Uplifting the Whole Universe

Four alumni come together to discuss their visions for the future and how people will fit in

By Lisa Cook

December 10, 2015 • 11 minute read

As part of the Alumni Association's centenary celebration, four alumni were invited to share their vision of the next 100 years during a TED-style talk at Alumni Weekend 2015. About 230 people came out to listen to these speakers share their vision for the coming century - but we weren't satisfied with just listening; we wanted to dig deeper. So New Trail nabbed these four futurists for a conversation that ranged from climate change and eternal life to Star Trek and Independence Day. Turns out, they predict that people will be just as important in shaping the future as technology. What follows is an abbreviated version of our conversation.

Lisa Cook: Thanks for sitting down with us today. I'd like to start with a question that, Kuen, as a self-professed Star Trek fan, you might appreciate. I've always gravitated toward the hopeful vision of the future in the Star Trek series. I mean, the show's premise is basically that our most important goal is to go forth, explore and discover. So I put the question to all of you: do you have a hopeful vision for the future?

Kris Wells: I think I have a hopeful vision of the future, where perhaps we're not fighting wars based on religion, where we are united as a species. Rather than seeing differences as something to be attacked, they are embraced and celebrated. Where we're not a world full of competition, but co-operation.

Shawna Pandya: Yeah, you know, it's funny because I don't think you can escape either hope or competition. When I think of the future, I think technology is going to continue to increase exponentially, but humans won't - and you can't change human nature, especially not within the course of 100 years. So definitely there will be strife and competition and unrest and wars, but I think there will be a lot of good stuff in the future, too.

Kuen Tang: I'm very hopeful for the future. I think we're going to evolve. We're going to open our hearts and we're going to have a certain understanding and empathy toward everybody around us. And therefore our differences won't really make any difference. We need to have hope now in order to have hope in the future.

Curtis Gillespie: I love that … "differences won't make a difference." Did you just come up with that now?

Tang: Yes!

Gillespie: That was really good! I like that. To me the jury's still out on what the future will bring. I mean, I'm hopeful, personally, because I'm an optimistic person, but when I think about the issues and problems we have, they're really, really big. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Wells: I think, for me, the future is the one we want to build, right? We have to have intentionality. The future's just not something that we want to let happen to us.

Pandya: What do you think is going to be the turning point or the catalyst for that to happen?

Wells: Some would say it's a catastrophe - something that happens that forces a rebalance. And either we do it ourselves or something will happen that forces us to adapt. I'd rather be ready to adapt than have to be responding to something else. Right? Sort of the dinosaur/meteor scenario. [laughter] We don't want to have to have a cataclysmic event where it's survival of the strongest, and the fittest are the ones who can be the most adaptable that survive and continue this world.

Tang: What we need is an alien invasion now. [laughter]

Pandya: I watched Independence Day, you know. That was a good catalyst.

Tang: It brought people together …

Wells: With patriotism.

Tang: Yeah, exactly!

Wells: And American …

Gillespie: … jingosim!

Wells: … supremacy. Yeah, and I think that's the difference. We've got to break down the barriers rather than continue building them up.

Gillespie: But even if there is something cataclysmic. Say … 10 years from now, 20 years from now, we come up with a new fuel source and scientists miraculously come up with a way to soak the carbon out of the atmosphere, and then there's no environmental problem. Does that mean everything is going to be OK? We're still going to be people.

Wells: We have human problems.

Pandya: Humans are drama queens. If there's no problem, they will make problems.

Tang: Exactly.

Gillespie: But then what does that mean for 100 years from now? So if it's not the environment, if it's not alien invasion, if it's not some disease, some virus … or even if it is, we're still us. I don't know if there's going to be … that one moment that's going to say, "Hey, we've got that solved." Maybe. I hope so.

LC: So then are humans barriers to progress? Or are they the catalysts?

Gillespie: We're the barriers and the progress.

Tang: I think human potential is limitless. But we put that barrier on ourselves on how much and how far we're willing to go. [looks around at the others with a grin] I'm not using myself as an example, because I'm so great. [laughs]

Gillespie: Limitless. Just limitless.

Tang: Exactly. When I lost everything, when I lost my independence, when I stopped walking, when I couldn't go to places … that's when I realized that I need to work hard to achieve the basics that everybody else has, but as soon as I achieved the basics then I realized that I could do more. I took that limitation off myself. [Editor's note: Tang became a quadriplegic after a 2001 car accident.]

