IN A WORLD OF ALGORITHMS, WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HUMAN?

Bragg Member Question 2016

A publication In a world of algorithms, The Royal what is the Institution importance of being of human?Australia 1 In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 2 Contents Editors Carol Perkins Julie LeMessurier 4 Foreword - Dr Paul Willis 4 What is a Bragg member? Art Director/Designer Shawnee Willis Bragg Member Submissions In A World of Algorithms, 5 Dr Alan Finkel AO What is the Importance 7 Professor Lyn Beazley AO of Being Human? 9 Professor Marcello Costa is a publication of 11 Professor Michael Archer AM The Royal Institution of Australia 12 Emerita Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich 13 Peter Gago 16 Professor 17 Adjunct Professor Zee Upton

20 Bragg Member Profiles

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 3 Foreword Dr Paul Willis Director, The Royal Institution of Australia In the third edition of his Systema Natura Carl Linnaeus named our species Homo sapiens. Literally translated to “know thyself”, in bestowing this name on us all Linnaeus was saying that the distinguishing feature of humans against all other life on Earth was our ability for introspection, the still undefinable character of consciousness and the unscientific but meaningful concept of a human spirit. It is this human spirit that has been the foundation for our success. Our ability for introspection spawned curiosity. For the first time in the history of life we could change our environment to suit our needs thus freeing ourselves from the endless iterations of Natural Selection where the environment shaped us. All that we have gained and developed can be traced back to that enigmatic description that Linnaeus so keenly identified; Know Thyself. But, in an age where our technologies greatly exceed our natural abilities, we should take time to reflect on how far this replacement of our human functions can or should extend. Will the digital algorithms that can already outstrip our analog capacities to calculate, remember and organise ever extend to challenge the essence of what it is to be human? Can artificial intelligence ever define for us that which we cannot define for ourselves and approximate the functions of the human spirit? When so many domains of our historical activities are being replaced with automation, will there be any space left for the functions of the human brain? Will the rise of technology ever lead to the redundancy of humans? These are deep and profound questions that arise out of the proposition In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? We posed this proposition to some of the greatest minds in the nation, the Honorary Bragg Members of The Royal Institution of Australia. I think you will find their varied and insightful responses will keep you thinking long after you have read them.

What is a Bragg member?

Named after the prominent Australian Pioneer scientists, Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg, Honorary Bragg Membership is the highest category of membership awarded by The Royal Institution of Australia and recognises excellence in scientific achievement and commitment to science communication.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 4 As Australia’s Chief Scientist I have been Dr Alan Finkel AO struck by our knack for finding reasons not to succeed. We are not innovative, our research is average, we don’t collaborate, we’re underfunded, we’re overfunded, life’s so good that we’re complacent, life’s so bad that we’re fearful and boring…There seems to be no data we can’t report in a “Humans are the depressing way. most remarkable Then it hit me that this negativity is not some quirk of the Australian character, synthesis of a lot but part of the human condition, so deeply of tolerable ingrained that we even apply it to the characteristics to business of being human itself. We are not create a whole that as fast as cheetahs, we can’t see like an eagle, we can’t camouflage ourselves like is truly astonishing” a chameleon, we can’t smell like a dog, we can’t dive like a dolphin… If I thought about our country as the sum total of its inadequacies then I too might be tempted to despair. But consider for a moment the positives – unemployment is low, the standard of living is high, and Australia is the only country in the world that can say it hasn’t seen a recession in 25 years. Something is clearly going right! And that something can only be found by thinking of our country as more than the sum of its real and imagined limitations. So too with humans. Yes, we could come up with a miserable list by looking for the outliers in the animal world and comparing our performance on the very things that make those animals exceptional. That would be the wrong way to assess our capabilities!

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 5 Humans are the most remarkable synthesis of a lot of tolerable characteristics to create a whole that is truly astonishing. This is particularly so when it comes to our brains, rightly described by many commentators as the most complex machine in the known universe. If there is any creature out there that might one day come close to the package of features known as a human being, it is the creature that we ourselves are creating – the algorithm. Or call it Artificial Intelligence, or Machine Learning, or Robotics. It’s easy to look at the individual skills embodied in the world of algorithms and conclude it is all over. We will become irrelevant, of no importance; and soon enough, unemployed. But take solace in package deals. Yes, computers are faster and more accurate than us, just like a cheetah runs faster. Yes, image processing software can pick out more details than we can, just like an eagle sees further. Yes, there are algorithms that can learn like we do and beat us in chess. And there are algorithms that can analyse company reports, or compose music or write a short story. There are robots that can drive, others that can climb, still others that can crawl through rubble to find signs of life in collapsed buildings after an earthquake. But put them altogether and all you will have is a highly capable machine. Good luck getting it to go snorkelling, dry off and have a drink at the bar, share some funny stories, then wander over to the lab to discover something new before rushing home to read to the kids. Good luck getting it to enjoy those things. A smarter robot is not a substitute human. And in a world of algorithms, why would I still choose to be human? The answer, friends, is the package deal. The package of features that constitutes a human is special and will remain special for a very long time.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 6 Let’s start by defining the word algorithm: Professor Lyn Beazley AO “a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer”. And now let’s give some examples of their use in our lives. Algorithms underpin the automation that keeps modern life on track on a 24/7 basis. Yet we do not question how computer- controlled automation happens, we take it for granted. We hardly think twice about the automation underlying the processing that “... can algorithms ensures the purity of the water we drink or the safety of the electricity generated and fuel the human distributed to reach our door. Complex spirit? I doubt it” computer-controlled processes are unseen but without them we wouldn’t have discovered the gas fields and extracted their contents to provide the gas with which we cook our food nor could we have produced, processed and packaged the food that forms so much of our modern diet. And where would we be without the algorithms that allow us to use our mobile phones and be part of the worldwide web? Perhaps in years to come, we will take for granted that our car is under remote control. All the present automation seems pretty acceptable to most people (if they even stop to think about it) but the seemingly inexorable advance of automation has down sides at a personal level: remotely controlled mine sites or the oil and gas platforms mean fewer jobs, and impersonal machines replace a person who takes our money at a car park exit or a real human

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 7 who answers that enquiry by phone. At present, at least we interact with a hopefully caring person when we visit the doctor although increasingly computers such as Watson will aid in diagnosis and robots will conduct operations (it’s happening for precision knee surgery right now). When we take to the skies, the plane is mainly under computer control, but how many of us would accept a robot addressing you from the cockpit? These examples begin to address the importance of being human. At a simplistic level, humans are important because their creativity generates the algorithms on which they rely day in, day out. But can algorithms fuel the human spirit? I doubt it. The spirit generates the full range of human behaviour and emotions, both good and bad, that determine human history. These activities span those of a kindergarten teacher to those of politicians and of statesmen and women who determine international relations. And now, with the challenges of climate change and world population increases, wise counsel will be especially important at every level to ensure our planet stays a place we will be happy to hand on to future generations. Algorithms alone can’t do that. Sustaining the planet and the life forms we humans share with it, will need compassion, insight and creativity. Beyond that, humans benefit from the joy of hearing music, seeing a beautiful painting, admiring a stunning building, reading a compelling book, watching a superb acting performance, laughing at a joke or seeing their football team score the winning goal. Not to mention the importance of a sympathetic smile, a kind word or the warmth of a loving embrace. Humans are social animals, we need social interactions. There are just some things algorithms can’t do, and thank heavens for that.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 8

