"Flourishing Lives, Alienation, and AI"

Abstract

"This is a hybrid event, participants are welcome yo join live or via Zoom. The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation is changing human lives and our societies dramatically. It is estimated that nearly half of all jobs in technologically advanced societies are susceptible to automation and will affect unemployment greatly. The proliferation of a variety of self-moving tools has also paved the way for theorizing the future human condition in terms of post-work. The most recent defenders of this thesis are Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams and their celebrated Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World without Work (2015). There is also theoretical debate surrounding so-called good or meaningful work and its role in a well-functioning society. The distinction between alienated labor and non-alienated labor is essential for the discussion on the role of work for human flourishing. The aim of this conference is therefore to reflect on these dramatic technological changes. The key premise of our reflections is that they should be judged from the point of view of human flourishing broadly understood. One of the most fundamental questions is: how can technology, including AI, contribute to human flourishing and what role, in the current socio-economic regime of capitalist modernity, does it play in keeping alienation intact?"