Beyond EVE: Events

In AI We Trust. Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 16:31:00 +0200

The inaugural Yehuda Elkana Fellow, Helga Nowotny, gave a lecture at the Central European University, in cooperation with the IWM and the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College. The lecture was preceded by a ceremony to commemorate Yehuda Elkana.

As we move into a world in which algorithms, robots, and avatars play an ever-increasing role, we need to better understand the nature of AI and its implications for human agency. Helga Nowotny argues that at the heart of our trust in AI lies a paradox: we leverage AI to increase control over the future and uncertainty, while at the same time the performativity of AI, the power it has to make us act in the ways it predicts, reduces our agency over the future.

These developments also challenge the narrative of progress, which played such a central role in modernity and is based on the hubris of total control. We are now moving into an era where this control is limited as AI monitors our actions, posing the threat of surveillance, but also offering the opportunity to reappropriate control and transform it into care.

Helga Nowotny is one of the most prominent scholars in science studies worldwide, an area that counted Yehuda Elkana as one of its pioneers and promoters. For several decades Helga Nowotny has been one of the most influential institution builders in European higher education and research. She has worked with European intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and bodies, such as the European Science Foundation, governmental agencies in several countries of East and West as well as independent organizations and committees of scholars. She has taken part in or directly led, the design and establishment of innovative new institutions, such as the European Research Council, Collegium Budapest or Central European University.

The Yehuda Elkana Fellow’s activities are held in partnership with Bard College through the Open Society University Network and supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.

Never apologise, never explain: (How) can AI rebuild trust after conflicts?

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 15:54:17 +0200

Algorithms – and the actors behind them – are surveying and impacting ever more dimensions of our modern lives. They recommend which movies to watch; they calculate risk appropriate credit scores; and they play a role in meting out “just” punishment; to only name a few areas. At the same time, they correct imperfect human decisions and add new informational dimensions to decisions prior impossible. To assess and evaluate the impeding transformations of normative orders in a predictive society, we approach algorithms in light of the juxtaposition of trust and control. Why and under which conditions do – or don’t – we trust algorithms? Indeed, can and should we trust them? Especially because their algorithmic normativity was (not) produced in justificatory fora where trust is brought about in and through social conflicts? But then, how much trust – if any – should algorithms put into us as citizens? For example, do they have to presume us non-dangerous and harmless? Vice versa, how much control do we need to retain over algorithms? And how much control should they exert over us? Can we use algorithms to control the effect of algorithms and thus create a meta-level of trust? Especially in order to negate, or as a matter of fact: to entertain, the freedom to deviate in the algorithmic society?

Prof. Burkhard Schäfer (University of Edinburgh, Professor of Computational Legal Theory)

Opening Remarks by Prof. Enrico Schleiff (President of Goethe University)

Opening Remarks by Prof. Rainer Forst (Speaker of ConTrust and Normative Orders)

Welcoming Remarks & Comment Prof. Klaus Günther (Dean of the Faculty of Law Goethe University)

Convenors: Prof. Christoph Burchard (Goethe University, Professor of Criminal Justice, PI of ConTrust and "Normative Orders") and Prof. Indra Spiecker gen. Döhmann (Goethe University, Professor of Public Law, PI of ConTrust)

Presented by:

Forschungsverbund "Normative Ordnungen" der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, "ConTrust" - ein Clusterprojekt des Landes Hessen, Frankfurter Gespräche zum Informationsrecht des Lehrstuhls für Öffentliches Recht, Umweltrecht, Informationsrecht und Verwaltungswissenschaften und Zentrum verantwortungsbewusste Digitalisierung

Association of German Cities

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 14:20:01 +0100

The Association of German Cities is the voice of cities and the national local-authority association of cities which are not belonging to a county as well as of most cities and towns within counties. As a community of solidarity of cities it represents the idea of local self-government to Federal Government, Federal States (Bundesländer), European Union, governmental and non-governmental organisations. The work and services of the Association of German Cities are primarily geared to the needs and interests of the direct member cities and their citizens. 2030 Agenda: Building Sustainability at the Local Level The German Association of cities initiated for its members the resolution: "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Building Sustainability at the Local Level". Members Cities are invited to sign up a commitment for a sustainable agenda and initiate activities and measures for sustainability. This could be measures like awareness raising, new strategies in politics and administration, reductions of CO2 emissions or strengthening global partnerships.

Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 14:20:06 +0100

The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) is a departmental research institution under the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI). It advises the Federal Government with sectoral scientific consultation in the political fields of spatial planning, urban development, housing and building. Research and development as well as knowledge-based services are core tasks of the BBSR. The scientists: - prepare analyses, expert reports, (governmental/departmental) reports and statements, - accompany technical policy measures and programmes and develop them further, - supervise the research programmes and initiatives of the BMI, - promote professional exchange in networks and committees, - communicate scientific findings through publications, events and websites, - maintain data and information bases for analyses and forecasts A Scientific Advisory Board supports the quality assurance of the Research Institute. The scientific exchange with universities and scientific organizations is further intensified, among other things through an internship program, courses and joint conferences. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

UN Climate Change

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 13:21:28 +0100

The UNFCCC secretariat (UN Climate Change) was established in 1992 when countries adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). With the subsequent adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015, Parties to these three agreements have progressively reaffirmed the secretariat’s role as the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. Since 1995, the secretariat is located in Bonn, Germany. Around 450 staff are employed at UN Climate Change. Secretariat staff come from over 100 countries and represent a blend of diverse cultures, gender and professional backgrounds. At the head of the secretariat is the Executive Secretary, a position currently held by Patricia Espinosa.

Climate Change Conference

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 19:27:28 +0100

The Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB50) will host a wide range of events, meetings, and negotiating sessions that will set the stage for raising ambition to curb greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate resilience-building efforts, and ensure that climate policy is built on a solid foundation of the best available science and knowledge.

Sustainable Fiscal Consolidation

Post Growth 2018 Conference — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 21:04:52 +0100

Chair : Philippe Lamberts, MEP (Greens/EFA)

Panellists: -

Elisabeth Hege, IDDRI, Governance and financing of sustainable development
Gaël Giraud, French Development Agency, senior economist
Marco Buti, European Commission, Director General of DG EcFin

Brain Power for Sustainable Development

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 15:00:35 +0200

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda was a landmark achievement for the United Nations, providing for a shared global vision on sustainable development. The scale and ambition of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are unprecedented and require new and innovative approaches.

A better understanding of the cognitive dimensions of human agents in their individual and collective behavior could be the key to implementing the different goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda in a coordinated manner. The symposium addresses the question of how to strengthen “brain power” for sustainable development and aims at identifying the cognitive preconditions for a successful sustainability transition.

With this symposium, Leopoldina continues the dialogue between science and politics on sustainability and builds on the symposium “The Turn to Sustainability?”, which was held in Berlin in October 2016.