Open Transcripts

Ethical Machines episode 2: Jack Clark

presented by Jack Clark, Roelof Pieters, Samim Winiger

If you think about it what we’re doing is we’re turning very high-dimensional mathematic representations of a sort of large knowledge space into intellectual property. Which should be the most frightening idea in the world to anyone. This is from most abstract thing you could possibly try and turn into a capitalist object.

Religion and World Politics part 10
The Liberation of Theology

presented by Stephen Chan

From the 1960s onwards, there was a new phenomenon, or at least it was noticed as new at that point in time, which has been called “liberation theology.” It began in Latin America. It began with Catholic priests wanting to take a stand against injustice and corruption, and particularly on behalf of the poorest citizens in Latin American countries.

Religion and World Politics part 9
Ecumenicalism and Trauma

presented by Stephen Chan

The famous Dutch theologian Hans Küng once convened a parliament of the world’s religions to come up with a common ethic, thinking that a common ethic was possible amongst all of the different confessional entities of the world. And indeed they managed to achieve a common ethic. But when it came to signing off the document that they had laboriously composed, there were all kinds of problems.

The Stupefying Smart City

presented by Richard Sennett

What I’m worried about is that with the technological tools that we have today, as in the past, our first use of them is the least inventive that we can make. And the issue is how urbanists can actually use these new tools well rather than use them in a way which is harmful.

Your Body is a Honeypot
Loving Out Loud When There’s No Place to Hide

presented by Jillian C York, Mathana

We have to ask who’s creating this technology and who benefits from it. Who should have the right to collect and use information about our faces and our bodies? What are the mechanisms of control? We have government control on the one hand, capitalism on the other hand, and this murky grey zone between who’s building the technology, who’s capturing, and who’s benefiting from it.

Religion and World Politics part 7
ISIS and the 4th Principle

presented by Stephen Chan

In the heyday of Islamic thought, of Islamic philosophy, of disquisitions about the meaning of Islam and its place in the world of knowledge, in the 13^th century, the thought of great Islamic thinkers also was that God and his text constituted a first principle. All else was contingent upon this first principle. Second, third, principles, etc. were contingent.

Religion and World Politics part 8
The Spectacle of Christian Fundamentalism

presented by Stephen Chan

One of the key differences between Islamic scripture and Christian scripture is that Islamic scripture (the Koran) was meant to have been revealed to the prophet Muhammad during his adult lifetime. It was not meant to have been revealed to a number of people over many thousands of years.

Evgeny Morozov Keynote at Internetdagarna 2015

presented by Evgeny Morozov

If you look at the appeal that Silicon Valley has to a lot of us, and to a lot of public institutions especially, I think you can understand that the reason for that appeal is very simple. They can offer services that work, that work in a very effective manner, and that are offered more or less either very cheap or are mostly offered for free.

Religion and World Politics part 6
The Advent of Al-Qaeda

presented by Stephen Chan

Our tale begins in Afghanistan with the Soviet invasion in 1979. This came out of a blue sky, military speak for there were no clouds, there were no warnings. But suddenly the Soviets invaded the country in support of a Soviet-inclined government. But a government which aroused huge resentments and resistance on the part of many many people in Afghanistan.

Religion and World Politics part 5
The Siege of Mecca and Its Treacherous Consequences

presented by Stephen Chan

If the 1979 Iranian revolution was a turning point in late 20^th century history, what followed set the scene for a series of betrayals and revivals of the sort that the Western world could not have envisaged.