Guest lecture by Orit Halpern at Muhlenberger Center for American studies on June 26th 2023: Financializing Intelligence: Neural Nets, AI, and Economy

Guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Orit Halpern

"Financializing Intelligence: Neural Nets, AI, and Economy"

Abstract of Lecture

“In this talk I will examine the historical relationship between the automation of decision making, freedom, and democracy after the 1970’s. The central focus will be on conceptions of decision making and collectivity. Through an examination of financial technologies, economic thought, architecture, and aesthetic practices, I will examine how concepts of democracy and intelligence were transformed through novel technical practices and ideas. I do so to trace a historical genealogy of how freedom and democracy came to be linked to self-organizing, networked intelligences, and non-conscious decision making. Analogous to this development is also the shift to ideas of democracy and freedom as not averse to, but supported by, machinic decision making in both people and machines. At stake is the question of how democracy and citizenship moved from being envisioned as demanding consciousness and effort, to an equation that envisions freedom from thought, and convenience, as political freedom.” (Prof. Orit Halpern)

Where and When:

Max Planck Institut für Ethnologische Forschung

Advokatenweg 36, 06114 Halle (Saale)

Main Seminar Room

26.06.2023 at 12:00

Everybody is welcome to attend!

Organized by Prof. Dr. Patrick Vonderau