Contemplation for an Age of Artificial Intelligence

Contemplation for an Age of Artificial Intelligence

Led by Dr Marco Schorlemmer

Saturday 20 May

10.30 – 4.00 pm

Cost £30 Concessions £20

Please bring a packed lunch.  Coffee and tea provided.

Research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, yielding computational systems with impressive capabilities. This has brought world-renowned scientists and engineers to voice their concerns about the risks that AI research can pose to the survival of humanity. But, is AI really such an apocalyptic threat? Actually, we can learn a lot from AI research about how we see ourselves as sentient beings. Marco Schorlemmer will argue that AI is not a threat to our survival 'per se', but that we need to cultivate our capacity of intimate inquiry if we are to survive in the emerging knowledge and innovation societies in which AI will play an important role. Actually, AI research (and research in other technoscientific fields) is very valuable for humanity... if done with a contemplative mind.

Dr Marco Schorlemmer Phd is a scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where he has worked on Automated Theorem Proving, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Multi-Agent Systems, and Computational Creativity. Recently, he has acted as scientific coordinator of an EU-funded collaborative project on the theory and computation of concept invention. Additionally, he has been involved in the ‘National Plan for Values’ initiative of the Catalan government, as co-coordinator of its Science group. Marco Schorlemmer is also WCCM’s national coordinator for Catalonia and leads a meditation group at the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.