Peace and Conflict Studies draw its value and insights from the political upheavals that have unfolded in history. It is at the same time a call to social justice and accountability given that the problem of violence is also rooted in uneven systems and power play in the various aspects of human society. The critique of Juichiro Tanabe on liberal peace building is a pioneering work. If democracy must be functional and functioning, then the people themselves should feel the changes and put their leaders to task to bring actual reforms and enable ordinary folks to live together in harmony, while not oblivious to the threats lurking in the horizon.
The world faces two types of existential threat. The first apparently is climate change while the second only came into light quite recently - Artificial Intelligence. Climate change is the single reason for most of the natural disasters to date while the impact of AI is slowly being felt in the many aspects of human life in the global village where humans and machines intersect. The influence of the modern science of computing in contemporary human society is enormous, beginning with the novel work of Alan Turing and Geoffrey Hinton's pioneering studies on deep learning. This can be seen in the rise of AI and its immense influence in much of our modern ways of life.
In 1957, Richard Feynman started a revolution by talking about the potential of nanotechnology in changing the course of humanity. Mickio Kaku predicted that AI would take over much of what we do today. It is clear that emerging technologies pose a tremendous challenge to the world as well as the potential to help solve our problems. There are hard facts that we need to contend. With OpenAI's ChatGPT, learning modalities and teaching come to a standstill in terms of a practical response. Critical theorists say that algorithms dictate online behavior and controls how people engage with each other in the virtual world. The repercussions are plenty. Big Tech is out there to generate billions of dollars in profit while the digital divide between North and South remains.
While a post-modern philosophy of technology would admit that the human body is a mediated reality, the effects of our gadgets and devices on human interactions are wanting in terms of an ethical framework. The work of (Weckert and Bayod 2023) suggests that local wisdom and indigenous paradigms can be integrated to the modern way of life. Going back to nature is an important aspect in the survival of the human species. Ecological sustainability is a critical vantage-point where the advances of AI can be integrated to help improve the quality of life.
The unveiling of modern technology as a standing reserve reveals so much about the depths of Martin Heidegger’s critique of calculative thinking. It is in this sense that we invite researchers, graduate students, ethics and philosophy teachers, law experts and policy makers, development theorists, and other scholars to reflect on the role of emerging technologies in relation to the challenge of ecological sustainability in contemporary human society.
Hope to see you in the conference!