Pat Patranutaporn
Appearances
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
So it also changed my perspective on how much time do I have left with my parents and what should I prioritize right now? And thinking about, you know, preparing for that future where my parents might need more of me to take care of them in the future.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
You might think that this is somewhat obvious, but I don't think that it's that threshold when, you know, how old is old enough for you to think about taking care of your parents, right? But this sort of simulation make it clear to me that at one point, I need to start thinking about that. And when it's the future me telling me, it also make it very personal as well.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
I was actually inspired by a cartoon that I watched as a kid. It was actually a Japanese animation called Doraemon. Which is actually the name of the robot that come back from the 22nd century to help a boy who was not very interested in school to discover himself and become the best version of himself.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
And in this cartoon, there was a time machine where the robot companion actually took the boy to see his future self when he is actually grown up and become a scientist. and to help the boy realize his potential.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
So this idea actually stuck with me for a very long time and I start to learn more and do research in this area of future self and realize that there's a rich area of research exploring how we can help people grow and flourish by understanding the future self continuity.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Yeah, there was a study actually by Professor Hal Hirschfield, who we collaborate with, trying to understand this sort of, you know, how do people treat the future self? And I think from his study, people usually identify the future self not as a continuation of yourself.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Because I think if you think of yourself as a stranger in the future, that disconnection could lead you to sort of ignore yourself. that your consequence now would actually lead to you becoming that person in the future, right? So the gap is the thing that we need to work on to kind of strengthening the connection.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Totally. And I think sometimes people often miss this connection. They would think that, you know, their future is maybe driven by some auto factors that they cannot control.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
But I think our research trying to kind of make that connection more clearly and also show that even though sometimes you may not always like, you know, do everything that you want to do, there is a sense of possibility that in the future you'll be okay. in some other way. So I think that converting visualization that we are trying to do with future self is really critical.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
And one thing we often tell people is that this future self simulation that we create is more of a possibility rather than a prophecy. So if you change what you are doing today, there's also a possibility that in the future it could be very different. And we encourage people to actually talk to this system and change the thing that you say to the system and
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
sort of trying to encourage people to kind of go back and forth between the present and the future and reflect on what they actually want to pursue and do in the future.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
No, thank you for making that connection. I think you are really spot on on that. With today's technology, right, we try to make technology that look more like us, speak more like us. We're making technology more humanized. But at the same time, we are also turning, you know, human into some form of machine, right?
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
So in a way, we are creating this paradox where we are making humanized machine and also sort of dehumanizing ourselves.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Totally. And I think in our own work, even the work at MIT, we also think a lot about this question. We wrestle with the question of like, you know, when we make technology, it actually leads us to having negative consequences or lead to sort of the future that we don't want, right?
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
So I think, you know, we try to be critical, but also optimistic at the same time, which I think is rare these days, right? People are either super optimistic or super critical, but I think that the path forward, you know, you need to do both.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Like I became alcoholic after I finished my PhD at MIT. I don't drink. personally, but that version of me was super alcoholic. So it was interesting. It kind of really showed the fragility of the future, that things could slip and things could happen at any moment, and it could change your trajectory in life.
Radio Atlantic
Me, My Future, and I
Right now, I'm living in the US, but my parents are still in Thailand, where I'm from. My future me, at 60 years old, sort of tell me that when you're 60, your parent might actually be very senior, very old, right? And you need to think about, taking care of them. And in one future, my parents already, you know, passed away in that future, right?