Ruha Benjamin Talk Reflection Hayden Hubert

Ruha Benjamin Talk

Hayden Hubert

I had the privilege to attend Ruha Benjamin's talk on Wednesday, September 17 at in the Cosby auditorium. I viewed her TED Talk in preparation for the short lecture she gave to the college, and I was blown away. She posed a question that I feel modern media neglects: the downfalls of artificial intelligence (AI). She encouraged the audience to instead tap into our "ancestral intelligence," knowledge we have that is rooted in us, but we don't always realize the power of. Benjamin also pitched a concept she calls "Ustopias," where instead of building the dreams of the wealthiest 5% of people, we instead build up our world to serve everybody's needs. Instead of fantasizing about colonizing Mars, Benjamin calls listeners to improve the communities on this world first. She encourages us to tap into our humanity and empathize more with the issues in communities across the globe.

I truly appreciated the conversational piece in her lecture that featured scholars from the Social Justice Program, LINCS Scholars Program, and the Honors Program. This portion of the talk gave listeners more insight as to what influenced her ideas on AI and "Ustopias" and encouraged us to continue to stand for what we believe in, even if it goes against certain political agendas or what modern media says.