The State of the Internet

On March 9 2023, it is once again time for The State of the Internet, a gathering to discuss the big issues of privacy, platformisation, self-determination and digital rights. This year's lecture will be led by writer, artist, journalist and technologist James Bridle (they/them). Bridle explores how radical technological models can decentralise power.

Bridles lecture 'Other Intelligences' will explore the current state of AI, where it's headed, and how we might think otherwise about both 'artificial' intelligence, and the multiple other forms of intelligence that exists in the world. The lecture is in English.

About James Bridle
James Bridle works as a writer, artist, journalist and technologist. Their artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide. Bridle writes about literature, culture and networks and has been published in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian and the Financial Times.

With a background in computer science, they consider the question of what intelligence is. In the new book Ways of Being, Bridle considers the fascinating, uncanny and multiple ways of existing on Earth. They wonder what it means to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans or do we share it with other creatures? And what can we learn from the intelligence of the natural systems that surround us?

After James Bridle's lecture 'Other Intelligences', we will engage in a discussion with the panel. The panel will be moderated by founder, director, and board member of Waag, Marleen Stikker.

Panel

• Oumaima Hajri is a researcher and lecturer at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam). Her work focuses on the intersection of AI, ethics and society. For the Designing Responsible AI Media Applications project, she is investigating, in collaboration with media organisations, how AI can be applied in a responsible manner

• Špela Petrič is a Ljubljana and Amsterdam based new media artist who has been trained in the natural sciences and holds a PhD in biology, currently working as a post-doc researcher at the Smart Hybrid Forms Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her artistic practice combines the natural sciences, wet biomedia practices, performance, and critically examines the limits of anthropocentrism via multi-species endeavours.

• Chris Julien is a senior research fellow at Waag. Chris is engaged in developing Waag's practices in ecology and artificial intelligence. In addition to his work at Waag, Chris is doing a PhD at Utrecht University titled ‘Ecological Governance: Deep Adaptation Machines’. He is also active for Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands.

Would you like to know more about this event and sign up? Click here.