In a world racing toward automation, a single keynote cut through the noise like thunder in a glass dome. Before rows of scholars flown in from across Asia—NUS, Kyoto, HKUST, AIM— Joseph Plazo addressed the room not as a prophet of AI, but as its conscience.---### His First Sentence Wasn’t Loud, But It Shook the Walls He didn’t come with

In an era addicted to acceleration, one voice dared to ask: what gets lost when we stop thinking for ourselves? At the University of the Philippines, in a hall steeped in tradition and ambition, Joseph Plazo spoke not to impress, but to interrupt.---### The Opening Line That Changed the Atmosphere He didn’t offer promises. He offered paradox.