Please join us for this 2-day in-person event examining Life (in the Age of Artificial Intelligence). This series of panels and discussions will bring together UB faculty and students working in art, computer science, early modern studies, music, public health and more in a multi-faceted exploration of the impacts—both beneficial and detrimental—of artificial intelligence, big data and “revolutionary technologies” on life as we know it.

We are honored to welcome two virtual guest speakers Alison Calhoun (Associate Professor, French and Italian, Indiana University Bloomington), currently in-progress on the upcoming publication The Mechanics of the Passions on the French Baroque Stage (working title) presenting, “Staging Robots: From Cartesian Intelligibility to Enlightenment Dehumanization” and Elly R. Truitt (Department of the History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania), author of Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) as our closing speaker presenting, “Before AI: The Ancient History of Artificial Intelligence.”

CLICK HERE to download the schedule as a printable PDF.

Wednesday | April 6

11:30 am – Welcome Remarks

11:40 am -Session 1 | “In The Wake/In The Break: Recovering the ‘Future as Disruption, or A Pedagogy of the Impossible'”

• Students: Jenna Bradshaw, Alexis Harrell, Joy Lee, and Morgan Li
• Faculty: Dalia Muller (Assoc. Prof, History, CAS), Kenny Joseph (Asst. Prof., Computer Science and Engineering, SEAS), Atri Rudra (Prof., Computer Science and Engineering, SEAS)
• Consultant: Kimberly Boulden

1:15 pm – Music Interlude

• “North American premiere of Florian Zwissler’s Pièce for Theremincello and Live-Electronics”
  Jonathan Golove, Assoc. Prof., and Chair, Music, CAS

1:35 pm – Break | Coffee, tea, and snacks available

1:45 pm – Session 2

• “Practicing Responsible Science through Community Engagement”
  Jennifer Surtees, Assoc. Prof., Biochemistry, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
• “How Do We (know when we have) Persuaded Someone on Social Media?”
  Kenny Joseph, Asst. Prof., Computer Science and Engineering, SEAS
• “Misinformation and Public Health”
  Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter, Research Assoc. Prof., Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions

3:15 pm – Break | Coffee, tea, and snacks available

3:30 pm – Session 3

• “Probable Lives: Calculated Being from Pascal to Leibniz”
  Amy Graves Monroe, Assoc. Prof. and Chair, Romance Languages and Literatures, CAS
• “Staging Robots: From Cartesian Intelligibility to Enlightenment Dehumanization” [Presenting Remotely]
  Alison Calhoun, Assoc. Prof., French/Francophone Studies and Theater, Indiana University-Bloomington
• Respondent: Paola Ugolini, Assoc. Prof., Romance Languages and Literatures, CAS

5:00 pm – End of Day 1

Thursday | April 7

11:30 am – Welcome and Session 1

• “s.w.a.m.p (studies of work atmospheres and mass-production) presents Tardigotchi”
  Matt Kenyon, Assoc. Prof., Art, CAS
• “Nonhumans in the Driver’s Seat”
  Stephanie Rothenberg, Prof. and Chair, Art, CAS
• “Bypassing Misinformation Machines with Storytelling”
  John Fiege, Asst. Prof., Media Study, CAS

1:00 pm – Music Interlude

• “World premiere of James Falzone’s Two Permutations for Solo Violin”
  Performed by Shannon Reilly, Adj. Violin Prof., Music, CAS
  Remarks by composer James Falzone, Ph.D. Candidate in Composition, Music, CAS

1:20 pm – Break | Coffee, tea, and snacks available

1:30 pm – Session 2

• “Before AI: The Ancient History of Artificial Intelligence” [Presenting Remotely]
  Elly R. Truitt, Assoc. Prof., History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
• Respondent: Amy Graves Monroe

3:00pm – End of Showcase

Support for this event is provided, in part, by the new Judith B. Kerman Fellow in Technology and the Humanities fund, established to support graduate student humanities-based research of technologies.