“SMART CITIES NEED UPGRADED HUMANS” – PROFESSOR STEFAN LORENZ SORGNER LECTURES AT THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
The Research Centre for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas (CCIIF) and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest are pleased to inform you that our institutions will organize and host the conference “Smart Cities Need Upgraded Humans”, held by Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Professor at John Cabot University (Rome). The event starts at 11 A.M. at the Faculty of Philosophy, Splaiul Independenței 204, Bucharest (Amph. Constantin Rădulescu-Motru).
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner is a philosophy professor at John Cabot University in Rome and is director and co-founder of the Beyond Humanism Network, Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET), Research Fellow at the Ewha Institute for the Humanities at Ewha Womans University in Seoul and Visiting Fellow at the Ethics Centre of the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena. He is author and editor of more than 10 books, e.g. Metaphysics without Truth (Marquette University Press 2007), Menschenwürde nach Nietzsche (WBG 2010), Transhumanismus (Herder 2016), Schöner neuer Mensch (Nicolai, 2018), Übermensch (Schwabe 2019). In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief and Founding Editor of the “Journal of Posthuman Studies” (a double-blind peer review journal, published by Penn State University Press since 2017). Furthermore, he is in great demand as a speaker in all parts of the world (e.g. TEDx; World Humanities Forum, Global Solutions Taipei Workshop) and a regular contact person of national and international journalists and media representatives (e.g. Die Zeit).
„In Stefan Lorenz Sorgner’s work, the profound originality is accompanied by a vast knowledge of the philosophical tradition. His exploration of the philosophical meanings of post-humanism has become a point of reference that contemporary culture cannot ignore.”
Gianni Vattimo, University of Turin
The abstract of the conference “Smart Cities Need Upgraded Humans”
„We have always been cyborgs. Now, it occurs that computers are in the process of getting smaller and of entering our bodies so that we turn into upgraded humans, who can interact efficiently with their environment within smart cities, and have the appropriate means for dealing with aging, the worst mass murderer in the world. This development goes along with new challenges related to digitalization, whereby the coming about of the internet panopticon is the most serious of all of them. I will reflect upon how these developments relate to post- and transhumanist discourses, and what can be done to successfully deal with the ethical challenges related to this development. Will we also end up with a social credit system, as it will be in place in all of China from 2020 onwards? Would it make a difference, if we start seeing social credits as a way of gaining data capital? The Black Mirror episode “Nosedive” reveals some implications of what is happening right now….”
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, John Cabot University
Further information regarding Professor Sorgner`s research projects and expertise can be consulted by visiting his official webpage: www.sorgner.de
“It is the second time when Professor Sorgner visits our faculty and gets into contact with our students and academic community. Meeting him can be a great opportunity for those who are passionate about posthumanism to express their curiosities on his work and main topics of research, to find more about his annual conference on “Beyond Humanism” (that reached its 11th edition which is to be held in Lille, this summer) or about the Journal of Posthuman Studies, with a board formed by experts in contemporary philosophy and posthuman studies, such as Gianni Vattimo and Luciano Floridi.”
Oana Șerban, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy, The Research Centre for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas