Helga Nowotny, sociologist: "The metaverse will be a time machine"

The metaverse will be a digital time machine powered by predictive algorithms that will influence the decisions of humanity that, to calm its yearning for certainty, runs the risk of seeing a future conditioned that is not really written, warns Helga Nowotny (Vienna, 85 years).

PhD in Sociology from Columbia University, Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology Studies at ETH Zurich, co-founder of the European Research Council and member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Nowotny has traveled to Barcelona to present her book

(Galaxy Gutenberg).

Ask.

Is the human-machine interaction he describes in his book unstoppable?

Response.

Yes. It is a coevolution that has no end.

Two interacting species, in this case humans and machines, influence each other constantly.

Therefore, we are before an open process, which is still in the beginning.

We started to see what we can do with algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Many people are surprised, for example, to see what a machine can produce if it has enough data, such as images or texts, with applications based on artificial intelligence such as GPT-3 or Dall-e.

Today we have reached this point, but tomorrow we will continue to surprise ourselves even more.

Machines are faster than our brains, they learn and can process large amounts of data.

Nevertheless,

Q.

We tend to wonder what will happen in the future.

Will predictive algorithms help us forecast it or make us make wrong decisions?

A.

Humans have been interested in the future since the beginning of time.

But we can't really know what the future holds for us.

Now we have predictive algorithms that are based on data from the past to predict the future, but not everything can be predicted.

The pandemic, which could not be predicted, is confirmation that the future is uncertain.

The algorithms are based on probabilities.

If we believe too much in what the machines predict, we run the risk of agreeing with them, and they are not always right.

The meaning of the future must be given by us interpreting the information that the machines give us.

We shouldn't be afraid of them either, because when we are afraid we become paralyzed.

Inaction and passivity is the worst option.

Q.

Like inaction in the face of the climate emergency?

A.

Exactly.

Surely we must act.

The positive part of predictive algorithms is that they can help us make better decisions, which are very necessary in the field of sustainability.

A specific example would be that of energy consumption, which can be planned if the available data is well analysed.

The problem is that scientists know how to manage uncertainty, with an orderly skepticism that allows progress, but politicians do not.

Q.

What effects does digitization have on the transformation of society?

A.

The most important is the impact on work.

Some jobs will disappear and others will be created.

Here the main challenge will be regulatory.

And it is that, if a machine rejects you, you cannot appeal anything.

That is why it is so important to regulate everything that has to do with artificial intelligence.

In the United States they are skeptical when it comes to regulating.

In China, regulation is subject to the will of an authoritarian power.

Europe, which is halfway, has started with data protection, with a good legal text but difficult to implement.

You have to regulate as much as possible and go step by step, especially in the field of transparency of the algorithms.

Q.

Given this lack of regulation, is the power right now in the hands of the technological giants?

A.

True.

It is necessary to see what are the points of intervention.

Currently, we are focused on data privacy, yet people are still agreeing to give away their data to Big Tech.

Paradoxically, on the other hand, during the pandemic, all the countries had problems managing data on health trends.

Q.

Why do you think our perception of time is changing?

R.

Technology makes us live immersed in a time machine.

And this causes a change in our perception, with a feeling that the present is expanding more and more.

Images from the

they allow us to see now what happened millions of years ago.

The past is coming to the present.

And the same goes for the future with predictive algorithms.

We feel that everything happens in the present.

That's the time machine.

The past comes to the present and the future too.

The metaverse, therefore, will be a time machine.

Q.

With the data you have, do you dare to predict what the future will be like?

A.

No, because it is impossible to know.

I hope that with the help of science we can convince ourselves that we only have one planet no matter how much we explore others and that we learn from past catastrophes to do things better.

But the future is not written.

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