Pandya: I think it's way too early to call humans barriers, because we're just now realizing the power of empowerment, the power of platforms. There are still one billion people who are living in abject poverty and we're still trying to bring them online, give them the Internet, give them smartphones and see what they can do as scientists, as entrepreneurs, as discoverers. And I think it's way too early to just write ourselves off as barriers when we still have so much untapped potential and so many minds that have been waiting to be brought online. So, I firmly believe that we should be arguing and fighting for ourselves as catalysts for progress.

Gillespie: Yeah, but untapped potential doesn't do anybody any good unless you tap it.

Pandya: Exactly. And that's what we're fighting for.

Gillespie: And how do you tap it? That's our challenge.

Pandya: By empowering people: by giving them smartphones, by giving them Internet, by giving them access to massive open online courses, even if they're in the middle of Nepal or Mongolia.

Gillespie: Right. Right.

Tang: But I think it's both. I think you have to recognize there's a barrier first, in order to move forward.

Wells: Yeah, it's taking that responsibility for being an agent of change. We can't wait for other people to liberate us. I always say that when a system in nature reaches sameness it dies and collapses because it can no longer adapt. It's lost its diversity, its resiliency. So the future of us is going to depend on the diversity of our people, the diversity of our ideas, as well. That's where the real hope for me is.

Pandya: In 2115, I hope that humanity is in a place that's so far advanced from where we are now that we're asking ourselves, "What took us so long to get here?" That's my hope for the future.

Gillespie: But where? What is "here?"

Pandya: Here? A place where we're constantly achieving for the better, we're competing against ourselves to better and ensure the longevity of our race. And who knows, it might be by that time that we've established that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and it will be up to us to uplift those races and help them go through their own problems. Who knows?

Gillespie: That'll be the U of A's motto 100 years from now.

Pandya: Uplifting the whole universe! [laughter]

Wells: That's ambitious!

Gillespie: Well, you know. You've gotta dream big at the U of A, right?

Cook: Kuen, I'm going to throw this one at you. Who has the better ability to visualize the future: pop culture or science?

Tang: I think it has to be a mixture of both. If you're dominated from only the scientific side, then you lose the heart, and you lose a lot of ourselves and humanity. But if you're only concentrating on pop culture, what people want, then you miss the scientific advancement.

Gillespie: It would be a really interesting question to ask: how those two are going to intersect in the future. Is science going to become more self-aware about its ramifications? Is pop culture going to take on new technologies? Personally, I would say pop culture. I mean, the thinkers - the soft thinkers - are always going to have a wider perspective.

Wells: I think the keepers of the future are artists. They're the ones who have always had our conscience and consciousness, who tell the stories and the cautions of technology but also remind us of our past - going back to Shakespeare, the drawings on caves, as a way to preserve those messages or those warnings. Or the stories and the dreams.

Tang: I think you need to be able to dream it, then build it. But you have to have the skills and technology to build it in order to fulfil the dream.

Pandya: Einstein has this great quote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." I don't think imagination is the property of only science or of only pop culture. When you look at the best artists out there, they've taken their craft down to a science before they can add that level of extraction or human creativity. And on the flip side, when you look at the scientists who have dedicated their lives to a single gene or genome, they do the legwork, they learn about the nitty-gritty details, but then they add that spark of creativity or imagination. That's where innovations come from.

Tang: [Tang pats Pandya on the shoulder] I like you. [looking at the others] I like you guys, too.

Gillespie: [grinning] You guys want to meet back here in 100 years?

Wells: [laughs] No, I don't want to be back in 100 years. My time will be over and it's time for the next to come in.

Pandya: So there's a good question: If human longevity becomes a thing, if we reverse aging, would you take that offer up? [turns to Wells] Sounds like you wouldn't.

Wells: No, I believe more in the soul as being transcendental rather than the body. So we may come back somewhere on this planet or somewhere else in this universe to learn those lessons we need to know, so you can transcend into something else.

Gillespie: He may not be the person you want to model your life on, but Woody Allen said it would be terrible to have eternal life. You'd never get anything done because you'd always have tomorrow. So, no, I don't want to reverse the aging process. I like having the pressure of knowing there's decreasing time left.

Tang: I think pressure makes us get things done now instead of waiting for tomorrow.

