From killer robots to sex robots, worker robots to companion robots, the second machine age is here. Join us for a discussion with some of the most fascinating thinkers in the field about how robots and AI are shaping the future of labour, war, the environment, and human relationships. This workshop is free and open to the public.
While the fields of artificial intelligence and robots are propelled by both fiction and science, scholars in these fields rarely meet. This interdisciplinary workshop brings together a diverse, international group of thinkers from science, the social sciences, and the humanities to discuss robot futures.What are the limits of the machine-animal analogy? How is the animal not like the machine, and vice versa? Should robots be extended rights? Are dreams of the second machine age and an investment in the technological future compatible with animal environments? How do robots get gendered and/or racialized in fiction and in the industry? How do the robot and the animal differently write the autobiography of the human? How do social robots affect the understanding of what it is to be human?
And, of course, where does science meet fiction?
This event was held March 31 – April 1, 2017. For the summary and proceedings, go to SocialRobotFutures.com.
Supported by Saint Mary’s University, including: the Vice President, Academic and Research; the Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research; the Dean of Arts; the Dean of Science; and the Department of English.
Supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
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