“I’ve rarely been in a room where there have been so many stunned faces in response to the demonstrations and information provided, and furious scribbling of ‘must-do’ actions as a result! Thank you Vincent Murphy for an excellent, thought-provoking and slightly scary presentation!!”
The Future of Text Symposium
I was honoured to accept an invitation to speak at the distinguished Future of Text Symposium hosted at The Royal Society
Subject: Twilight of the Printocene & the Dawn of Ludicity
“Vincent Murphy presents a sweeping historical argument about the transition from print culture (“Printocene”) to a new era of “ludicity” driven by AI and interactive media. He argues that the printing press fundamentally shaped modern institutions—economics, corporations, Protestant work ethic, paper money, contracts—and that we are now experiencing a similarly transformative moment with AI. Murphy contends that most people throughout history lived in poverty with no artistic opportunities, and that the printing press enabled new forms of creative work and economic structures. He suggests that AI will similarly revolutionise human activity, potentially freeing people from drudgery and creating new forms of work and creativity that we cannot yet conceptualise. In response to concerns about AI making humanity redundant, Murphy argues that technology has historically expanded human possibility rather than diminishing it, though he acknowledges we cannot fully envision what the post-print, ludic future will look like. The presentation includes discussions about literacy, the layering of technological capabilities, and the need for historical perspective on technological transformation.
“ Vincent makes AI accessible and easy to understand, he is genuinely passionate about his subject. With a deep knowledge and down-to-earth approach, Vincent made us feel comfortable asking questions, and he confidently addressed all our queries. He was highly adaptable to our needs, ensuring the session was relevant and tailored. Vincent’s insights on leveraging AI to help our businesses as a local authority were invaluable.”
The Big Issue
AI is on an exponential ascent; making ever steeper, ever more transformative progress over ever shortening periods of time. The printing press was the last General Purpose Technology comparable to AI. Its original design remained virtually unchanged for over 200 years yet it enabled The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Enlightenment, Scientific Method & The Industrial Revolution. Whereas the capabilities of AI are evolving exponentially all the time.
The power and scale of exponentiality is almost incomprehensible because for the last 250,000 years we’ve evolved to operate in a wholly linear environment where manageable, gradual, incremental changes take place over discrete, foreseeable, regular & consistent periods of time.
This vast difference between linear and exponential seriously impacts our capacity to both fully appreciate the challenges of AI and to envision the vastness of potential it affords.
“A big thank you for your time and preparation that went into your AI presentation on Friday. It certainly whetted the appetite of your audience and started the conversation about how AI can be harnessed to bring positive change to our schools for both the pupils’ experience and that of our teachers. Importantly, you got across the message about the speed and importance of the changing landscape and the need for us to be part of this process.”
AI’s recent exponential explosive advances in capability allowed me to create this entirely AI version of me with tech that simply did not exist just a few months earlier.
Further exponential advances allowed me to then seamlessly translate and synchronise my words into Mandarin which is just one of over 7,000 languages I no longer don't speak a word of.