Imagine a life where the real and the virtual have merged into a singularity, into a megastructure of planetary-scale computation that manifests as a machine world. It comprises of layers of hardware, software, chemical, biological, and electrical systems where humans co-exist with non-humans.
TWIFSY (The world is fine, save yourself) by Peter Thiedeke is a visionary and thought-provoking multimedia installation presented at the T&G Building for Now or Never. It invites us to ponder the future of urban life in an era of ubiquitous technology and artificial intelligence.
Over three lunchtimes Experimenta will host a series of talks at the foot of Peter Thiedeke’s installation TWIFSY (The world is fine, save yourself) and located in the spectacular atrium of the T&G Building at 161 Collins Street.
TALK #2: Who owns you?
Wednesday 28th August, 12.30 – 1.30pm
Our second talk frames the convergence of the physical and virtual realms envisioned in TWIFSY’s speculative future through the lens of individual rights and self-determination.
As AI, ubiquitous computing, and smart city infrastructure become inextricably woven into every aspect of human existence, who governs and controls these powerful techno-social systems? Do we remain autonomously self-sovereign individuals? Or do we risk becoming mere data inputs – simulations and “render ghosts” within an all-encompassing computational megastructure beyond our influence?
We will explore how legal, ethical and philosophical conceptions of human identity, free will, and civil liberties may need to evolve in this hypothetical “singularity” where human and machine realities fuse. It raises profound questions about retaining individual privacy, cognitive liberty, and democratic rights as the boundaries between person and product, citizen and commodity, blur.
Fundamentally, it challenges us to reassess what it means to be human in a world of planetary-scale computing where the virtuality may ultimately subsume the actual.
Facilitator: Nathan Scolaro
Speaker: Lizzie O’Shea CEO of Digital Rights Watch
Supported by:
About the Speakers
Lizzie O'Shea
Lizzie O'Shea
Lizzie sues companies and governments that do the wrong thing. She works and speaks about the intersection of technology, law and human rights.
As a principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, the country’s premier class actions law firm, she leads large scale litigation against major technology companies on behalf of thousands of people who have been harmed by them.As the founder and chair of Digital Rights Watch, Australia’s leading digital rights organisation, she advocates for stronger laws to protect people from predatory industries and dangerous business models. She is an author of two books, and a contributing author to three more, which explore campaigns to protect human rights and the history and future of technology.
Nathan Scolaro
Nathan Scolaro
Nathan Scolaro is a Melbourne-based writer and editor who is passionate about the role language and stories play in shaping who we are and how we live.
For eight years he edited Dumbo Feather magazine, and was enthralled by stories that capture the depth and richness of people’s experience, outlook and work. He saw how powerful these stories were, not only for the listener or reader, but for the storytellers themselves: how enlivened they became articulating their sense of self, their purpose and their gift to the world.
Nathan has been working in publishing and journalism for nearly two decades, and wants to share his passion for meaningful storytelling, with like-minded and like-hearted folks.
