The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine in partnership with the Compassionate Mind Research Group of the School of Psychology presents Compassion and the New Technologies with Tegan Taylor.
Over the past fifty years there has been a rapid acceleration in the development of new technologies. Computation, communications and miniaturisation have brought us to a point that could hardly be imagined half a century ago. Markets have rapidly developed, and consumers have adapted, adopting each new technological innovation with alacrity. But has this made for a happier and more equitable world?
What is the role of compassion in the fields of new technology? Have social media and other forms of digital communication brought us closer together or exacerbated individual isolation? Why have cyber bullying and trolling become such a problem in the online environment? And if, as some claim, it will become possible to program the artificial intelligence of machines to respond and behave compassionately, what are the implications for wider society?
In this second series of wide-ranging conversations, we explore the role compassion can play in understanding and shaping the ways we develop and employ these new technologies. Hosted by the award-winning ABC health and science correspondence, Tegan Taylor, three diverse panels will explore successively online loneliness, cyber bullying and the potential of compassionate machines.
Learn more and register on the University of Queensland website.
Panel One: The Loneliness of the Digital Native
Tuesday 26 October – Brisbane 16:00-17:00; London 12:00-13:00; Los Angeles 16:00-17:00
Panelists: James Doty – Osher Günsberg – Catherine Haslam
Panel Two: The Troll and the Cyber Bully
Tuesday 2 November – Brisbane 16:00-17:00; London 12:00-13:00; Los Angeles 16:00-17:00
Panelists: Ginger Gorman – David Harvey – Bryan Mukandi
Panel Three: The Compassion of Machines
Tuesday 9 November – Brisbane 16:00-17:00; London 12:00-13:00; Los Angeles 16:00-17:00
Panelists: Paul Gilbert – Sarah Kelly – Shannon Vallor