Humanism and algorithms; a millennial-old Professor Marcello Costa dichotomy in thinking about human nature: Pathos versus Logos, emotion versus rationality, Dionysus versus Athena, continuous versus discrete, warm versus cold, Humanities versus Sciences. The divide between the humanities and the sciences, captured mid-last century in ‘The Two Cultures’ of Edgar Snow, reflects “Even at the the human dilemma: to follow the heart or highest levels, to follow the mind. Since Aristotle’s time, these two inclinations were even attributed ‘rational’ decisions to different organs; feelings to the heart are always associated and intelligence to the brain. We still refer with deep feelings.” to these in everyday conversation. Modern neuroscience is beginning to throw some light on the processes behind this apparent dichotomy. Life requires decisions; appropriate neural circuits in the brain help us choose which decisions to make. At the most primitive level, escape reactions save us from immediate harm such as withdrawing a finger from a hot flame (pain reflex reactions). As higher levels emerged during the evolution of the human brain, more sophisticated neural machinery enabled us to navigate amongst contrasting choices. Primordial (sub-cortical) parts of the brain guide our fundamental choices for everyday survival such as feeding, drinking, defence, harm-avoidance etc. These are associated with deep emotions such as hunger, thirst, rage, fear etc.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 9 But even at the highest levels, ‘rational’ decisions are always associated with deep feelings. Goleman’s ‘Emotional Intelligence’ clarifies this unity (http://www.danielgoleman.info/topics/ emotional-intelligence/). The main cause of the ongoing conflict between levels of neurological response – emotional or rational – can be found in the levels of neural integration which have developed during the course of our long evolution. The feeling of being driven by ‘basic’ instincts, while wishing to be able to make free choices, is the main reason for the historical philosophical divide and has spurred discussion of what makes us humans. We are, quite simply, at all these levels, continuously trying to integrate as a unity. Ulysses, in Dante’s Inferno, pleads to his fellow seamen about to go past the Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar), into the unknown “Considerate la vostra semenza: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza”. (Canto 26th vv. 112-120) Consider well the seed that gave you birth: you were not meant to live as brutes, but to pursue virtue and knowledge. We should simply recognise, with Dante, and with the neurosciences, the dual and complementary importance of emotions and rationality in all human endeavors. We should stop creating false dichotomies about human nature. It’s time to remove the unnecessary anxiety which arises every time Humanity develops novel tools and accept that this is a natural state of human existence.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 10 My problem is with the undertone of Professor Michael Archer AM the question which has within it the presumption that there is anything important about humans at all— anywhere, anytime, because there isn’t. Once we weren’t; and at some point in the Universe’s future we won’t be again. That’s it. If algorithms result in our replacement by self-maintaining, self-replicating automatons with a survival instinct and an understandable lack of “[Algorithms] could interest in having fallible, unpredictable, be completely environmentally-destructive, egocentric humans clogging up the place, so be it. rational and They won’t be constrained by the collaborative bucket-load of fears and superstitions in ways that with which we handicap ourselves, or would accelerate self-delude that they exist because some supernatural, imaginary Creator of the self-benefit faster.” Universe loves them. They could be completely rational and collaborative in ways that would accelerate self-benefit faster than we could ever manage. We are an interesting (to us) biological experiment by Life, an eminently forgettable organic chemical diversion seemingly unable to avert self-destruction. From the point of view of the rest of life on earth, and for any automatons that may succeed us, that will almost certainly be a change for their better. Nevertheless, until that day comes, like the drugged inmates of a lunatic asylum, we may as well just keep on smiling!

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 11 My take on this is that the value of being Emerita Professor human is that we are the first that have the Patricia Vickers-Rich brain that can manage the Earth - and as curators we need to protect and sustainable-ise it. I think by all means we need to reduce population and in future try to develop local communities who talk and work together rather than have commuters to large urban centres, to be sure that we do not do away with human production to robots and instead of firing and retrenching we just need to make the working conditions better and worker-pleasant and innovative places. “Robots cannot do Robots cannot do what humans can do what humans can do with innovation but even if they could we with innovation” do not need to replace humans with robots. A good level of population in future would be two billion or less - and humans can do that in a couple of generations, if we have the will to do it without wars and disease.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 12

Case Study: … Wonder … Why. Peter Gago

WINEMAKING

Grapes to wine. No, we humans alone are still not required for this transformation, maybe the ultimate in ‘value-add’! Nature provides both raw material and necessary catalysis — vines, grapes, yeast, fermentation. Left to its own end, this biochemical transformation will produce “so many variables, ethanol, and other ‘things’, desirable and so many unknown... otherwise. Wine? Sort of. there could never Is man’s oenological intervention required to divert fermentation away from an oftentimes be too many for any volatile end into an elixir of incomparable algorithm? Or can flavour, structure and complexity? there?” One step back - vineyards & viticulture. But not in time - a vine remains a wild creeper. Not built to manufacture grapes for winemaking, but to grow and spread and make bright sweet berries attractive enough for birds to help propagate seeds. And yet viticulturists do plant great vineyards, cultivate fruits, orchestrate harvest, and Mother Nature does dictate great vintages and disastrous vintages. The World of Fine Wine - so many variables, so many unknown – agreed, there can never be too many for any algorithm? Or can there? Finite? As oft queried, Viticulture & Economics … sciences?

