European Parliament Presentation – Reasoned Pro-Enhancement Case

Presentation given 15 mins ago on human enhancement technologies….

Climate for Change (FACT 2009, March 13-31 May)

Here’s the press release for FACT’s first major exhibition of 2009, curated by Heather Corcoran. Looks like I’ll be getting involved for the final event on May 9th, 2009. We’ll also bring Heather and some of the residents at FACT from Eyebeam New York for the IMDE event on Social Media and Healthy Environments on March 17th. Get in touch if you’d like to attend.

NEWS RELEASE
Climate for Change
13 March – 31 May 2009
(private view 12 March)

For its first new exhibition of 2009, its UNsustainable year, FACT is proud to present
Climate for Change, a unique experiment in activism, engagement and networking,
examining the multiple crises affecting the planet – ecological, financial, food and
housing. From peak oil to peak credit, Climate for Change seizes the moment, and
asks how do we respond?

In Gallery 1, a range of groups will take up residence in an environment created from
the leftover building materials from 2008’s Capital of Culture year. The networked
activities of Merseyside and beyond will become a key part of the experiment, as
FACT hands over the keys to the door and becomes a hub for meetings, socials,
discussions and workshops, supporting grassroots networks to practise and imagine
new models of governance and organising – live in the gallery space. Dealing with
topics as diverse as the Transition Town movement to underground nightclubs,
Climate for Change speculates that distributed networks who share methods of selforganising are the most important tools we have for responding to sustainability.
Underpinning this action will be a number of artist-led activities. In Gallery 1, New
York’s Eyebeam Art and Technology Centre stages its Sustainability Road Show – a
series of hands-on workshops and activities that are both playful and social,
highlighting Eyebeam’s strong media lab culture built around tinkering, hacking,
making and doing.

Artist Stefan Szczelkun presents his Survival Scrapbooks. Originally published in the
early 1970s, the Survival Scrapbooks are DIY manuals for autonomous living,
covering topics from “bio-diesel-making” to “increasing your chi”. Loosely formatted
and intended to be re-edited in a pre-internet information-sharing format, the books
will form the basis for workshops and discussion in Gallery 1.

Mute Magazine Contributing Editor Anthony Iles revisits the magazine’s Climate
Change issue – Mute Vol 2, no.5 It’s Not Easy Being Green from May 2007 to update it
in light of changing perspectives on finance, capital and current affairs. Iles will
curate a discussion and screening series that runs throughout the exhibition.
Meanwhile, The People Speak and renowned think tank New Economics Foundation
will unveil a new facilitation format that creates a dynamic conversation around
sustainability and climate change.

In addition, Gallery 1 will house a loose and rotating line-up of artists working in
Liverpool and beyond, including British-born Chinese artist Kao-Oi Jay Yung, activist
Nina Edge and artist-led environmental group The Gaia Project in partnership with
L@tE.

In Gallery 2, FACT presents Melanie Gilligan’s film Crisis in the Credit System.
Originally commissioned and produced by Artangel Interaction, the fictional four-part
drama explores the bizarre scenarios and disturbing conclusions employees from a
major investment bank come up when they are invited to role-play a future-facing
strategy for today’s unstable financial climate.

Berlin-based art duo Nik Kosmas and Daniel Keller (AIDS 3D) will unveil Forever, a
new installation alluding to a post-apocalyptic future where our machines remain as
beautiful relics of our former glory.

Copies of a spoofed New York Times newspaper, created by thousands of volunteers
and originally distributed in November 2008 – but dated July 4, 2009 – will get a
further outing at FACT.

In the Media Lounge, Copenhagen-based art and architecture collective N55 set up
SHOP, a unique exchange area with its own alternative economy, where visitors can
swap, borrow or use donated items.

FACT’s Atrium will become the drop off point for The Ghana Think Tank. A
collaboration between artists Christopher Robbins, John Ewing and Matey-Odonkor,
the project asks visitors to submit their problems which will be given to a network of
Think Tanks established in Ghana, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Ethiopia and Serbia to
‘solve’. Afterwards the artists will enact the solutions.

Notes to Editors
FACT’s new online arts channel, FACT TV (www.fact.tv) will stream video highlights from Climate for Change and related content throughout the exhibition’s run. Artists involved in Climate for Change: AIDS 3D (USA), Eyebeam Art and Technology Centre (USA), The

Ghana Think Tank (USA/Ghana), Melanie Gilligan (USA), N55 (Denmark), The People Speak (UK), Stefan Szczelkun (UK), The Yes Men (USA), Kao-Oi Jay Yung (UK), Nina Edge (UK), The Gaia Project (UK).

UNsustainable
In 2009, Liverpool’s Year of the Environment, FACT responds with UNsustainable – its own theme for the year. FACT asks: is the way we live UNsustainable? Examining sustainability from an artistic perspectivein a series of exhibitions designed to illustrate how humans can be invested in the change needed to protect our civilization. Is society itself becoming unsustainable?

SHOP by N55 is a collaboration between FACT and Radiator Festival, Nottingham.
For more information please contact:
Lucie Davies, Press & Communications Officer
T: 0151 707 4405 or
E: lucie.davies@fact.co.uk
www.fact.co.uk

Human Enhancement in Brussels (2009, Feb 24)

February 24, 2009
Brussels, Belgium

IEET fellow Andy Miah will be speaking at the one day workshop for the European Parliament in Brussels, on Tuesday 24 February 2009

Sponsored by the Rathenau Institute

Human enhancement is the trend to improve the body & mind of human beings by technological means. Examples are the use of “smart pills” to improve concentration or cosmetic surgery. Other examples are selecting embryos that are genetically disease-free to use in an IVF procedure, mood brightening drugs or devices.

