A crowd in excess of 65 people gathered at 
Greenberg Traurig in Palo Alto for the second Lab 1.0 event. The event aims to explore the process of innovation live on stage in an intimate setting where both speakers and audience can share their insights and experiences and engage in an interactive debate.

The evening’s speakers were creator of the 
Bay Bridge Light show Ben Davis and Founder of the Geek Squad Robert Stephens. The thematic discussion of the event was “machines with empathy”, and both speakers did not disappoint, offering sometimes conflicting but consistently thought provoking perspectives on the issue.

Mr. Stephens advocated automation and lauded the convenience it provides as ‘fantastic’. He opined that robots that become sentient would be seen as a threat to humankind and thus would be shut down accordingly. Mr. Davis agreed that robotics are helpful as tools and possess great potential to contribute towards social development, however, they cannot be programmed to feel natural empathy and as such are lacking the vital and distinguishable quality that humans provide.

Both speakers agreed on the astounding potential of automation but provided warnings regarding overreliance on machines. As Mr. Davis remarked “Because we can, we do. Just because it’s convenient doesn’t mean it’s an improvement.”

The 
BABC Northern California would like to thank both speakers Ben Davis and Robert Stephens, Bob Christopher the moderator, all of our sponsors: Panasonic, b|spoke, 20/20 Productions, Highway1 and Founders Space as well as Greenberg Traurig for hosting the event. Finally we offer our gratitude to the audience who helped make this event such a wonderful success!