Proud to be member of the Technical Expertise Committee at the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, along with Kevin Kelly and Charles Ess.

Workshop on November 11, 2016

Plants and Robots. New Directions in Relational Ethics

9-19h, HS 3D. NIG, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, AUSTRIA

Ongoing developments in robotics and plant sciences put pressure on traditional dichotomies like biology/technology, natural/artificial, living/non-living, autonomic/automatic. The blurring of these categories generates new ontological and ethical questions.

Are plants and robots two categorically different phenomena? How are we to think of new possibilities like robotic ecosystems, robot plants, and the networking of non-human intelligences? And how are we to choose, act, and live virtuously when confronting such novelties?

In this workshop, we explore relational accounts as promising ways to cross established borders, re-elaborate distinctions and possibly build new philosophical bridges. We do so by discussing new ways of looking at, thinking about, and engaging and dealing with plants and robots from different perspectives in philosophy, robotics, and art.

Click here for the workshop poster.

On Oct. 11 the Austrian newspaper DerStandard published my article on our technological future. It can be accessed here. The follow-up article where I answer questions posed by readers is accessible here.

As machines take over more tasks previously done by humans, artistic creation is also considered as a candidate to be automated. But, can machines create art?

New Paper in Philosophy & Technology: Can Machines Create Art? To be accessed open access here.

Picture source: folding3hr4j by ellenm1 via Flickr Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

David Gunkel and I had the chance to reply to Michal Piekarski’s response to our article “Facing Animals” published previously in the same journal. The paper is available open access here.

I am happy to announce being a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. It aims to promote thoughtful dialogue regarding the wider social and ethical issues related to the planning, development, implementation and use of new media and information and communication technologies (see link). Will keep you updated about Call for Papers.