Imaginations
Lecture
Guest expert: Meenakshi Mani
Title: Re-Imagining Futures - Where should technology take us?
Abstract: By now, it has become fairly obvious that 'doing good' isn't as straightforward as technology companies would like us to believe. While the latest slew of generative AI products is marketed across all domains of social life as "helpful", "time-saving", "labour-saving", "efficiency-improving" tools, they leave in their trail a litany of harms and stories of exploitation. What then must we do? Ruha Benjamin, in her book the Imagination Manifesto makes an argument for how the answer lies in refusing the imaginaries that are handed down by the likes of Big Tech CEOs and other Silicon Valley actors. Instead, we must dare to imagine for ourselves the apparently impossible futures: where everyone gets an equal share in the benefits, and an equal share in the responsibility of how our technological futures unfold. This talk is concerned with highlighting how the engineering domain in particular becomes an active instrument in bringing exploitative tech imaginaries into being, while simultaneously holding significant remedial power in this state of affairs. Through engaging with speculative futures around the uses of education technology, the talk will challenge students to recognize and refuse imaginaries that leave us feeling fearful and hopeless and take steps that work towards the building of new future imaginaries for the tech domain.
Slides: