Creativity makes man worthy of the name | Hiromu Yakura| TEDxKids@Chiyoda

They say that human's jobs will be replaced by computers in a rapid technology-developed society. Hiromu Yakara, a high-school programmer talks about his efforts and how to survive in this era.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Hello, everyone.
My name is Hiromu Yakura.

I started programming
when I was in the seventh grade.

I've worked as a programmer since then.

I have some experience in attending
the defense readiness condition,

which Mr. Shinoda talked about
in the second session.

As a programmer, I am often asked,
"What is your favorite subject?"

It is a very common question.

They often say,
"You like math, don't you?"

Actually, I like social studies
such as ethics, politics and economics.

I think very few people
can't visualize clearly

what these studies are, especially ethics.

Put briefly, I like "history of ideas."

What is "history of ideas"?

It teaches us the history
of our thoughts

such as "what makes us human?",

or "what makes the world?"

By learning what human beings
have thought in the past,

we discover the rules
of the human beings and the world.

We learn how to to relativize
the relation between humans and the world.

That's what the history of ideas is about.

Thales of Miletus said:

"Water is the primary
principle of nature."

What he means exactly is that
the world is made of water.

According to Heraclitus of Ephesus,
"Everything is constantly changing."

You see, many people have thought
many different things

about the world and humanity.

I've studied such history.

I was especially attracted

by the idea of Hegel,
a German philosopher.

His thought covered various fields

from human spirit to patriotism,
history or esthetics.

I like his systematic modelization
of different things.

To modelize is to organize various
things related by logical coherence,

For instance, Newton elicited
the "law of gravitation"

by the fact that when you release
something, it falls down on the earth,

and that the earth goes around the sun.

He made up a logical modeling.

Actually the procedure of modelization
is quite similar to programming.

Take a car navigation system
as an example.

you car is most probably equipped
with a navigation system.

it finds your easiest and best route

What makes this possible

is the modelization
of actual roads and traffic jams,

in other word, a mathematical
mechanism makes this possible.

Computers will find routes successfully.

Hegel has developed
a modelization method called "dialectic".

Let me explain very briefly.

If there is a "thesis"
and its "antithesis",

the model doesn't believe any,
nor criticize them.

It reviews the contradiction
and makes adjustments.

It extracts more essential metaphysics.

That is the dialectic.

One idea occurred to me
when I learn this Hegel way of thinking

What happens if we apply the concept
of Hegel to this era?

We live in the world, in which computers
will take the place of human.

So I wonder what could happen.

Let's take an example.

This is a past problem
in the entrance exam of an university.

If we solve it by ourselves,
we calculate on a paper like this

and finally figure out the solution.

But if you access to "wolframalpa.com"
and enter the formula,

you will receive the solution instantly.
In addition, it provides a graph.

No wonder you don't feel
motivated to study.

Another example is Larry Page, Google CEO.

He said, "Robots and computers
will replace our jobs

due to rapid AI development."

According to a thesis
by the University of Oxford,

robots will replace
47% of American jobs in 20 years.

In the case of data input,
the probability rises to 99%.

For referee and
insurance certification: 98%.

Robots will replace all these people.

I get back on track.

Owing to the AI, machine learning
or robot engineering,

technology potential is
dramatically spreading.

What should we do
under such circumstances?

Should we be pessimistic
about no meaning of existence

or shall we be free
from work alienation?

None of them are correct according to me.

I have a new way of thinking.

So we need to compare the differences
between human beings and computers.

This copy android of Dr. Hiroshi
Ishigiuro was made by him,

the czar of humanoid robot research.

He explained the significance
to make this type of android

that he can review "what human are"
by spending time with close android.

Another example is

the theoretical experiment
of virtual musicians.

The experiment has the objective
to test the assumption

whether we can be moved by music
composed by computers.

What do you think of that?

We are moved by music that we acknowledge
has been composed by computers,

it means that we are moved
by the content of the music itself.

But our very knowledge that the music
was composed by a machine

could prevent us from being moved by it.

In this case, it could mean that
we are moved by the existence of a human

whose feelings are translated
in the music itself.

We are moved when Usain Bolt made
the world record in the Olympic Games.

But we are not moved
when cars run at the same speed.

We could say it's the same phenomena.

However, we may be moved

when we learn about the
tremendous efforts and difficulties

overcome by the computers
to compose music.

In this case, we could say
that we are moved

by the story of the composing machine.

What is the meaning of comparison
between human beings and computers?

I think that we try to move
our hearts with computers.

Now I want to introduce
one of my actual research.

We have developed a program designed
to find the theme of any music.

Do you know what theme of music is?

Briefly speaking, it is melodic climax.

Generally most musics are composed
by combination and repetition

of "A melody", "B melody" and "theme".

So how does the program find the theme?

I first thought that finding
the repetition would make it.

The program finds out the repetitions.

Based on the aforementioned rules,

it detects melody A and melody B
and infers that it could be the theme.

That is how conventional
programs are working.

But this method has reached its limit.

A factor that made it reach
its limit is "Vocaloid",

a software to compose music.

It doesn't matter if you are
a professional composer or not,

this software makes composition easy,
even for amateurs.

The result is that much
unique music is created.

So many musics don't follow the rules.

And most of them are posted on "Niconico",

video sharing website.

It means that there is no limit
to the length of the music.

We can compose various kinds of music

from very short to over 10 minutes.

As a result, I can't use
the method I had been using until now.

So I created a new method
to detect themes more accurately

by analyzing the comments posted

with the musics on Niconico.

Put simply, I extract the major elements
from the comments,

and look for the theme parts
that are related to the comments.

That's the idea.

I attended a science and technology
convention for high school students

and received a "Minister award
for science and technology policy" for it.

It is a mouthful award.

I could also attend an Intel convention
as a representative of Japan,

where I received the "award
of Fondazione Bruno Kessler."

That was the technical part of my talk.

I would like to talk about the emotions
I felt during the process.

It's about the boundary
between what human beings can do

and what machine can do.

Combining the comments to the music

is grounded in the idea
to link the music to a human being.

Even when you combine it to the comments,

it is not always possible
to detect the theme.

But usually, we find it.

So for me, the theme opacity
is filled with humanity.

We are developing technologies
more and more in our time.

It is my conviction that there are things
that only humans are able to realize

under the well-developed
technology society.

I think that we find the answer
to our survival

in the very boundary
between humans and machines.

A philosopher said:

"Alienation of labor causes
the alienation of human by human,"

He thought "working" is what makes
man worthy of the name.

But I think

"creativity" is what makes
man worthy of the name.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)