upcoming > Workshop at “International Research Conference Robophilosophy 2020”

Happy to announce that we are going to offer a workshop at the Robophilosophy conference again!

Robotic and artificial intelligent artefacts are continuously being introduced more and more into the human everyday. Those technologies are understood to be the core drivers in both “Industry 4.0”, the dominant trend in industrial production, as well as in the robotization of office/work and domestic environments. Robots and artificially intelligent technologies get bundled into all kinds of networked, artificial entities meant to be effective agents in complex physical and social surroundings. This may develop into robot cultures just like the industrial cultures of western societies turned towards service cultures a few decades ago.

Due to the pandemic, this development got a severe change in route with a new focus. Latest social developments plea for “social distancing” or even for a “zero-touch society.” While the consequent realisation of these social developments would result in unintended and negative cultural values for many people, it may at the same time accelerate the shift from service cultures to robot cultures – in which distance and untouchability among humans would get automatized – hence become entrenched in society. One of the coming challenges will be to avoid letting social distance become a new cultural value. But paradoxically, at the same time we are faced with the other challenge that calls to introduce robotic and artificial intelligent artefacts as social technologies to bridge social gaps.

Among robotic artefacts, social humanoid robots have the widest cultural implications – actualised by their human-like shape, motions and behaviours.

“Who is mirroring whom? Who is controlling whom?
What are we capable of? What do we want to become?”

International Research Conference Robophilosophy 2020:
Aarhus, Denmark, August 18-21, 2020

https://conferences.au.dk/robo-philosophy-2020-at-aarhus-university/