[recordings of this PAST event can be found below]
FREE Online Conference: November 4th & 5th
Presented by The Foothill De-Anza Center For Applied Humanities
The Singularity refers to a time when humanity undergoes a dramatic and irreversible change due to technology. What are the issues of ethics, agency, and social justice as it relates to Artificial Intelligence and Human Beings?
Join us to explore these issues and more. No registration necessary. Zoom links for free entry can be found below.
Thursday, November 4th
10:00 AM: Opening remarks by David Hoekenga (he/him).
Philosophy & Humanities FHDA instructor since 2002.
In this brief presentation, David Hoekenga will comment on how 100 years of science fiction has informed (and misinformed) the questions we tend to ask about AI, and introduce the themes of the conference.
11:00 AM: AI Isn’t Magic; it’s ALL of us, by Daniel Pedraza (he/him).
Daniel is a proud member of the Berkman Klein Center, where he studies the ethical, policy, and legal implications of Artificial Intelligence. He formerly served as a data Innovation Specialist for the United Nations.
In his talk, Daniel will on how demystifying AI can lead to better work by activists and policymakers in seeking a more equitable world through AI. When it comes to social justice and AI, it’s all about knowing what to ask for, and with the right goals, profound things are possible.
Video Recording: https://fhda-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/_XVlOOmf6-wiwso9EMv1GOZXou1P0vnu8iOAhzzpOuGZGakgOS9eZvDJLVva8Jv0.sdymh8C3LhIyn8ES
1:00 PM: AI and Security: How to live in a precarious society?, by DivyaJyoti Rajdev (she/her).
DivyaJyoti Rajdev (“DJ”) is Lead Data Scientist at Cisco Enterprise Networking, where she manages a team of scientists, machine learning, and devOps engineers. DJ has worked with many nonprofits including Medicines360, Tipping Point, and VizForSocialGood.
In her talk, she will discuss how the information we give away in exchange for our music and video recommendations, our navigation instructions, etc. is used. What are the trad-offs? What happens when the algorithms know too much and bad actors exploit this knowledge? How do we minimize negative effects and optimize positive outcomes?
Video Recording: https://fhda-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/7k1OYLkgpIodq3mm20GxnuIkrwPjiPSmq-3ar-l7PzePSZIEucWsyznGivJPcXaI._dGLpjZ7yY2a_OeW
3:00 PM: Roundtable, moderated by David Hoekenga (he/him).
David will moderate a roundtable discussion with FHDA professors regarding today’s talks, and issues of the conference in general.
Video Recording:https://fhda-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/zqBfSv7M_p8yY5mgIIY3nJzVtGtm4ZDGFXGFejt40HMSFxi78u64hUtLelo9Js6T.AaggQOrE-3wut4fe
Friday, November 5th
11:00 AM: Live Q&A With Dr. Sasha Constanza-Chock (they/them).
In their talk, Dr. Costanza-Chock presents an overview of their new book, Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, published by the MIT Press in 2020. The book is an exploration of how we might re-imagine design to be led by marginalized communities as a tool to help dismantle structural inequality, advance collective liberation, and support ecological survival.
1:00 PM: AI and Social Justice in an age of Neo-Liberalism, by Dr. Tony Kashani (he/him).
Dr. Kashani is an Iranian-American author, educator and cultural critic. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Humanities from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is the author of five books on media.
In his talk, Tony will talk about how Neoliberal Market Fundamentalism has become an ethics in and of itself. How did we get here? What role does AI play in this digitally designed and operated ecology? How can we put Ethics back into everyday life? This talk explicates these conditions and is a call for action to turn AI in favor of humanity for social justice.
Video Recording:https://fhda-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/X2ogsBUtjZkq0XJ_LojziWA-Uscf1EsykXIRHJHhKX3cy4N0Fkz7e8HCcZDkpdCT.PuQ5WSFuZXI9aza-
3:00 PM Roundtable and Closing Remarks, by Dr. Mona Rawal (she/her).
Video Recording:https://fhda-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/dU3wLjG2p6oU93hxr_legy2wFidBGZhvJ1AIKYJ_ekSRP4JtD2t-uEAdH7HXSRjJ.fHmPu4mb44tpH1wU