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 13 TASTING

Without humans to taste and sense, a wine’s ID — its colour, aromas, textures & tastes - remain trapped/ unrealised. An algorithm’s role? And what of the role of the senses as a launching pad for inquiry? Sensing and appreciation gives rise to curiosity, wonder and the search for answers. Specifically, when it comes to wine: what is a good wine? what is quality? what is a wine of place? These are questions that since the beginning have driven winemaking into new regions - applying new techniques, adopting new ideas, imposing new standards. Encapsulate a wine in a number, a score? While algorithms might ultimately help to solve vinous problems, they cannot ‘wonder’ them, they cannot construe value judgements nor conjure the random reasoning to make such inquires.

JUDGING / MEASURING

How to measure the unmeasurable? How to define quality? All current attempts to apply an objective measure are limited, not because we do not have the right algorithm, but because much of what individuals assess or appreciate in wine is subjective. Every person brings their own conscious, subconscious, and physical tasting apparatus. Perhaps a different algorithm for every individual? Further, wine’s greatness lies shrouded in an ethereal aesthetic. Advances in winemaking technology mean it is reasonably easy these days to detect fault, improve quality, achieve balance.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 14 of greatness are harder to find and even more difficult to replicate. Crafting House Styles, respecting ‘sense of place’ - intuition, taste, articulation – the art of wine. Wine’s greatness lies hidden in the minds of its creators, encrypted in the cellars of its collectors, well away from the reach of algorithms. Until opened. No spectrophotometer can measure wonder.

CULTURE

Wine has been with us for countless centuries. Many roles. Many stories. Yes, more than a beverage. How does an algorithm define wine culture? Great wines hold a place in a country’s wine narrative, mirroring the rewards of creativity, courage, innovation and often a healthy rebellious spirit. Collected, traded, shared. If an algorithm could even measure this meaningfulness and its link with the human condition, it would surely report that it is so important to a culture that it cannot be replaced or explained by code or formula.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 15 The concept of freedom of choice is Professor Tanya Monro intoxicating – it gives us some sense of agency in our lives, and when choice is limited, the quality of life we experience is diminished. That said, I know that it wouldn’t take a very sophisticated algorithm to predict with reasonable accuracy the majority of our actions on most days! Being human is about making decisions “Being human is in the absence of complete information as well as making decisions that are, frankly, about making illogical, but which give us pleasure. If our decisions, ...that choices were made algorithmically, would are frankly illogical, anyone eat junk food? Being human is a but which give us powerful mix of choice and creativity – allowing us to craft the future we want for pleasure” ourselves and our children.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 16 Algorithms are permeating, shaping and Adjunct Professor Zee Upton disrupting almost all aspects of our world. It is the mathematics that helps us access information quickly on the internet, keeps spam emails at bay, informs and controls traffic flow, assists Uber to connect cars, drivers and passengers, enables Alibaba to be an inventory-less global shop, and provides automated reasoning, accelerated decision-making and efficiencies in a range of situations and “humans [are] the applications, fundamentally changing the most sophisticated way we conduct business and go about our lives. With the ascendancy of algorithms and complex and their associated ability to fast-track machine-learning automation, fears are commonly voiced algorithm to date” around job losses, demise of traditional industries, invasion across geographical boundaries, cyber security, and the ascendancy of global conglomerates, with those who have the fastest algorithms being the “winner” and the controller of power. The more recent growth of algorithms that facilitate “intuitive” artificial intelligence, such as Google’s AlphaGo, which won against the Grandmaster “Go” champion earlier this year, or MogIA, which accurately predicted the last four US presidential elections, will also have increasing impact on us all, potentially raising yet more issues and fears. MogIA, like most algorithms, analyses millions of data points to find patterns and create predictions. In MogIA the data is collated from public platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, which in turn raises critical questions around

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 17 quality - the outputs are only as good as the data you put in. In particular, concerns have risen around how do algorithms account for bias, and will these inherent biases, if left unaddressed, enhance or hinder advancement of society? Take for example the various algorithm- driven predictions that Donald Trump would win the recent US election – these were based on historical data, with the datasets likely biased with characteristics, images and triggers associated with past male US presidents, with no female US presidents in the mix. As raised in the article “Would you let an algorithm choose the next US president”1, were the algorithms trained to ignore gender as an irrelevant characteristic, or was this deficit in the data ignored? Similarly, algorithmic culture relies on the input of humans for their design; hence are the creator’s subconscious beliefs and biases encoded into the algorithms that make decisions about us?2 As stated by John Mannes, “a biased world can result in biased datasets and, in turn, bias artificial intelligence frameworks”. Taken further, will the rise of algorithms reinforce existing beliefs and practices, hinder diversity and become the new “determinism”? For females and other minority groups, and indeed for all those championing equity and diversity, this is worrisome as algorithms relying on historical data will slow reforms around unconscious bias and buttress existing norms. Will algorithms similarly slow innovation, assisting incremental rather than step change? With algorithms increasingly being designed to take over decision- making and doing so in speeds unimaginable and offering little to no opportunity for human intervention, will the wrong pathways of intellectual pursuit be inadvertently followed? Will the serendipity, the curiosity, the imagination and the “wonder” that are often behind major innovative breakthroughs and step change be delivered or mimicked by algorithms, or can we program algorithms to be curious and make magic?

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 18 Would an algorithm have predicted that Alexander Fleming’s bacterial culture plates left out on his bench when he went on holidays would be critical to the discovery of penicillin? Would an algorithm have predicted that Barry Marshall would have the courage, or folly, to swallow Helicobacter pylori to establish, along with Robin Warren, that this microorganism, not stress, spicy foods or too much acid, was the cause of most peptic ulcers? Would an algorithm have predicted that sildenafil, originally discovered as a treatment for various cardiovascular disorders, could be repurposed as Viagra for erectile dysfunction? Would an algorithm have elucidated the way nature knows the difference between left and right, a ground-breaking finding in the field of based on the work of Chien-Shiung Wu, who despite being known as “the First Lady of Physics” was left out when her colleagues were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957 for this work. I suspect not, and at least for now there is still a role for humans, the most sophisticated and complex machine learning algorithm to date. However, this is predicated on the fact that our society needs to be STEM literate so that we can understand algorithms, and their biases, keep up with technology development in this space and participate in an informed way to ensure that algorithms contribute to, shape and positively influence our world. Given the recently released PISA worldwide rankings for maths and science skills in school students3, Australia should be concerned. It must make high quality STEM education a priority of national strategic importance so that Australians can have an important, critically discerning role in stewarding the world of algorithms. 1) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/would- you-let-an-algorithm-choose-the-next-us-president/ 2) https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/28/facebook-am- azon-google-ibm-and-microsoft-come-togeth- er-to-create-historic-partnership-on-ai/ 3) https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in- focus.pdf

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 19 Bragg Member Biographies

Dr Alan Finkel AO Australia’s Chief Scientist

Dr Finkel commenced as Australia’s Chief Scientist on 25 January 2016. He is Australia’s eighth Chief Scientist. Dr Finkel has an extensive science background as an entrepreneur, engineer, neuroscientist and educator. Prior to becoming Chief Scientist, he was the eighth Chancellor of and the eighth President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). Dr Finkel was awarded his PhD in electrical engineering from Monash University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience at the Australian National University. In 1983 he founded an ASX-listed company that made precision scientific instruments used at pharmaceutical companies and universities for the discovery of new medicines. In 2006, he focused and undertook a wide range of activities in Australia. He led the amalgamation that formed the Florey Neuroscience Institutes; he became Chair of the Australian Centre of Excellence for All-Sky (CAASTRO) and was a director of the ASX-listed diagnostics company Cogstate Limited. He was Executive Chair of the educational software company Stile Education, Chair of Manhattan Investment Group, Chief Technology Officer of Better Place Australia and Chair of Speedpanel Australia. A winner of the Clunies Ross Award for facilitating international neuroscience research, Dr Finkel is committed to science education. He co-founded Cosmos Magazine, which in addition to magazine publishing operates a secondary schools science education program. At ATSE, he led the development and implementation of the STELR program for secondary school science, which has been adopted in nearly 500 Australian schools. Dr Finkel also established the Australian Course in Advanced Neuroscience to train early career neuroscientists and is patron of the Australian Science Media Centre.

