About

In our present era, the alleged division between humans and technology is becoming increasingly tenuous. Human beings are deeply entangled with technological systems that shape social relations, political institutions, economic life, ecosystems and the planet we share. Technology mediates our interactions with the world and with each other, and it increasingly participates in the constitution of subjectivity, agency, and collective life. As AI and other technological systems expand in scope and capability, long established understandings of responsibility, governance, and the human require renewed critical attention.

Recent national and European policy developments have emphasised the need for trustworthy, human centred, and socially beneficial AI - a framing that is itself notably anthropocentric. In this context, technological mediation must be examined in relation to public trust, democratic accountability, regulatory frameworks, social inclusion, sustainability, and the cultivation of digital literacy and skills. This in turn emphasises that the development of technology is inseparable from questions concerning legal oversight, data governance, bias, institutional design, economic transformation, and environmental responsibility - the last of which points to tensions within a policy discourse that centres human benefit while grappling with broader ecological consequences..

The objective of this one day multidisciplinary conference is to bring together academics to explore what it means to inhabit a technologically mediated, more than human world under conditions shaped by rapid advances in technology. Crucially, we seek to foster rigorous dialogue on the ethical, political, social, and ecological implications of technology within contemporary societies.

Conveners:

Professor Christian Colombo, Department of Computer Science

Professor Maria Pisani, Department of Youth, Community and Migration Studies

Dr Niki Young, Department of Philosophy