To what extent have technology and the promise of digital futures co-opted and compromised our sense of self and identity? How can we decolonize digital space or build new digital infrastructure?

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.

Featured speakers include: Dr. Ramon Amaro (University College London), Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble (University of California, Los Angeles, and MacArthur Fellowship Honoree), Jiayang Fan (The New Yorker Magazine) and Nalo Hopkinson (University of British Columbia), Larissa Lai (University of Calgary), Ken Liu (author) and Dr. Kavita Philip (President’s Excellence Chair in Network Cultures, University of British Columbia).

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.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

10–11 AM
On Machine Learning and the Aspirations of Black Being
with Dr. Ramon Amaro

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11:30 AM–12:30 PM
Taking on Big Tech: New Paradigms for New Possibilities
with Dr. Safiya Noble

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1–2 PM
Telling it Like it Is: Spec Fic Writes Worlds
with Nalo Hopkinson, Larissa Lai, Ken Liu and Dr. Kavita Philip

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2:30–3:30 PM
The Question of Taste
with Jiayang Fan

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