Event website: https://events.ceu.edu/2026-01-12/can-only-meat-machines-be-conscious

This is an online-only event.

Participate via Zoom (Password: 0dzqxqiy).
The talk will also be live-streamed and recorded on the DIGHUM YouTube Channel.

Abstract

Can we predict the social and behavioral impacts of future technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, while they are still being developed in scientific labs, or even when they are just imaginations in the minds of a science fiction writer? Such prediction would allow us to guide development and regulation of technologies before their impacts get entrenched. This talk describes ‘science fiction science’ (sci-fi-sci), the use of experimental methods to simulate future technologies, and collect quantitative measures of the attitudes and behaviors of participants assigned to controlled variations of the future. I present various recent sci-fi-sci projects aimed at anticipating the societal impacts of Artificial Intelligence, and discuss the potential and limitations of this form of science.

• Speaker: Iyad Rahwan, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
• Moderator: Bashar Nuseibeh, The Open University, UK