2023-11-16 - LASER Talks Brussels - What is wisdom in a calculated world? Code & Algorithms
LASER Talks Brussels: What is wisdom in a calculated world? Code & Algorithms In the framework of the opening of exhibition ‘What is wisdom in a calculated world? Code & Algorithms’ Panelists: Diego Diaz Kyriaki Goni Ana María Barragán Montero Daniel Pérez Lozano Manu Luksch Moderator: Manuela Naveau Organised: Lucia Garcia Alexandra Dementieva 16/11/2023 IMAL Quai des Charbonnages 30 Koolmijnenkaai, 1080 Brussels https://www.imal.org/en/events/codealgorithms EVENT CONTEXT In programming terms, an algorithm is a sequence of logical steps to solve a problem. Although the first ones we know of appear on tablets from the Babylonian Empire, everything changed in 1842 when the mathematician Ada Lovelace proposed what is considered the first computer algorithm, that is, the first algorithm that could be processed automatically by a machine. Today, we are surrounded by devices capable of executing a multitude of algorithms. Our everyday life is inconceivable without them: they suggest how to get from one place to another, which film to watch or how to translate a word. Algorithms can help us predict a stroke two years before it happens, select crops that adapt to climate change or calculate the shape of 200 million molecules to understand diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson’s. They can also exclude us from a selection process and determine whether we qualify for a loan or health insurance. Invisible and incomprehensible to most, algorithms remain a set of more or less sophisticated instructions with the capacity to generate positive or negative impacts on a large scale, depending on how we design them. We increasingly delegate major decisions to them, which is why it is essential to understand how they work and what ethical challenges they pose. How can we make our humanity prevail in a world calculated, organised and parameterized for algorithms? SPONSORS CYLAND http://www.cyland.org FÉDÉRATION WALLONIE-BRUXELLES https://www.culture.be ADEM http://ademlabo.eu/laser_fr.html
LASER Talks Brussels: What is wisdom in a calculated world? Code & Algorithms In the framework of the opening of exhibition ‘What is wisdom in a calculated world? Code & Algorithms’ Panelists: Diego Diaz Kyriaki Goni Ana María Barragán Montero Daniel Pérez Lozano Manu Luksch Moderator: Manuela Naveau Organised: Lucia Garcia Alexandra Dementieva 16/11/2023 IMAL Quai des Charbonnages 30 Koolmijnenkaai, 1080 Brussels https://www.imal.org/en/events/codealgorithms EVENT CONTEXT In programming terms, an algorithm is a sequence of logical steps to solve a problem. Although the first ones we know of appear on tablets from the Babylonian Empire, everything changed in 1842 when the mathematician Ada Lovelace proposed what is considered the first computer algorithm, that is, the first algorithm that could be processed automatically by a machine. Today, we are surrounded by devices capable of executing a multitude of algorithms. Our everyday life is inconceivable without them: they suggest how to get from one place to another, which film to watch or how to translate a word. Algorithms can help us predict a stroke two years before it happens, select crops that adapt to climate change or calculate the shape of 200 million molecules to understand diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson’s. They can also exclude us from a selection process and determine whether we qualify for a loan or health insurance. Invisible and incomprehensible to most, algorithms remain a set of more or less sophisticated instructions with the capacity to generate positive or negative impacts on a large scale, depending on how we design them. We increasingly delegate major decisions to them, which is why it is essential to understand how they work and what ethical challenges they pose. How can we make our humanity prevail in a world calculated, organised and parameterized for algorithms? SPONSORS CYLAND http://www.cyland.org FÉDÉRATION WALLONIE-BRUXELLES https://www.culture.be ADEM http://ademlabo.eu/laser_fr.html