December 3, 2025
Who Owns the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination
Ruha Benjamin
Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University,
2024 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Award” winner
Who Owns the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination
Ruha Benjamin
Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University,
2024 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Award” winner
Ruha Benjamin and Shirley Satterfield, introducer
Minutes of the 12th Meeting of the 84th Year
President George Bustin called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM. Frances Slade led the invocation.
A moment of silence was observed in honor of Old Guard member Dr. Tom Davidson, who died on November 20th.
151 persons attended, including four guests: Sandy Sussman introduced by Ron Schnur, Jeff Griesemer introduced by John Cotton, Chip Ford introduced by Henry Von Kohorn, and Kathleen Cassidy introduced by Marcia Snowden.
Kathryn Trenner read the minutes of the November19th meeting.
President Bustin announced the renewed availability of Old Guard scarves and ties; he announced that the new online directory has gone “live”; and he announced that the list of speakers for winter 2026 has been finalized and will be available to the membership next week. He congratulated Program Chair Barry Breen on the work of the committee.
President Bustin announced that next week's speaker will be Professor Kim Lane Scheppele whose topic will be the Rise and Fall of Constitutional Government
Shirley Satterfield introduced the speaker.
The theme of Professor Benjamin’s dynamic talk was her concern that as we move into the age of AI, we risk losing our humanity. She began by saying that we need to “unlearn” certain characteristics relating to the world of technology that many of us take as givens: intelligence as merely smartness; innovation as synonymous with social progress; technology as guided by its own will; imagination not as daydreaming, but envisioning what is possible.
Professor Benjamin posited that the general western belief that human nature is inherently selfish belies much evidence to the contrary. We’re told that we’re self-interested by nature, and so we justify acting selfishly. All of this relates to findings that technology as it is being employed is not neutral: facial recognition software leading to false arrests, triage systems rationing healthcare, hiring and firing algorithms automating discrimination, and more.
The move fast and break things culture breaks people and places in the process. She asks what values, knowledge, investments, and desires are guiding our shared future? She says that another AI, ancestral intelligence, meaning cultural knowledge and know-how, is being lost, and another AI, abundant imagination, is not being utilized. Professor Benjamin referenced a study of 1,600 children given a creativity test, which showed that over the years imagination is schooled out of us.
In an interactive exercise with the audience, she invited us to imagine spending resources on free public transportation vs. space travel, affordable housing vs. data centers, and so on. She says that we mass produce realism at the expense of boldness. As examples of the lack of humanity in our social structures, she pointed out public benches around the world are designed to keep people uncomfortable and apart and massive investment in data centers is at the expense of energy and clean water.
What can counter this trend of absence of humanity and community in the face of technological progress? Professor Benjamin highlighted some initiatives, such as an effort to build technological independence for indigenous communities through the development of inexpensive micro-data centers and a project that invites people to walk around a virtual Gaza captured with a 360-degree camera, before and after the recent destruction, which she characterized in politically charged terms.
Professor Benjamin summed up by saying that the question should not be who owns the future, but instead how to imagine other ways of being human that reflect our deep-seated interdependence as people.
Respectfully submitted,
Henry Von Kohorn
A moment of silence was observed in honor of Old Guard member Dr. Tom Davidson, who died on November 20th.
151 persons attended, including four guests: Sandy Sussman introduced by Ron Schnur, Jeff Griesemer introduced by John Cotton, Chip Ford introduced by Henry Von Kohorn, and Kathleen Cassidy introduced by Marcia Snowden.
Kathryn Trenner read the minutes of the November19th meeting.
President Bustin announced the renewed availability of Old Guard scarves and ties; he announced that the new online directory has gone “live”; and he announced that the list of speakers for winter 2026 has been finalized and will be available to the membership next week. He congratulated Program Chair Barry Breen on the work of the committee.
President Bustin announced that next week's speaker will be Professor Kim Lane Scheppele whose topic will be the Rise and Fall of Constitutional Government
Shirley Satterfield introduced the speaker.
The theme of Professor Benjamin’s dynamic talk was her concern that as we move into the age of AI, we risk losing our humanity. She began by saying that we need to “unlearn” certain characteristics relating to the world of technology that many of us take as givens: intelligence as merely smartness; innovation as synonymous with social progress; technology as guided by its own will; imagination not as daydreaming, but envisioning what is possible.
Professor Benjamin posited that the general western belief that human nature is inherently selfish belies much evidence to the contrary. We’re told that we’re self-interested by nature, and so we justify acting selfishly. All of this relates to findings that technology as it is being employed is not neutral: facial recognition software leading to false arrests, triage systems rationing healthcare, hiring and firing algorithms automating discrimination, and more.
The move fast and break things culture breaks people and places in the process. She asks what values, knowledge, investments, and desires are guiding our shared future? She says that another AI, ancestral intelligence, meaning cultural knowledge and know-how, is being lost, and another AI, abundant imagination, is not being utilized. Professor Benjamin referenced a study of 1,600 children given a creativity test, which showed that over the years imagination is schooled out of us.
In an interactive exercise with the audience, she invited us to imagine spending resources on free public transportation vs. space travel, affordable housing vs. data centers, and so on. She says that we mass produce realism at the expense of boldness. As examples of the lack of humanity in our social structures, she pointed out public benches around the world are designed to keep people uncomfortable and apart and massive investment in data centers is at the expense of energy and clean water.
What can counter this trend of absence of humanity and community in the face of technological progress? Professor Benjamin highlighted some initiatives, such as an effort to build technological independence for indigenous communities through the development of inexpensive micro-data centers and a project that invites people to walk around a virtual Gaza captured with a 360-degree camera, before and after the recent destruction, which she characterized in politically charged terms.
Professor Benjamin summed up by saying that the question should not be who owns the future, but instead how to imagine other ways of being human that reflect our deep-seated interdependence as people.
Respectfully submitted,
Henry Von Kohorn