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    <title>Taming the Machines - The Philosophy, Ethics and Politics of AI</title>
    <link>https://lecture2go.uni-hamburg.de/l2go/-/get/l/7812</link>
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    <language>en-US</language>
    <copyright>University of Hamburg 2026</copyright>
    <itunes:author>University of Hamburg</itunes:author>
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    <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:46:07 +0200</pubDate>
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      <title>Taming the Machines - The Philosophy, Ethics and Politics of AI</title>
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      <title>Talking to Myself With AI: From Self-Knowledge to Solitude</title>
      <description><![CDATA[University of Exeter, UK

In this talk, I explore the possibilities and limitations of using AI chatbots for talking to and with oneself. Marya Schechtman's (2026) recent paper takes the example of Michelle Huang’s artistic experiment of feeding in her old diaries to ChatGPT in order to talk to her younger self, and considers what kind of self-knowledge might emerge from such an interaction. Taking Schechtman's work as a launching point, I consider more prosaic ways in which engaging with a chatbot might give rise to distinctive forms of self-engagement and self-dialogue. In doing so, I shift the attention from self-knowledge to the ambiguous phenomenology of the experience itself. In particular, I bring a perhaps unexpected guest to the table. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s work on the importance of solitude (understood as being with oneself as a ‘two-in-one’) for critical thinking and reflection, I consider what kind of self-dialogue interacting with AI might facilitate and whether it can scaffold the self-dialogue Arendt deems central to this essential practice.]]></description>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[University of Exeter, UK

In this talk, I explore the possibilities and limitations of using AI chatbots for talking to and with oneself. Marya Schechtman's (2026) recent paper takes the example of Michelle Huang’s artistic experiment of feeding in her old diaries to ChatGPT in order to talk to her younger self, and considers what kind of self-knowledge might emerge from such an interaction. Taking Schechtman's work as a launching point, I consider more prosaic ways in which engaging with a chatbot might give rise to distinctive forms of self-engagement and self-dialogue. In doing so, I shift the attention from self-knowledge to the ambiguous phenomenology of the experience itself. In particular, I bring a perhaps unexpected guest to the table. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s work on the importance of solitude (understood as being with oneself as a ‘two-in-one’) for critical thinking and reflection, I consider what kind of self-dialogue interacting with AI might facilitate and whether it can scaffold the self-dialogue Arendt deems central to this essential practice.]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>00:55:19</itunes:duration>
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      <link>https://lecture2go.uni-hamburg.de/l2go/-/get/v/73379</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 18:15:00 +0200</pubDate>
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      <title>Cybernetic Authoritarianism: On Silicon Valley’s Technofascism</title>
      <description><![CDATA[Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, DE

Elon Musk describes X as a “cybernetic superintelligence,” Mark Zuckerberg views companies as “learning organisms,” and the inventor of Google Glass says, “Cybernetics is everywhere, like air.” These statements are not coincidental. Anyone who seeks to understand the digital transformation must look at its cybernetic origins. In her lecture, Anna-Verena Nosthoff offers insights into her recent book, “Kybernetik und Kritik. Eine Theorie digitaler Regierungskunst” (Cybernetics and Critique: A Theory of Digital Government; Suhrkamp Verlag), and illustrates its fundamental theses with the current authoritarian shift in Silicon Valley. Indeed, contemporary techno-fascism, as promoted by figures like Musk, can be understood particularly well from the perspective of cybernetic constructs. This brings into focus not only transhumanist cyborg fantasies and solutionist, post-ideological concepts of technology, but also binary and affect-centered concepts of the public sphere and technocratic, information-centered understandings of the state. These topoi find totalitarian parallels in the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” in Musk’s decidedly right-wing management of his platform “X,” and also in the current AGI hype. Against this backdrop, contemporary “Muskism” (Lepore) proves to be a simultaneously disruptive and incremental form of digital governance: it is primarily recognizable as cybernetic authoritarianism.]]></description>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, DE

Elon Musk describes X as a “cybernetic superintelligence,” Mark Zuckerberg views companies as “learning organisms,” and the inventor of Google Glass says, “Cybernetics is everywhere, like air.” These statements are not coincidental. Anyone who seeks to understand the digital transformation must look at its cybernetic origins. In her lecture, Anna-Verena Nosthoff offers insights into her recent book, “Kybernetik und Kritik. Eine Theorie digitaler Regierungskunst” (Cybernetics and Critique: A Theory of Digital Government; Suhrkamp Verlag), and illustrates its fundamental theses with the current authoritarian shift in Silicon Valley. Indeed, contemporary techno-fascism, as promoted by figures like Musk, can be understood particularly well from the perspective of cybernetic constructs. This brings into focus not only transhumanist cyborg fantasies and solutionist, post-ideological concepts of technology, but also binary and affect-centered concepts of the public sphere and technocratic, information-centered understandings of the state. These topoi find totalitarian parallels in the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” in Musk’s decidedly right-wing management of his platform “X,” and also in the current AGI hype. Against this backdrop, contemporary “Muskism” (Lepore) proves to be a simultaneously disruptive and incremental form of digital governance: it is primarily recognizable as cybernetic authoritarianism.]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>00:51:03</itunes:duration>
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      <link>https://lecture2go.uni-hamburg.de/l2go/-/get/v/73380</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 18:15:00 +0200</pubDate>
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