Life in the Digital Time Machine

It is a truism, albeit an urgent one, that humanity faces unprecedented global challenges. At last, we have discovered the spatial finiteness and vulnerability of the planet, our only habitat so far. Our temporal bearings are also shifting. We cannot escape the present which increases in density, acceleration and openness towards past and future, filled with ever more information from the past and expectations for a future that is already here, but unequally distributed. With access to a huge amount of data, unprecedented computational power and clever algorithms we are in the process of constructing a digital niche. The predictive power of algorithms enables us to see further ahead, opening new opportunities for prevention and shaping the future. Does it also risk a return to a more deterministic worldview once we start to align with the predictive power of the digital time machine? Or can we use it to move towards what Peter Ho calls the governance of complexity?

Speaker Biography

Helga Nowotny is Professor emerita of Science and Technology Studies, ETH Zurich, and a founding member of the European Research Council. In 2007 she was elected ERC Vice President and from March 2010 until December 2013 President of the ERC. Currently she is Chair of the ERA Council Forum Austria, member of the Austrian Council and Vice-President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. She is also Visiting Professor at NTU Singapore. Among other, Helga is Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and continues to serve on many international advisory boards in Austria and throughout Europe. She has published widely in Science and Technology Studies, STS, and on social time. Throughout her professional career, Helga Nowotny has been engaged in science and innovation policy matters and continues to serve as advisor at national and EU level.

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Video Recording

Event Details
Date and Time
20 Nov 2019 (Wed)
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Refreshments will be served after the event at 1:00 PM.
Venue
HSS Conference Room (HSS-05-57)
(View map)
Event Format
Lecture
Series
CLASS-NISTH Lecture Series
Keywords
Governance, Science, Technology, Vulnerability
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