Professor Lyn Beazley AO

Professor Beazley is the Former Chief Scientist of Western Australia, Professor of Zoology at the University of Western Australia and the Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Professor of Science at . Beazley built an internationally renowned research team in Neuroscience that focused on recovery from brain damage.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 20 Bragg Member Biographies

Professor Marcello Costa

Professor Costa is Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor and Professor of Neurophysiology, School of Medicine, Flinders University. He is active in the field of philosophy of science and education in neuroscience. He is actively involved in several areas within neuroscience research as well as being engaged in public education.

Professor Michael Archer AM

Professor Mike Archer has been Curator of Mammals at the Queensland Museum, Director of the Australian Museum and Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales where he’s now Professor in the UNSW PANGEA Research Group. His research includes the World Heritage fossil deposits at Riversleigh, conservation through sustainable use of native resources and DeExtinction efforts to revive extinct species. He has supervised 85 research students, produced 315 scientific publications and received awards including Fellowships in the Academy of Science, Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science and Member of the Order of Australia.

Emerita Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich

Professor Vickers-Rich is a geoscientist with research programs in Ediacaran palaeobiology and polar biotas (dinosaurs and mammals) of the Cretaceous period. She works in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, in the Faculty of Science, Monash University. Her research spans a broad swathe; she co-ordinates large research teams, including the UNESCO International Geosciences Program investigating the origin of Animalia, the Ediacarans. She is a Research Associate at the Museum of Victoria (1998-present).

Peter Gago

Peter Gago is Penfolds Chief Winemaker, a role he has held for 15 years. A science graduate of both the Universities of and Peter has leveraged and optimised his studies of to produce & evangelically promote Australia wines across the Planet. He maintains that this is not too difficult a feat when armed with and other heavy-hitting classics. Peter is the recipient of many Global awards but treasures The Winemaker’s Winemaker Award – the second ever bestowed – in Düsseldorf, by The Institute of Masters of Wine and his global winemaking peers.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 21 Bragg Member Biographies

Professor Tanya Monro

Professor Tanya Monro is Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation and an ARC Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow at the University of South Australia. Tanya was the inaugural Director of the Institute for and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) from 2008 to 2014 and was also the inaugural Director for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) at the . Tanya is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian Institute of Physics. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s Commonwealth Science Council (CSC), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the AAS National Committee for Physics and the South Australian Economic Development Board. In 2015, Tanya was awarded a Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. In 2014, Tanya was awarded the Beattie Steel Medal of the Australian Optical Society and in 2012 the Australian Academy of Sciences’ . In 2011, Tanya was named South Australia’s “Australian of the Year” and the Scopus Young Researcher of the Year. In 2010, she became South Australian Scientist of the Year and Telstra Business Women of the Year (in the Community & Government category). In 2008, she won the Prime Minister’s Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year. Tanya obtained her PhD in physics in 1998 from The University of , for which she was awarded the Bragg Gold Medal for the best Physics PhD in Australia. In 2000, she received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton in the UK. She came to the University of Adelaide in 2005 as inaugural Chair of Photonics. She has published over 500 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and raised over $140M for research.

Adjunct Professor Zee Upton

Professor Zee Upton is a Research Director in the Institute for Medical Biology in A*STAR in Singapore, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. She is a biochemist by training, a tissue engineer, an inventor and entrepreneur whose research has led to the listing of a company on the ASX and the establishment of the Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre. She is passionate about ensuring research delivers and champions inter-disciplinary approaches, believing that innovation frequently arises in the “white spaces” between disciplines.

In a world of algorithms, what is the importance of being human? 22