Augmented Society Network

Podcast hosted by: Jonathan Tavss FRSA and Zoe Camper FRSA (41 mins) There was a time when BBS and chat room users were filed away as loners and introverts. Then social media took shape and we’ve blurred the lines between social insulation and community activation. Things have certainly changed, and have forced us to reconsider our relationship to community. Listen to our January ASN:Podcast What defines community in virtual settings. The requirements for maintaining our humanity within the digital realm. What the ‘real world’ actually means and how much longer will it be important. Whether the virtual world will support our needs better than the real one.

March 26, 2020 11:00 AM – 12 noon PST Please join us for an ASN: Discussion Artists have maintained the role of shining a light on what is truly going on in our world for eons. Some say that this mantle can and will be taken over by Artificial Intelligence. But, as there have always been biases within the artists’ works and the viewers of those works, the concerns of bias within Artificial is always discussed but seemingly never addressed deeply enough. What happens when the two meet? Artist, Trevor Paglen, is utilizing Amazon data to create art works that reveal its intrinsic bias. Katie Paterson’s artistic focus considers our relation to the universe. Her work, AS THE WORLD TURNS (2010) challenges us to perceive relationships differently by showing a record playing at the same speed the earth turns. Do we care that the record would take four years to complete? Are we more busy either contemplating or ignoring that multiple forms of AI are rendering reality obsolete through d

Feb 27, 2020 11:00 AM – 12 noon PST  Please join us for an ASN: Discussion While the battle participants referenced above merely form a playful event title, there’s nothing playful about the impacts of our two largest driving concerns in the 21st Century. Greta Thunberg comes by way of environment to influence technology/society and Bill Gates made his fortune in technology yet is attempting to enhance environment and society through the Gates Foundation – with the long term effects by both still very much in question. When technology development calls for constant iteration and “throw-away” elements can technology and the environment ever truly live in harmony? Whether you believe the Global warming we are currently seeing is a direct result of our activities or not, we use technology in a way that increases the planet temperatures and with few massive drives to reduce its impact; with success still being measured in GDP. We’ve decreased feasible product lifetimes in techno