When the end SXSW, the question that is most often heard – among people who went and those who didn’t – is: “how was it?”.
I always answer that the SXSW It doesn't end, it's continuous. The festival is a meeting place for thousands of creative minds, curious, intelligent, cultured, sexy and fun people. These are contents, experiences and provocations that are awakened in March and that make you spend the rest of the year reflecting and experiencing the content.
There are questions that go beyond that and make us think for years and never leave our heads. His own campaign SXSW 2024 already posed a philosophical question: “Where is the world going?” “Being human is the next big trend” was already the theme of the French delegation in 2017 and is still very much alive, especially in times where artificial intelligence (AI) is at a rapid pace.
And to reduce anxiety, and avoid falling into the FOMO trap, it is important to know that experiences at the festival are pills of knowledge that will awaken your desire to delve deeper into certain subjects. Whether it's a topic that you weren't able to see, or want to see again, you can consume it throughout the year through the YouTube channels of SXSW, which makes the content of this and other editions available free of charge.
The 10 days of the festival generated a lot of content to watch, podcasts to listen to, books to read, downloads to share and learn from the different perspectives of the Brazilian community and many new AI tools to test. What we experienced in Austin is just a small part of the festival. Therefore, I consider it too early to say, as I am still processing, and this takes time, but I highlight here 5 reflections that are solidifying and represent my SXSW 2024:
1. Artificial intelligence continues to be the star of technologies
The AI theme was present in most of the tracks. It's impossible to discuss the future without talking about her. Something common among the speakers was to talk about how fast it is. Launches that used to be annual or semi-annual are now made weekly and we don't even realize we know and test so many variations, far beyond Chat GPT. Gemini 1.5 (Google AI for text, images and videos), V0.dev (web UI design), Builder.io (website generator), Storyd (slideshow), Sora (video generation), Suno (music creator ), MabLibs AI (word game) among many others were mentioned in several sessions. For Brian Fletcher, CTO at Huge, we will move from the AI phase as a work improvement tool to a real-time personalization phase, based on the user's most accurate information. You will no longer need to specify your style of apartment when looking for one. The AI will propose solutions based on what you like. You can also create original songs with incredible arrangements, in any style, without knowing how to play anything, to give to your loved one. Your friends will also be able to interact with a representation of you, even after your death.
2. Virtual reality increasingly real
No one else can see what you see. The Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest virtual reality glasses, although still heavy and uncomfortable, offer an increasingly real experience. The quality of reality that the authors of the award-winning work “Songs for a passerby” managed to develop is impressive. A breathtaking sensory experience that makes you walk in circles, stepping on a cold floor, with images and sounds at the same time that suggests the melancholic question: am I the one going through the moments, or are the moments passing through me? In the ASTRA mixed reality experience, another highlight, you are transported from Earth to the deepest corners of the Cosmos, as you embark on a quest to discover the main ingredients of life in the Universe. Astra makes you step onto planets and their dark moons in search of future worlds and distant beings in a very real way. It's impressive, but the desire to return to Earth makes you want to end the tour sooner.
3. Being human is the big trend
The future will be driven by people and enabled by AI, said Ian Beacraft at the end of his talk. I'm always in doubt as to whether the emphasis on human creativity and emotions is meant to calm us down, while machines are gaining power, or whether we really are and will be more evolved beings than the ones we are programming. Our ability to feel, to suffer, to love and to enjoy being together still seems unique to us. The problem is that we are sick, trapped by screens, unbridled capitalism and wars that forget the rights of human beings. And as Harvard strategist William Ury said, we are hijacked by our conflicts. We are being kidnapped by tomorrow, by FOMO, by WhatsApp groups. And although longevity is becoming more present every day, life is still very short. Therefore, in the recording of Esther Perel's podcast, comedian Trevor Noah provokes our presence with “What now?”
4. Transition to whom?
We are generation T (Transition), said Amy Web, and we are experiencing a revolution in cycles. So far, nothing new. Indeed, for those who have the privilege of being in Austin, spending between R$20 and R$60 thousand on a 10-day trip, we can say that yes, we are the generation that is having access to a future that has already arrived but is not equally distributed, as the writer Willian Gibson said in 1984. So our responsibility is huge. For those who know the reality of communities and vulnerable areas in Brazil, you know that everything we saw in SXSW is still a long way off. The financial barrier, added to the language barrier, makes it inaccessible for thousands of brilliant Brazilian people to be at the festival and take the stage even more and create the future together with other global thinkers. This year there was the controversy of the Faria Limers' invasion of the festival, in contrast to the small participation of minority groups. Necessary provocations so that we stop pointing the responsibility at each other and each one rethink what they can do to make Brazilian participation more inclusive there and here. There is no shortage of ideas. There is a lack of resources and willingness to delve deeper into the subject. We are all responsible.
5. Earth is still the best planet
Traditionally, the festival's opening session sets the tone for the annual edition's conversations and the SXSW It was right to put two women on stage on the first day to talk about space exploration and poetry, on International Women's Day. Ada Limón, poet laureate of the United States, spoke about the fusion of art and science. Ada wrote a poem for NASA on a plaque on the Europa Clipper, the space probe that goes to Jupiter's second moon to study the environment there. The synergy between two areas that seem so different is due to the fact that both begin with questions and end with more questions. Regarding the survival of planet Earth, answers were given by activists such as Colette Pichon Battle, who emphasized that our big problem is capitalism and our unreasonable consumption model, especially from her own nation, the United States, which destroys the planet. Txai Suruí also used art, with poetry, dance and the singing of his people to raise awareness among non-indigenous people during the festival: “We are children of the forest. We are children of mother nature. We are animals, we are animals and we cannot lose our connection with rivers, with animals, with ancestral knowledge. We need solutions to postpone the end of the world. Not in 2030 or 2050, but now.”
Good reflections to keep thinking. And for you, like the SXSW 2024 still impacting you?
POR 
ENG