The Last Human Job in the era of Artificial Intelligence

Brace yourselves Earthlings! This episode features superstar scientist Allison Pugh, Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins and author of the book The Last Human Job. Yes, you didn't know what was left for you to do now that ChatGPT has come to replace you, but in this episode you will find out. All this just after Kalaha explores musical frontiers.

Tickets

• Seated tickets are paid.
• Standing tickets are free and valid until 8pm. This means that you should enter before 8pm and can stay the entire event.
• After 8pm we let people in on a first come, first served basis.

What is the event about?

What does it mean to be human in a world where machines can mirror our words, choices, and even emotions? In a world increasingly shaped by automation, AI, and efficiency-driven systems, what do humans contribute uniquely? How can we best preserve the everyday work of building trust, fostering belonging, and cultivating care?

Social bonds and connection are vital for physical and social well-being. Relationships with other people contribute to longer life, lessen physical pain and can improve mental health. In connection science, researchers document how human connections have important practical effects, helping students to learn or patients to heal.

Allison Pugh, Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University, shows in her research that connective labor – the work of seeing the other- is vital for many jobs, from physicians to teachers to managers. This work helps to create dignity, motivation and understanding for both people involved.

At the same time, researchers in the Future of Work are debating what sort of work might be left for human beings to do, as generative AI passes milestone after milestone apparently going beyond human performance in fields as teaching, medicine, counseling and the law. Some technologists suggest chatbots to be “better than nothing,” they could “free us up” for meaningful work, they can protect people from shame, vulnerability, or the moral gaze of judgmental others.

Yet many advanced industrialized nations already face a “depersonalization crisis,” in which people are not just lonely, but feel deeply invisible, thanks to the widespread reduction of individuals to data, the growing number of scripted interactions and the spread of screens across the economy and civic life. The contradictory trends here can seem bewildering: we are realizing more and more how strongly human connections matter at the same time that we seem to be automating as many of those connections as possible. How do we best understand this paradox? How do we aim for a high touch future, one in which human beings contribute value and derive dignity, purpose and community? This talk will look beyond the headlines and hype to consider how AI reshapes; not replaces our understanding of connection, care, and meaning, and how to best preserve them.

More info here:

https://www.scienceandcocktail...

About Allison Pugh

Allison Pugh is Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the former vice president of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Pugh’s research and teaching focus on how economic trends like inequality, insecurity and automation shape people’s struggle for dignity, honor and social bonds. Her recent book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (Princeton 2024) is a study of work that relies on relationship, and recently won the ASA 2025 best book award. It has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Science and named to several “best of” lists. Pugh has been a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, the Berggruen Institute, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and a visiting scholar in Germany, France and Australia. A former journalist, she has given more than 100 invited talks, and her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other outlets.

About Kalaha

In addition to being an extremely engaging and high-energy live band, Kalaha is known for being eternally exploratory in their search for musical frontiers and geographical spectra. Consisting of drum hero Emil de Waal, guitarist Niclas Knudsen (Ibrahim Electric) and bassist/computer wizard Anders Stig Møller (among others Tim Christensen & Dizzy Mizz Lizzy), Kalaha has managed to create a completely unique universe somewhere between roots, jazz and electronic music. As a listener, one moment you are on a thrilling jazzy car chase through the bazaar in Istanbul, and the next you are floating in the cosmic eternity of space, only to land in a dusty village in Mali. Elements from everything from acid rock and improvised jazz to Anatolian funk and acid techno have been part of Kalaha's expression since their inception in 2013 and have helped secure them, among others, a Danish Music Award and a Carl Prize as well as several nominations. Kalaha released ‘Guirca’ in October 2025, which also encompasses a multitude of genres such as Brazilian Baile Funk, Gaelic folk music, electro-cumbia with a guest appearance by Colombian vocalist Mambe, as well as Nordic and jazzy sensations. The album received six stars in Gaffa’s review.

About Copylfex

Copyflex plays whatever he thinks is the right atmosphere at the time.

Event held in English and with the generous support of the Novo Nordisk Foundation