These and other technologies promise benefits for the individual using them, but what are the long-term effects? Will human enhancement enlarge social and economic differences? And will the health care remain affordable? Should research into such technologies be stimulated or not? We believe that there are three strategies that the EU could take in response to the challenges human enhancement will pose to the EU. We think that human enhancement raises serious challenges to the EU, and we have identified three strategies that the EU could take to respond to these.

These strategies will be presented by and discussed with experts during the workshop. Some more information on human enhancement, the challenges it poses, the three strategies, and the workshop can be found in the attached information folder.

The workshop is a part of our project on human enhancement. The goal of the project is to provide policy options on human enhancement to the European Parliament. This project is commissioned by the European Parliament and is carried out by ITAS and the Rathenau Institute. We will incorporate the debate during the workshop in the final report.

The workshop will be held on 24 February 2009 in the European Parliament (Rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Brussels). The first part of the workshop will be from 12.45 to 14.15 in room ASP 5F385 and will explore which of the three strategies will be most suitable for the EU. During this part of the workshop, a sandwich lunch will be provided.

The second part of the workshop will be held in room ASP 5G2 from 14.45 to 16.30. In this part, the strategies will be put to the test and will be thoroughly debated – hopefully by you as well!

If you want to attend the workshop, you need to register by sending an e-mail with subject “workshop human enhancement” to info @ rathenau.nl before 16 February 2009. This e-mail should include your name, nationality and date of birth. This information is necessary to ensure your access to the European Parliament and will be treated confidentially.

Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you have any questions about the workshop or our project.

Yours sincerely,

Martijntje Smits and Mirjam Schuijff
Rathenau Institute

E-mail: m.smits @ rathenau.nl or m.schuijff @ rathenau.nl
Telephone: + 31 70 342 15 42

Yours faithfully,

Mirjam Schuijff,
Researcher Technology Assessment
Rathenau Institute

Phone:
(0031) 70 34 21 524

Address:
Anna van Saksenlaan 51
2593 HW The Hague

Postal address:
Postbus 95366
2509 CJ THE HAGUE (NL)

The Rathenau Institute focuses on the influence of science and technology on our daily lives and maps its dynamics; through independent research and debate.

Emotions and Machines

*Apologies for cross-postings. Please forward to those interested.*

1st call for papers:

Conference EMOTIONS & MACHINES
Friday 21st August 2009
University of Geneva, Switzerland

Submission deadline: April 30th.

“As machines get to be more and more like men, men will come to be more like machines” Joseph Krutch

The Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva is organising a one day interdisciplinary conference on Emotions and Machines. Submissions are invited of approximately 4500 words, suitable for 45 minute presentations. In exceptional cases, an extended abstract (1000 words) may be accepted in lieu of a complete paper submitted shortly afterwards.

Relevant issues include but are not limited to:

* The possibility of emotional machines
* Whether emotions are necessary for true AI.
* The ethical implications of emotional machines
* The emotions of human-machine interaction.
* The extension or embodiment of human emotions by machines
* The recognition of emotions by artificial systems.
* The aesthetics of the ‘uncanny valley’ (papers discussing aesthetic issues of emotions and machines are most welcome)

Please note that while we hope to reimburse limited expenses, speakers should NOT expect to have their travel or accomodation expenses paid.

Papers from post-grads are also welcomed (please note as such on submission).

Submissions should be sent to Dr Tom Cochrane thomas.cochrane@unige.ch by 30th April.

Media Art (2008, 4-5 July, Melbourne)

Media Art Scoping Symposium
Vital Signs: Revisited
Media art education at the intersection of science, technology  and
culture
http://mass.nomad.net.au/

Date: July 4th – 5th 2009
Location: Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia

Call for Abstracts – Deadline 27th March 2009

The media/electronic art scoping symposium seeks to explore the
current pioneering educators, artists and scientists who have brought
about the dissolution of boundaries that have traditionally existed
between the artistic and technological disciplines. The symposium will
survey the work of media art educators who have developed new
interdisciplinary curricula, facilities and information technologies.

The symposium aims to add to the media art scoping study via
collaborating between leading universities in Australia currently
conducting research and academic teaching and learning programs in new
media/electronic arts.
The symposium will explore influential theoretical, scientific and
philosophical pedagogies that have influenced the development of media/
electronic arts.

It is the ambition of the scoping project to establish the basis for a
functional network model. Significantly, the establishment of an
online historical database and link to the symposium will provide a
body of information to assist development of appropriate
infrastructure reflecting an approach to training that is in tune with
the distinctive characteristics of the discipline area now and for the
future.

The Mass symposium calls for refereed and non referred papers, posters
on the following themes
•    media art, media art histories and associated pedagogical strategies.
•    media art in the context of contemporary art education.
•    examples of media art, descriptions and analysis of science, media
art and culture.
•    creative practice as research in new media
•    media art innovations in teaching and learning

These would be based on the introduction and infiltration of digital
media, technologies and related pedagogies in disciplines such as Art
& Design, Architecture, the Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences; as
well as examples of interdisciplinarity through art-science-technology
collaborations.

We particularly wish to encourage presentations from and about new
developments in teaching Media Art. Proposals are welcomed from
academics, artists, theorist, and researchers in media art, media art
history, performance studies, literature, film, and science and
technology studies.

Deadline for 200 word abstracts: 27th March 09. Please submit
proposals by email to:
Julian Stadon Media Art Scoping Symposium organizer j.stadon@curtin.edu.au
Abstracts of proposals, panel presentations and posters should be
submitted in either text, RTF, or Word formats.