On 4 April at 9.30 a.m. you are invited to the international conference "Thriving Life, Alienation and Artificial Intelligence" organised by the MRU Centre for Aristotelian Studies and Critical Theory (ASCT). The conference will take place in CR I-414, in English, and there will also be an opportunity to participate remotely.
The event will address the current developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation that are dramatically changing our society's understanding of current and future developments. Studies estimate that almost half of all jobs in technologically advanced societies are likely to be optimised, contributing to the growing unemployment rate. The aim of this conference at MRU is to take stock of these dramatic technological changes.
The basic premise of the ASCT Centre is that AI and forms of automation must be seen in terms of human flourishing. The conference will ask how technology, including the AI, can contribute to human well-being and what role does it play in today's capitalist societies, does it support or liberate people from alienation?
This conference is the final stage of the project "Human Flourishing and Alienated Work in the Era of Automation", led by Prof. Andrius Bielskis. The project is supported by the Lithuanian Research Council.
"The biggest threat lies in the idea that AI is omnipotent, that it can tell us how to solve this or that ethical or political problem that only we can solve. The danger lies in underestimating the power of human thinking and creativity, when, out of mistrust, laziness or convenience, we hand over rational decision-making to the AI. Then we will impoverish ourselves as human beings, allowing calculating machines, tools of our own making, to colonise our culture and ourselves. This, and not the supposed omnipotence of the AI, is the greatest threat", stresses Prof. Bielskis.
Anyone interested in attending the conference is welcome to.
The conference programme is available here: https://aristotelianstudies.mruni.eu/?page_id=58
You can join remotely by clicking on the link below:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88137683856?pwd=laHgaeVC4e2jxJknhwCXT9zZ0dZ77A.1#success
You can read more about the issues and relevance of AI in the article: