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Donnerstag, 08.05.2025

Veranstaltungen

Artificial Intelligence, Calculative Reason, and Technical Domination

https://www.eih.uni-luebeck.de/

Lessons from Husserl, Heidegger, and Marcuse - Virtual Ethical Innovation Lecture von Niclas Rautenberg (Universität Hamburg) am 27. Mai (12:00 Uhr, Hörsaal des Instituts für Medizingeschichte und Wissenschaftsforschung, Königstraße 42, sowie online)

The run on artificial intelligence (AI) is also a race for rendering the world quantifiable. As has recently been observed, the ultimate goal of Silicon Valley and its copycats is ‘to capture the planet in a computationally legible form’ (Crawford 2021). This endeavour and thus AI, as revolutionary as they may seem, are not entirely new; in fact, research on AI is only the newest expression of a drive towards mathematisation that reaches back to the Renaissance. This paper draws on the critical analyses of Edmund Husserl and (the later) Martin Heidegger to bring into relief the genealogical origins and the attitudinal patterns underlying mathematisation and calculative thinking.

Firmly grounded in the lived reality of practically engaged people, science and technology progressively obfuscate and lose track of their lifeworldly foundation. Moreover, mathematisation becomes the servant of a (self-)alienating thirst for domination that reduces human beings themselves to mere ‘stock’, ready to be controlled, computed, and replaced. Yet, drawing on these two authors does not suffice to fathom AI’s socio-technical embeddedness. Instead, following Herbert Marcuse, we must turn phenomenology critical and reveal calculative reason’s relation to capitalist modes of production. The insight into AI’s socio-historical conditions of possibility is crucial. Technology is never purely scientific and technical; it is an inherently existential and political matter.

This lecture series features a diverse lineup of speakers addressing critical topics at the intersection of ethics and innovation with a particular focus on issues of artificial intelligence. 

Veranstalter: Ethical Innovation Hub (EIH) der Universität zu Lübeck
https://www.eih.uni-luebeck.de/