DIGHUM lectures: The Science Fiction Science Method

Speaker: Iyad Rahwan, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin

Moderator: Bashar Nuseibeh, The Open University, UK

Can we predict the social and behavioral impacts of future technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, while they are still being developed in scientific labs, or even when they are just imaginations in the minds of a science fiction writer? Such prediction would allow us to guide development and regulation of technologies before their impacts get entrenched.

This talk describes ‘science fiction science’ (sci-fi-sci), the use of experimental methods to simulate future technologies, and collect quantitative measures of the attitudes and behaviors of participants assigned to controlled variations of the future. I present various recent sci-fi-sci projects aimed at anticipating the societal impacts of Artificial Intelligence, and discuss the potential and limitations of this form of science.

About the Series
A roughly bi-weekly seminar offers presentations and panels from worldwide thought leaders. It is typically held on Tuesday afternoons at 17:00 CET. The bidt and the TU Wien are cooperation partners for the DIGHUM lecture series. Digital Humanism deals with the complex relationship between man and machine. It acknowledges the potential of Informatics and IT. At the same time, it points to related apparent threats such as privacy violations, ethical concerns with AI, automation, loss of jobs, and the ongoing monopolisation on the Web.

For this reason, a new initiative — DIGHUM lectures — started with regular online events to discuss the different aspects of Digital Humanism. We will have one or more speakers on a specific topic followed by a discussion, or panel discussions, depending on the topic and speakers. The exact dates will be announced at least two weeks before.

Participate via Zoom
Zoom | meeting: 9638 9928 143, password: 0dzqxqiy

Participate VIA YouTube
Talk will be live-streamed and recorded via YouTube Archive and Resources of Lecture Series Abstracts, Recordings, and Slides from Previous Talks