Blockchain in Health Research Summit 2019 Georgetown University 27 Apr hosted by Gilles Hilary, Georgetown University and Sean Manion, Science Distributed

1. The Blockchain Future:
Society & the Self
Nicole Tay
2nd Annual Blockchain in Health Research
Georgetown University
April 27th, 2019

2. Carl Jung Martin Heidegger Jane Bennett

3. Carl Jung
● Neutrality of technology, but the folly of man
● Through tech, we lead ourselves to
self destruction
● A divided conscious and unconscious
● Erroneous beliefs:
○ Superiority to nature
○ Man can do everything he wills
● “All haste is of the devil.”

4. “Reforms …by new methods or gadgets, are of course
impressive at first, but in the long run they are dubious and…
dearly paid for. They by no means increase the contentment or
happiness of people on the whole. Mostly, they are deceptive
sweetenings of existence, like speedier communications which
unpleasantly accelerate the tempo of life and leave us with less
time than ever before. Omnis festinatio ex parte diaboli est - ‘all
haste is of the devil,’ as the old masters used to say.”
-Carl G Jung

5. Martin Heidegger
● We perceive technology as a tool to achieve an end
● Technology vs. Modern Technology
● Dasein “being” of objects vs. objects for
exploitation
● Standing Reserve
● Enframing
● We cannot escape the fate of technology, but we can
(1) Question the enframement of our world
(2) “Bring forth” like artists!

6. “The closer we come to the danger, the more brightly do
the ways into the saving power begin to shine, and the
more questioning we become. For questioning is the
piety of thought.”
-Martin Heidegger

7. Jane Bennett
● New Materialism, author of “Vibrant Matter”
● Challenges the notion of human-centered action
● Thing-Power, the vitality of objects
● Places, spaces, things, and humans as “actants” in a
“complex assemblage” with “distributive,
confederate agency”
● What does this mean for us as actants in this
complex assemblage?
● Experimentation as part of political change

8. “The notion of a confederate agency does attenuate the blame
game, but it does not thereby abandon the sources of harmful
effects. To the contrary, such a notion broadens the range of
places to look for sources. Perhaps the ethical responsibility of
an individual human now resides in one’s response to the
assemblages in which one finds oneself participating: Do I
attempt to extricate myself from my assemblages whose
trajectory is likely to do harm? Or do I enter into proximity of
assemblages whose conglomerate effectivity tends toward the
enactment of nobler ends?” (37-8)”
-Jane Bennett

9. Carl Jung
Conscious, unconscious, shadow
Technology is neutral, but with
how we use it, results in
imbalance
Illusion of superiority and power
→ self destruction
Martin Heidegger
Dasein “Being”, enframing,
standing reserve
Modern technology is destructive
...but we can change our
relationship to tech by questioning
and thinking like artists
Jane Bennett
Thing-power, actants, complex
assemblages
No single source of change
Individuals have agency to choose
& influence our assemblages
→ affect distributive agency

10. Byzantine Empathy
A short story by Ken Liu

11. Byzantine Empathy: Characters
Tang Jianwen
Creator of Empathium
● Activist programmer
● emotional
● distrustful of institutions
● idealistic
● trustworthy
Sophia Ellis
Executive Director, Refugees Without Borders
● “hard-nosed” pragmatist
● rational
● objective
● calculating
● confident

12. Byzantine Empathy: Empathium
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

13. Byzantine Empathy: Plot Overview (1/2)
Jianwen experiences
the Muertien Refugee VR
.
.
.
Sophia enters RWB
board meeting
-decline in donations
from donors under 30
Sophia convinces RWB
to join Empathium
Other major charities
join, spiking donations.
.
.
.
Jianwen send out
Muertien VR file on
Empathium network
Emp-holders traumatized;
Muertien Project
successfully funded.
(RWB voted “No”)

14. Byzantine Empathy: Plot Overview (2/2)
Sophia visits Muertien refugee
camp with VR recorder on; gets
caught up in Rebel gunfire
.
.
.
Jianwen helps
Sophia recover
Other VR-propelled
projects win funding
Sophia reveals her plan to
discredit the Muertien Project
with her VR

15. “...Empathy for you is but another weapon to be wielded, instead of a fundamental value of being human. You
reward some with your empathy and punish others by withholding it. Reasons can always be found.”
“How are you different? Why do the suffering of some affect you more than others? Why do you care about the
people of Muertien more than any other? Isn’t it because they look like you?”
She still thinks this is a killer argument. I understand her, I really do. It’s so comforting to know that you’re right,
that you’ve triumphed over emotion with reason, that you’re an agent of the just empire, immune to the betrayal
of empathy.
I just can’t live like that.
I try one last time.
“I had hoped that by stripping away context and background, by exposing the senses to the rawness of pain and
suffering, virtual reality would be able to prevent all of us from rationalizing away our empathy. In agony, there is
no race, no creed, none of the walls that divide us and subdivide us. When you’re immersed in the experience of
the victims, all of us are in Muertien, in Yemen, in the heart of darkness that the Great Powers feed on.”
She doesn’t respond. I see in her eyes she has given up on me. I am beyond reason.
Through Empathium, I had hoped to create a consensus of empathy, an incorruptible ledger of the heart that has
overcome traitorous rationalization.
But perhaps I am still too naive. Perhaps I give empathy too much credit.

16. What responses do you have to the final exchange between Jianwen
and Sophia?
What should be the role of empathy in directing future technologies?
Ken Liu’s version of VR takes “living in someone else’s shoes” to the
next level--Do you think this will help bridge differences or further
divide us?
The Empathium blockchain made it virtually impossible to censor the
file or change it after it was uploaded. Do you think this makes VR
experiences more or less trustworthy? Does it matter?
In a kind of Heideggerian spirit, Jianwen is trying to use Empathium
to amplify the recognized dasein of people in need. But has it worked
or do you think she has given empathy too much credit?
Discussion

17. https://cultivatingalternatives.com/2013/11/28/summary-vibrant-matter-by-ja
ne-bennett/
http://film.ncu.edu.tw/word/Vibrant-Matter.pdf
http://www.jungatlanta.com/articles/fall15-technology.pdf
http://jungiancenter.org/wp/jung-modern-technology/
http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/technology-and-environment/681-t
he-star-in-man-jung-and-technology
http://www.unm.edu/~ithomson/PhgTech.pdf
“Phenomenology and Technological Conconsciousness”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ73WI7cLjM&t=107s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_BxMwRywEk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbuTSzXKgIA&t=274s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q607Ni23QjA
https://breakermag.com/kchain-science-fiction-premiere-byzantine-empathy/
Resources and References