WHAT: Optimizing Natural and Artificial Assets to Thrive in a Hybrid Society

Wrapping up while connecting the dots this chapter is an invitation to counter cognitive dissonance rather than condoning it. Reframing the human–machine relationship from competition to complementarity to cooperation we look at the implications of value-driven leadership in the relationship between humans and technology, with a prosocial perspective. In targeting a positive-sum “Win4” dynamic, individuals can proactively influence, and reshape hybrid social norms through their own behavior. Times are changing, and so do people and the society they belong to. A winner versus loser perspective is outdated; it has been taken for granted, and needs a reassessment in the cohabitation with AI. Located in the micro (individual), meso (community), macro (country), and meta (planet) arenas, 4 sample prototypes illustrate that technology that is designed and delivered to bring out the best in people and planet can make a difference towards individual well-being and the Common Good in a mutually beneficial manner. The Benevolent Brain and Body Buddy (B4/micro) is an AI-powered device tailored to help individuals understand and optimize their own organism; the Agency Amid AI for All curriculum (A4/meso) combines literacy of natural and artificial intelligence for people and teams across generations, starting in schools; the SAM 4.0 (macro) analyzes horizontal and vertical interplays across the m4-matrix to inform policymaking and programming; finally the Inspiration Incubator (i@i/meta) offers a safe space for thinkers and doers to connect, curate, convey, and co-create technology that brings out the best in people and planet. Each of them illustrates what prosocial AI is and could be if it was driven by humans that align their aspirations and actions, taking a stance of agency. Agency empowers humans to deliberately set the stage for the world they want, neither because nor despite technology, but alongside it. We return to the A-Frame to find how its augmented version expands to include the two features that are the cause and consequence of Agency: Authenticity and Ability. Closing the loop with the universal principles that were explored in Chapter 1 (change, connection, continuum, complementarity) we look at the complementarity of seeming opposites, to discover that zeniths and nadirs are relative, and transitory. This reframes the perspective on past, present, and future prospects, and opens the window to the stories in Annex 1, which paint three scenarios of the world that could be.