Pandya: Well, selfishly, I'm just so curious about what the future holds, I want to see what the world is like in 2115. The caveat being: do we have the resources to accommodate that? Because I don't want to be there if it prevents someone else from being born. The other thing is, technology changes exponentially but humans are generational, so our ability to adopt new technology is totally different from somebody even four years younger. Would I be able to adapt to the world as quickly as the new generation? So, selfishly, of course I'm so curious to see what the world is like in a century. Does it make sense? Maybe not.

Tang: I don't. I only have 32 years to go, so I'm good. … Like you said, by the time you get there, do you even want to be there? I'm tired right now! I'd like to rest!

Gillespie: They'd better increase the strength of Advil if I'm going to be around to 2115.

Wells: The converse is that question they ask at parties: would you want to know the date of your death? I'm like, no! I go every day knowing that tomorrow, circumstance could change.

Gillespie: I have a question for you guys. Are you optimists?

Pandya: So far.

Tang: I think you have to be in order to live day to day happily.

Wells: For me, it's why I'm at the university. It's about what can we do to build a better world, open minds or to help the public understand the issues before us. I always say universities are society's conscience and we need that freedom to ask those really difficult questions of our policy-makers, our politicians and of ourselves. I hope we don't lose that role in whatever shape a university will take in the future. It might not look like the bricks and the mortar we have around us - I think our relationship to knowledge will fundamentally change - but I think about how we're able to discern what is good knowledge when there's so much information out there. That will be one of the real tools of the future.

