Speculative Futures | On Machine Learning and the Aspiration of Black Being

How well do we understand data analysis and artificial intelligence? In this talk, Dr. Ramon Amaro will discuss machine learning, mathematics and the embedded implications of racial hierarchy. He will take us through a brief history of statistical analysis as a means to reveal how machine learning is complicit in producing discriminatory behaviour.

In conversation with Melissa Karmen Lee, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Dr. Amaro will consider the complex relationship between machine learning and race, as well as the inspirational possibilities of providing alternative approaches to contemporary algorithmic practice.

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Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, the Speculative Futures Symposium examines artificial intelligence and the specific uses of technology in its multifarious dimensions. Across four different panel conversations, leading thinkers of today will explore the ethical implications of technology and discuss how they are working to address these issues in cultural production. Find out more »

The Speculative Futures Symposium is presented in partnership with the University of British Columbia’s Public Humanities Hub, the UBC Library and the UBC School of Information, the English Language & Literatures Department, the President’s Excellence Chair in Network Cultures and the School of Creative Writing, with additional media support from Canadian Literature.

This talk will be presented on Zoom and streamed live to the Gallery’s Facebook account here »

Questions? Submit them during the Zoom presentation using the Q&A function. You can also engage with your fellow attendees and panelists during the event using the Chat function.

New to Zoom? Learn how to register and attend a webinar here »

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dr. Ramon Amaro, Ph.D., is Lecturer (Assistant Professor equivalent) in Art and Visual Cultures of the Global South at University College London (UCL) Department of History of Art. Dr. Amaro’s writing, artistic practice and research investigate the role of race and racism in computer vision and machine perception. His forthcoming book,The Black Technical Object: On Machine Learning and the Aspiration of Black Being (Sternberg / MIT, 2022) is a contemplation on the abstruse nature of machine learning, mathematics, and the deep incursion of racial hierarchy. Dr. Amaro completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Goldsmiths, University of London, while holding a Master’s degree in Sociological Research from the University of Essex (UK) and a BS.e. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Melissa Karmen Lee is Director of Education and Public Programs at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Previously she was on the founding team of Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Art, Hong Kong, and Curator at Large at Slought Foundation, Philadelphia. She has curated two ‘on the cloud’ exhibitions featuring new commissions by YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES and ‘Add Oil’ Machine with Samson Wong and Jason Lam on the articulation of minor languages in Hong Kong. She is a social practice curator and is currently completing her Ph.D. dissertation at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.