From killer robots to sex robots to worker robots to companion robots, the second machine age is here. Join us for a discussion with some of the most fascinating thinkers in the field about how robots and AI will shape the future of labour, war, the environment, and human relationships. This workshop is free and open to the public.

When: March 31 – April 1, 2017     Where: Atrium 101, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS

For information and to register, see our Cyborg Workshop website.

Speakers:

Kathleen Richardson, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

• Author: An Anthropology of Robots and AI: Annihilation Anxiety and Machines
• Director: Campaign Against Sex Robots
• Talk: “Property Rights: Sex Robots, Chatbots and the Rights of Machines”

Patrick Crogan, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

• Author: Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation and Technoculture
• Talk: “Killer Robots: Artificial Thought, War and Environment”

Louis Chude-Sokei, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

• Author: The Sound of Culture: Diaspora and Black Technopoetics
• Talk: “Race and Robotics: An Uncanny History”

Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

• Author: Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions
• Talk: “Robot Futures: Reflections on Technocultures of Humanlike Machines”

Illah R. Nourbakhsh, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

• Author: Robot Futures and Parenting for Technology Futures
• Talk: “On the Collision of Robot Ethics and Robot Futures”

John Long, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

• Author: Darwin’s Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology
• Talk: “Evolution Ain’t Revolution”

Despina Kakoudaki, The American University, Washington, DC

• Author: Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema: the Cultural Work of Artificial People
• Talk: “The End of a Difference: Robot Narratives for the 21st Century”

Vikram Chandra, University of California, Berkeley, CA

• Author: Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty
• Talk: “The Pleasures of Ambiguity”