Human Entities lanches a 2nd edition of a Talk Series
The 2nd edition of Human Entities: culture in the age of artificial intelligence is a series of Public talks taking place in October & November 2017. Free admission, these four talks are organised by CADA in partnership with the Lisbon Architecture Triennale
As self-driving cars appear on public roads, armies of bots engage in bitter cultural wars, and deep learning-based systems beat the best human players at poker and Go, much of the hype about smart machines is starting to ring true. Artificial intelligence is entering everyday life at a blistering pace, and the speed of its advance is even surprising its creators.
More than any previous technology, the deployment of autonomous systems in complex data environments is blurring the boundaries between people and machines. Technological artefacts are no longer merely seen as tools but rather equally active agents in our social relations and part of the underlying substrate that is rewiring many forms of culture. Managed well, artificial intelligence could be a major contributor to social good. But it is anything but neutral. Automation technologies correspond to models of the world which represent the values and assumptions of its creators – the handful of corporations with powerful vested interests.
How can we ensure these new world models are brought back into cultural discourse and that they allow for greater diversity? How can we understand the similarities and differences between human intelligence and that of machines?
Human Entities is a series of talks focused on technological change and its impacts – the ways culture and technology shape and influence each other.
Programme
Talk 1 – Wednesday 4 October
Why stories matter: AI narratives, existential risk, and science
Adrian Currie (NZ/UK), Lecturer at The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, UK
Talk 2 – Wednesday 18 October
Guessing the impact of artificial intelligence
Gonzalo de Polavieja (ES/PT), Researcher at Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Neuroscience Programme, Lisbon
Talk 3 – 8 November
When is innovation not really innovation?
Izabella Kaminska (UK), Author FT Alphaville, Financial Times, London
Talk 4 – 22 November
Mark Coeckelbergh (BE/AT)
Human Entities 2017 is funded by the Direção-Geral das Artes, Lisbon City Hall, and NOVA LINCS, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.