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Feature
How We Can Work Together
false
Feature
A Hard Walk
false
Feature
Facing the Painful Truth
false
Feature
More From the TRC
false
Commentary
Fake News and Surviving a Post-truth World
false
Society
A Cultural Space in a Natural Place
false
Did You Know
Salt Could Save Lives
false
Health
Research Rises From the Ashes
false
Did You Know
The Power of his Song
false
Health
A Healthier Future for Women and Children Is Closer Than Ever
Did You Know
For the Public Good
false
Tech
Changing the Game: Why Teaching AI to Play is More Than Fun and Games
Discovery
Research in the News
false
News
News Briefs
false
Living
Beyond the Books in Italy
false
Did You Know
Milk in Tea Can Reduce Teeth Stains
false
News
Campus News
false
News
Alumni in the News
false
News
David Turpin Named Next U of A President
News
University Plans Land Trust
News
News Briefs
false
Just For Fun
Hiding and Seeking Fun
Discovery
Research in the News
false
Did You Know
Alumna in Judge's Seat at Olympics
false
Just For Fun
Superlative U
false
Just For Fun
Raise a Glass for the Bears and Pandas
false
Society
The Accidental Protestor
false
Health
New Horizons in Health Care
false
Did You Know
The Alumni Effect
false
Profile
The New Kid on Campus
false
Health
Mastering Health Sciences Education
false
Discovery
Research VP Wins Top Prize
false
Discovery
Water Bearers
false
Relationships
Team Building
Continuing Education
High School Reunion
Society
Biotechnology Meets Art
false
Living
One Village at a Time
Notes
Alumni in Australia
false
News
Ultra-Sonic Performance
false
Discovery
Hot Tip
false
Feature
Easy Rider Endowment
false
Health
Master Mind
false
Discovery
Cell Mates
false
Did You Know
Mission to Mars
false
Discovery
You Do the Math
photo of a chef sprinkling MSG into a stir fry while cooking on a stovetop
Discovery
Research Aims to Harness MSG’s Ability to Enhance Taste
false
Discovery
Alumni Fuel Economy Amid Tariff Tensions
photo of the Ambassador bridge behind Canadian and US flags
Commentary
What’s a Tariff, Anyway?
Underwater photo of spawning Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) along Kuliak Bay, photo by Paul Souders/WorldFoto
Feature
A Planet Called ‘Sea’
colour photo of Atul Malhotra, dark green background
2024 Distinguished Alumni Award
His Work Helps Patients Breathe Easier
Meteorite
Discovery
How Does a Space Rock Sound When It Hits the Ground?
 Illustration of a woman climbing stairs made of architectural columns
Society
Political Actors
false
Feature
Ground Rules
Conceptual photo of three wooden medallions on a yellow background, icons on medallions represent balance between human and AI morality.
Profile
Five Things I Learned About Making Artificial Intelligence Safe
Teacher working with students on a computer
Tech
Four Tips for Teachers (and Parents) on Using the Latest AI Tools
false
At Home
Your Summer Reading List
Portrait of U of A grad Terris Mah
Profile
Five Things I’ve Learned Through First Peoples’ House
false
Research, Health and Wellness
The Possibility for Change
An illustrated hand holding circuitry in the shape of a brain
U of A in Your Life
Six Tips for Using Generative AI
Illustration of a red car by Sabina Fenn
Just for Fun
Full Speed Ahead
A photo of Robert Bertram
2023 Distinguished Alumni Award
His Ideas Secured Retirees’ Futures
false
Society
Can We Talk?
Humorous illustration of a man reupholstering a couch in his basement
Continuing Education
Sofa, So Good
Razor wire fence against the sky at dusk
Society
5 Things to Know about Decolonizing Canada’s Prison System
Students taking an exam in a classroom
At Work
Five Things I Learned in the Classroom
false
Did You Know
How Sleep Improves Memory
Beadwork U of A crest created by Tara Kappo
Did You Know
Connecting to the Past, Bead by Bead
Illustration of a human body showing nerves and organs
Tiny
Focusing Small for Big Health Benefits
Illustration of classroom with students
Thesis
How a Classroom ‘Flip’ Engages Students
Person shining a light to reveal the unknown
Research
What Quantum Computing Means for You
false
Profile
How to Start — and Finish — Writing a Novel
false
Continuing Education
To Fly the Coop
false
Health
Listen to Your Gut
false
Distinguished Alumni Award
From Class Clown to Actor, Director and Producer
Photo of ramen
Just for Fun
How to Level up Your At-home Ramen
graphic illustration of a person biking with city background
Feature
Reimagining Cities
false
Health
5 Things I’ve Learned About Community
false
Health
Five Things You Should Know About Eating a High-Protein Diet
false
Living
He Said ‘No,’ and It Made Him a Hero
false
Living
Life’s One Certainty
Ingram profile shot
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Great Grads
false
At Work
How to Land a Creative Career
false
Thesis
Dogs Become Us
false
Health
A Flood of Relief for Incontinence
false
Profile
Things We’ve Learned About Leadership
false
Environment
Five Things I’ve Learned About Good Fire
false
At Work
Is There a Fix for Burnout?
false
Just for Fun
Oh, Brothers
false
Health
COVID-19 Culture Shock
false
Walking Together
Our Collective Mother and Why We Should All Care
false
Environment
The Future of Beef is Resilient
false
Just For Fun
Just Sprinkle Some In
false
Society
How to Quit Complaining and Get Involved
false
Walking Together
