SXSW made its debut in London, Shoreditch, this year with mixed conferences, installations and musical performances. I, Valeria, 106 Motion Designer and Videographer, found myself in East London to learn from the cross-disciplinary minds and their visions of the future instead of haggling over second-hand cameras.

I had a thirst for knowledge and freshly stretched calves to begin the faster-than-usual London speed walk across venues all week, dodging the usual crowds of tourists and vintage bargain hunters as I became one of the thousands with pink and grey lanyards on the necks of Techno-culture innovators and the businesses who are finding new ways to stay ahead of the curve.

Deepak Chopra on models of realities and the stories we tell ourselves

The first talk to set up my SXSW London week was by the incredible Deepak Chopra, who shared his wisdom on science and spirituality. The conversation was heavy at 10:40 a.m., but I like a challenge and a challenge it was.

Here is what I learned:

From the 7 versions of ‘humans’, we (Homo Sapiens) are the least travelled, less imaginative, and most bound by rules – ouch. We are still incredibly unique to other species (that we know) with our ability to form stories and have an active imagination with no limits. Humans can create ‘models of realities’ that are influenced by our present reality and inspired by older ‘models’ which dictate how wider society functions such as money, GMT and happy hour (why does every venue have a different time?!). These ‘models of realities’ are all forms of stories that we humans have made up and serve no purpose besides telling a wider story that no one knows the ending to. Heavy right?

As existentialism now clouded the warehouse, Deepak instructed the room of what must have been 600 seated people in a group meditation. 10 minutes of sitting silently, eyes closed and deep reflection we were reminded that we are all shared materials, and we should remember that as new models of realities emerge (including technological development and innovative marketing campaigns), we are still simple homo sapiens and all we ever have are stories to connect us.

Deepak was a unique addition to a line-up that consisted of activists, musicians, actors and engineers. His 30-minute lecture left me with a profound sense of peace that, despite the rapid developments of society, technology and culture, we simple humans always crave a good story, and if a story no longer serves its purpose, we can write another.

Thomas Wolf on intelligent use of AI, dreaming, and accessibility of tech

From human consciousness to the future of AI, I found myself in a smaller warehouse with Thomas Wolf leading a lecture on ‘The Future is Open: AI, Ethics & the Next Frontier’.

Thomas Wolf represents the alternative reality of AI, robotics and technology. His foundation, Hugging Face, is creating a new model of reality built on open source and accessible technologies to share with the wider society. He spoke with such passion and sincerity (almost convincing me to buy the $100 3D printed robot arm) on the importance of accessibility. He said that “everyone should be able to participate in AI development” as it presents an opportunity for innovation to become a natural phenomenon, as well as promoting new learning opportunities to whoever is interested.

Wolf kept emphasising that “AI is real”, “AI is our new reality” and “AI poses the question of what it means to be human again”. A refreshing narrative after a few years of forced AI integration and no manual (I am looking at you Whatsapp AI feature). I learned that AI is not going anywhere and if companies will not enforce more responsibility on the products they put out to the world, we as consumers hold a degree of responsibility on how we use it.

AI and robotics are designed to interact and challenge humans in creative ways, not only as a form of quick convenience. We should be using these tools to present challenging issues and promote further innovation through the trust of our creative brains. AI can be a tool to unlock human potential and we should not stop dreaming because it suddenly became easier to do so.

Thomas Wolf concluding message of reassurance – AI is not inherently evil nor should we hold a guilty conscious from the resource waste of using the product handed to us, but we should “apply a bell curve of intelligence” when using these tools as a means of reducing back-end processing and in turn, less waste is made.

I also came to the realisation that if we are all using the same tools, for the same reasons of convivence, how do we stand out of the crowd if not by dreaming?

Poppy Wood on breaking free from the algorithm and embracing diversity and difference

My final insight came from Poppy Wood from Reset Tech, a global non-profit realigning digital media markets and internet democracy. Poppy emphasised the importance of maintaining culture and more regulation on the algorithms, and how these simple math equations have built a digitally curated world of personal views and interests, reinforced.

“If we lose our cultural identity [independent media] as a country, how can we drive innovation?”

If we are constantly being shown, told, and engaged in materials that reinforce our personal beliefs, do we have an opportunity to dream up something new? How can we respond to briefs uniquely if we don’t engage in content that challenges our interests and biases? Poppy Wood and Reset Tech connected a loose fuse I hadn’t realised was off. Technology is great, we are more connected than ever, and convenience gives us space to practice creativity. We are living in the comforts of these new tools and devices, years of data, our interests commercialised and feeds an algorithms that validate our beliefs.

It is also important, now more than ever, to recognise diversity and difference are worth engaging in even if we do not agree with it all. This offers a necessary challenge that drives innovative responses and outputs.

SXSW’s addition to London allowed the city to celebrate its unique story. A story built on enterprise, passion, and distinct cultural identities. The last day of the festival coincided with Eid. Restaurants consistently packed, now closed early and beautiful lights of stars and moons lit the cobbled-stoned roads of Shoreditch and Brick Lane. In that moment, SXSW London demonstrated that our cultural success is in our differences. The mix of restaurants down one road, to the variety of cultural events in one evening. Our large selection of choice and a rich history to lean on. Our unique stories driven by enthusiasm, passion, and sleepless nights in this concrete jungle that we dare to dream a life of entrepreneurship and experiments.

Dreams become stories become realities. The mixed talks on technological development, looking to nature to drive sustainability, music from emerging artists born or later arrived and the first monarch to attend the event. SXSW truly has the London look.