Meeting #1: Robots
Series
Where
When
Thursday, 27 Apr 2017, 06:15pm - 07:15pm
Event Status
Past event
In our first meeting of the Longform Society we’ll read a selection of compelling, entertaining and occasionally terrifying pieces on the subject of robots and artificial intelligence.
Will humans have moral obligations to robots? Are we guilty of ‘origin chauvinism’ if we believe only natural phenomena can exhibit consciousness? And is this line of thinking a sinister cousin to racism? What’s the definition of moral agency with regards to driverless cars and lethal autonomous weapons? How might artificial intelligence mitigate human suffering?
The Longform Society will discuss these questions – and the context in which brilliant writers have posed them – at this inaugural club session, taking place in a live event at the Wheeler Centre that will also be streamed live from this page. #longformsociety
Tickets to this event have now booked out, and links to the reading list have been sent to ticket holders and live-stream-only subscribers. If you didn’t receive yours, click here.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Featuring
Sophie Cunningham is a non-fiction writer and novelist with a passion for trees, walking and broader environmental issues. Sophie’s most recent books are This Devastating Fever (Ultimo Press) and Flipper and Finnegan –The True Story of How Tiny Jumpers Saved Little Penguins (Albert Street Books)... Read more
Mel Campbell is a freelance journalist and critic who co-hosts the fortnightly literature and culture podcast The Rereaders. She is a columnist on writing at Overland magazine, and a university lecturer and writer-for-hire on film, TV and media. Her first book was the nonfiction investigation Out of... Read more
Jeff Sparrow is a writer, editor, broadcaster, and Walkley award-winning journalist. He is a columnist for The Guardian Australia, a former Breakfaster at Melbourne’s 3RRR, and a past editor of Overland literary journal. His most recent books are Provocations: New and Selected Writing; Crimes a... Read more
Rafael Epstein is a journalist who has worked in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Timor, Indonesia, Europe and the Middle East. He has covered national elections in the UK and Australia, East Timor’s vote for independence in 1999, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, the 2005 London ... Read more
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