On 9 March 2023, Waag Futurelab organised its fifth edition of The State of the Internet, a gathering to discuss the big issues of privacy, platformisation, self-determination and digital rights. This year's lecture was led by writer, artist, journalist and technologist James Bridle (they/them). Bridle explores how radical technological models can decentralise power.
The lecture has been recorded.
Watch the The State of the Internet 2023
In the lecture 'Other Intelligences' Bridle explores the current state of AI, where it's headed, and how we might think otherwise about both 'artificial' intelligence, and the multiple other forms of intelligence that exists in the world. The lecture is in English.
About James Bridle
James Bridle works as a writer, artist, journalist and technologist. Their artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide. Bridle writes about literature, culture and networks and has been published in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian and the Financial Times.
With a background in computer science, they consider the question of what intelligence is. In the new book Ways of Being, Bridle considers the fascinating, uncanny and multiple ways of existing on Earth. They wonder what it means to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans or do we share it with other creatures? And what can we learn from the intelligence of the natural systems that surround us?
After James Bridle's lecture 'Other Intelligences', we will engage in a discussion with the panel. The panel will be moderated by founder, director, and board member of Waag, Marleen Stikker.
Panel
Oumaima Hajri is a researcher and lecturer at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam). Her work focuses on the intersection of AI, ethics and society. For the Designing Responsible AI Media Applications project, she is investigating, in collaboration with media organisations, how AI can be applied in a responsible manner
Špela Petrič is a Ljubljana and Amsterdam based new media artist who has been trained in the natural sciences and holds a PhD in biology, currently working as a post-doc researcher at the Smart Hybrid Forms Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her artistic practice combines the natural sciences, wet biomedia practices, performance, and critically examines the limits of anthropocentrism via multi-species endeavours.
Chris Julien is a senior research fellow at Waag. Chris is engaged in developing Waag's practices in ecology and artificial intelligence. In addition to his work at Waag, Chris is doing a PhD at Utrecht University titled ‘Ecological Governance: Deep Adaptation Machines’. He is also active for Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands.
PL'AI: where plant and machine playfully meet
During the State of the Internet, Špela Petrič's work PL'AI will be exhibited. PL’AI is a work about the play between an AI and a cucumber plant. PL’AI questions how we can employ technology to engage with plants as complex beings that have all the capacities to thrive, just as people do, only expressed in radically different forms.
About The State of the Internet
On 15 January 2019, Waag kicked off the first edition of The State of the Internet. Since then, we have been commemorating annually the moment when, for Amsterdam, the internet became accessible as a public domain. This year, it has been 29 years since the Digital City opened its doors and the internet became publicly accessible. During the first edition in 2019, professor of media and digital society José van Dijck delivered the lecture, zooming in on the role of platforms in our public space. In 2020, Jaap-Henk Hoepman, expert on privacy by design, addressed our digital identity. In 2021, Sennay Ghebreab spoke about bias in algorithms. In 2022 Nani Jansen Reventlow, award-winning human rights lawyer specialising in strategic litigation at the intersection of human rights, social justice and technology delivered the lecture.
Missed the previous lectures? You can find them here (all in Dutch):
- The State of the Internet 2019
- The State of the Internet 2020
- The State of the Internet 2021
- The State of the Internet 2022
Money should not be a barrier in learning about ways to improve our internet. If the admission fee prevents you from attending, email puck[@]waag[.]org, so we can make sure you can attend The State of the Internet.
The State of the Internet 2023 is organised by Waag, SIDN, the SIDN fund, the Amsterdam Public Library (OBA), Singel Uitgeverijen, the City of Amsterdam and De Groene Amsterdammer.