Understanding Treaties Is Essential to Understanding
false
Just For Fun
The Love Lives of Fish and Humans
false
Continuing Education
How to Be Science Literate
false
Continuing Education
Five Things I’ve Learned About Adapting
false
Health
Hot Take
false
Alumni Awards
Ron Clowes Helped Uncover a Four-Billion-Year-Old Story
false
New Trail 100
The War Years
false
New Trail 100
Six Grads We Wish We’d Met
false
New Trail 100
We Saw It Coming
false
At Work
How to Write a Cover Letter
false
Thesis
What if Here is All We Have?
false
Society
What Does ‘Defund the Police’ Really Mean?
false
Continuing Education
A Weight on My Shoulders
false
Feature
Rapid Response
false
Living
Do You Dream of Being Stuck on Vacation?
false
At Work
COVID-19 Dispatches: An ER Doc’s New Routine
false
At Work
COVID-19 Dispatches: Behind the Screens With a Grade 5 Teacher
false
At Work
COVID-19 Dispatches: On the Front Lines at an Emergency Shelter
false
Relationships
Love in a Dangerous Time
false
Health
How to Help Seniors Feel Less Isolated
false
Did You Know
This Newb’s Playlist Helps You Understand (=Love) Classical Music
false
Thesis
Change How You Think
false
Continuing Education
Bring Out the Boy Scout
false
Just For Fun
A Case of Misattribution
false
Feature
The Power of One (Multiplied by 32)
false
Living
Handmade Tales
false
Continuing Education
Making Solid Contact
false
Did You Know
Healthy Living, North of 60
false
Living
Making Room for All Kids to Thrive
false
At Home
Tiny Gets Real
false
Tech
The Life and Death of a Very Good Satellite
false
Energy
Friction Is a Drag
false
Energy
What’s Coming Up on the Energy Horizon
false
Energy
Old Tech, New Tricks
false
Energy
These Bacteria Eat Gas for Breakfast
false
Money
Eight Ways to Save at Tax Time
false
Health
You Can Be Overweight and Too Lean at the Same Time
false
Environment
How to Keep Unwanted Urban Wildlife Out of Your Yard
false
Living
How to Keep Mom and Dad in Their Home Longer
false
Relationships
How to Have Tough Conversations
false
DIY
How to Make Bitters
false
Living
How to Prepare Emotionally for Retirement
false
Continuing Education
Pickled Pink
false
Living
Whether You’re After Boots, Heels or Loafers, Here’s How to Find the Right Shoe for Your Foot
false
Business
Reverse Mentoring Is Changing the C Suite
false
Relationships
Become a Better Bystander
false
Thesis
Our Daily Bread
Alumni Awards
For a career of coaching excellence
false
Continuing Education
Creature of Habit
false
Living
How to Support a Loved One With Dementia
false
Health
It Takes a Village: Dementia Is Becoming Everyone’s Concern
false
Money
The Six Best Ways to Screw Up Your Retirement
false
Thesis
Does Your Dog Really Love You?
false
Continuing Education
Colouring Outside the Lines
false
Profile
Unexpected Insights From an AI Rock Star
false
Did You Know
4 Things You Should Know About AI
false
Tech
Researchers Create ‘Smart’ Bionic Limbs
Tech
The advance of AI: should we be worried?
false
Money
5 Tips From a First-Time Home Buyer
false
Did You Know
Why You Remember the Things You Do
false
Did You Know
Forget 6 Degrees of Separation
false
Tech
How Handheld Devices Can Cause a Pain in the Neck
false
Profile
Welcome to Stump Kitchen
Illustration of a man looking at an opening in a bookshelf that is shaped like a grad cap by Eva Vasquez
Just for fun
Home Sweet Second Home
Continuing Education
A Shoulder Check On Attitude
Living
Whatsoever Things are True: A place of pride
Alumni Awards
For being a pillar of Little Italy
Alumni Awards
For a Life of Compassionate Service
Alumni Awards
For advocating for women in STEM fields
false
Profile
Community Minded
false
Feature
Exposing Five Myths About Indigenous Peoples
false
Feature
Question Period: Spencer Sekyer, ’91 BPE, ’92 BEd
false
Feature
Moving Forward With the Calls to Action
Feature
The Power of Creative Expression
false
News
Alumni in the News
false
Health
Your Phone Can Improve Your Mental Health
false
Discovery
Remote Electricity
Commentary
'We Need to Work Together. That's How it was Meant to Be.'
false
Just For Fun
Why Mountains Matter
false
At Work
Always Choose Adventure
false
Environment
Aged Ice
News
Campus News
false
News
Campus News
false
Profile
Redefining Ability
Just For Fun
U of A Goes Hollywood
false
Health
Igniting the Body's Immune System Against Cancer
false
Society
A Voice for Young People
Did You Know
Uncovering Campus Treasures
Discovery
News Briefs
false
Discovery
Composing to the Sounds of Space
false
Discovery
Did Hawking say 'no black holes'? Well, not technically
false
Money
Crowdfunding Gives Student Projects a Head Start
false
Feature
Take your kids to a gallery
false
Profile
Where Arts Meets Anatomy
false
Did You Know
Growing Hope in India
false
Society
U of A Comes a Long Way to Show Its Pride
false
Living
Helping People Find Their Voice
false
Did You Know
PAW Project Begins
false
Environment
Cool Literature
false
Discovery
A Mass-ive Discovery
false
News
Sports Savvy
false
Just For Fun
Dodge Ball Redux
false
Just For Fun
Happy 60th Birthday Rutherford
false
Profile
Polar Attraction
false
Notes
Campus Connections
Notes
Press'd Sandwiches
Notes
An Alumni "Operation" in Ecuador
Notes
Top 40 Under 40
false
Tech
The Wayback Machine
false
Discovery
Mussel Man
false
Feature
Hall of Famers
false
Health
Magical Moments
false
Tech
Thinking Big
false
Tech
Sweet Tweet