Miscellaneous scientific news/publications

The lecture will interrogate contemporary AI through the problem of decision, first by highlighting the always technical condition of human cognition, and then through the question of conflicting norms. Finally, through a critical analysis of predictive AI and parallel developments in Cognitive Science, David Bates will argue that human decision is always a break with norms in moments of crisis, and only human beings are capable of these decisions despite the necessity of technological support.

David Bates is Professor in the Department of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley, where he teaches Intellectual History. His interests lie in the history of cognition, technology studies, and political thought. He is completing a book on technology and thinking, entitled: An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence.

Eva Weber-Guskar is a professor of ethics and philosophy of emotions at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). Currently, she is working on ethical questions in dealing with AI, especially Emotional AI, and on temporal aspects in theories of the good life. She is a PI in the interdisciplinary project “INTERACT! New forms of social interaction with intelligent systems” at the RUB. Prior to this, she held positions in Berlin, Vienna, Zurich and Erlangen and spent one year as a visiting scholar at New York University.

SPEAKER
David Bates, University of California, Berkeley

RESPONDENT
Eva Weber-Guskar, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB)

COORDINATION
Danilo Scholz, KWI

PARTICIPATION
Participants can register for the lecture via e-mail to emily.beyer@kwi-nrw.de by Thursday, 16 December 2021. Participants will then receive the Zoom link.

ORGANISATION
Organised by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) Essen

ABOUT CARTE BLANCHE IV: UA RUHR MEETS INTERNATIONAL GUESTS
Exchanges have always been an essential component of the KWI's activities. We are part of a regional consortium of universities in the Ruhr area and cooperate closely with our local partner institutions. At the same time, our work thrives on an international outlook that taps into debates and developments in the social sciences and humanities abroad. In the new online instalment of our Carte Blanche lecture series, the KWI will provide a platform to bring these two networks into conversation. In each session, an international guest speaker will present original research, which will then be discussed by a scholar from the University Alliance Ruhr.

About the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI):
The Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) Essen, Germany, is an interdisciplinary research centre following the tradition of international Institutes for Advanced Study. In its role as an inter-university institution connecting the Ruhr-University Bochum, the Technological University Dortmund and the University of Duisburg-Essen, the institute works together with researchers and scientists from its neighbouring universities as well as other partners from the federal state NRW and places in- and outside of Germany. Within the Ruhr area, the KWI is a place to share and discuss the questions and results of ambitious research with interested parties from the city and the greater region. Currently, work at the KWI focusses on the following areas: “cultural studies of science and science policy making”, “sociology of literature and culture”, “science communication”, and a “teaching lab”. Projects in the established research field “culture of communication”, as well as individual projects, will be continued. www.kulturwissenschaften.de

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Weitere Informationen:
https://www.kulturwissenschaften.de/veranstaltung/lecture-beyond-prediction-artificial-intelligence-and-the-crisis-of-decision/ Event on the KWI website