do about AI without blocking innovation?

Thanks!

References

Lawrence, N.D., 2024. The atomic human: Understanding ourselves in the age of AI. Allen Lane.