Who Gets to Decide? | Teresa Younkin | IdeaTalks 2026

Описание: What happens when a system understands your data but does not actually know you?

In this powerful IdeaTalk, Teresa Younkin explores the hidden tension between systems and stories. Drawing from her decades of experience in healthcare informatics and a deeply personal moment in the ER with her husband, Teresa reveals how even well-designed systems can flatten complex human lives into checkboxes, columns, and averages.

From medical records to census categories to artificial intelligence, we live within systems that simplify us to function. But what gets lost in that simplification? Who gets to define the categories? And at what point do data-driven systems quietly become artificial authority?

Teresa challenges us to recognize the “human moment” inside every system. The moment where agency is born. The moment where responsibility lifts. The moment when someone has to decide whether to question the output or blindly follow it.

This talk is for anyone navigating healthcare, technology, leadership, identity, or decision-making in a data-driven world. It is a reminder that while systems process information, people carry consequences.

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