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Niet Normaal
Instituut for Inclusive Innovation
Tractieweg 41
3534 AP Utrecht
The Netherlands
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Questions? Requests? We're here to help.
Questions? Requests? We're here to help.
Questions? Requests? We're here to help.
Questions? Requests? We're here to help.
Vistor information maal
Instituut for Inclusive Innovation
Tractieweg 41
3534 AP Utrecht
The Netherlands
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Transformative Talk
30 minute presentation
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Make your event 21st century proof with a thought-provoking talk on creativity, technology and social change.
About our talks
Rutger Bregman, Evgeny Morozov, Bas Haring, Donna Haraway — over the past decade we have created a vast network of thinkers, writers and speakers. Our director Ine Gevers is a regular guest at international conferences such as SXSW, TEDx and Dutch Design Week. We are notorious for adding a big splash of critical thinking to corporates events and conferences. Our interactive talks contextualise and inspire, transforming audiences from listeners to practitioners.
Below is a selection of our most recent topics which include algorithms, AI and the post-truth society. But we are just as passionate and knowledgeable about robotisation, ecological intelligence and disability. No matter the topic, we weave it together with the themes of today: creativity, technology and social change.
Who is the spider in this web?
We interact with them every day, yet they remain invisible. On social media platforms and websites, algorithms decide what we see, how often, and increasingly, even what we think. They operate so smoothly it becomes eerie. Sometimes we even suspect that our smartphone is listening in on our conversations. How else to explain the appearance of advertisements for the exact products we were talking about moments ago?
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Algorithms create a bubble around us. We only see those things that the algorithms decide are interesting for us. That means that multiple realities exist next to each other, drifting ever further apart. A dystopian archipelago is created. It seems that our little island offers us everything we desire, but is that really the case? Are our desires still authentically ours, or are they in fact dictated by algorithms?
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We feed this system with our online behavior. With every click we help build the constantly expanding data web that keeps us trapped. But who is the spider in this web? It's time to meet the algorithms.
Talk 2:
Team Human
​Should we robot-proof ourselves,
or make AI human-aware?
We've almost forgotten, but mankind, in all its diversity, has incredible power. Our vulnerability, individuality, and fickleness make us unique and, despite everything, unpredictable. What's more, when we physically get together at cultural or sporting events, in services, or even protests, we can see that we are more than an individual. We are part of something bigger, a group and an ecosystem.
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With the rise of technology, we have somehow lost touch with the human scale. The scale on which our data are extracted and traded, the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the far-reaching use of algorithms in virtually all aspects of our lives and our planet are almost impossible to comprehend. Yet it is not too late.
We can arm ourselves by becoming 'robot proof' and by making AI 'human aware'. By thinking critically, by connecting wth each other, and by starting a dialogue with the technology that threatens to divide us. Let's claim back our lives. We can't be stopped!
Talk 3:
Fake Me Hard
Your guide to the post-truth society
Thanks to deep learning, computers are gaining a better understanding of who we are and how we think. Artifical intellingence (AI) is already making children's movies
and the first painting by an AI has even been sold. Photos of non-existing people can be generated and the technology to make deepfake videos of celebrities and politicians is improving all the time. We are usually still able to distinguish ‘real’ from ‘not real’ - but for how long?
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Not only is the exponential growth of technology hard to keep up with, deepfakes also operate in unchartered territory. It does not matter to big tech companies what is true or false: algorithms have their own logic, centered around clicks, not content. Now that we are all stuck in our own online bubble, we are in danger of losing our shared reality. We all have our own truth.
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Lying is as old as mankind, but AI gives us unprecedented opportunities to distort the truth. Are we heading for an ‘infocalypse’ or can we arm ourselves against deepfakes by fooling AI?
Talk 4:
Under his AI
We must enter into a dialogue with artificial intelligence, so that it can change with us.
The complexity of artificial intelligence (AI) can defy understanding. We have to be careful not to freeze in the light of this technology, like a rabbit caught in headlights. If we do, AI will simply ignore us and organize life according to its own, algorithmically driven logic.
To prevent this from happening we have to learn how to live with AI. Already, there is a constant interaction between people and technology. Almost unnoticeably, technology changes us, one step at a time. We must enter into a dialogue with artificial intelligence, so that it can change with us. Then we’re not puppets on strings, but a dancing partner. By embracing AI, we can go through a loving co-evolution together.
That also means that the distinction between the virtual and physical world will gradually disappear. Resistance is futile, empathy and critical awareness are essential. It is time to make a choice: will it be the red or the blue pill?
Speakers
Ine Gevers
Curating, leadership, neuro-diversity, AI, robotisation
Morgan Catalina
Post-truth strategies, technology, sexual health and healing, curating
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What it costs and what you get
A transformative talk costs on average € 1.500. However, the price depends on the number of participants and the content of the keynote. This is why we will always create a custom made proposal.
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