RP2018 Envisioning Robots in Society—Politics, Power, and Public Space

Automation is the new key strategy for productivity gain—many countries are well on their way towards the production model of "industry 4.0" where software bot and robots will appear in all industrial sectors including service industries. The core driver of this disruption complex is robotics, producing ever more intelligent, ever more connectable artificial agents that function in ever more complex physical and social surroundings. This raises a host of complex questions for policy-makers, engineers, and researchers. Which socio-political, socio-cultural, economic, and ethical challenges will we humans be confronted with as robots will be included into more and more contexts of our everyday life? Are we bound to increase the precariat or will the ‘robot revolution’ open up new paths towards greater social justice? How should we envision robots in society?

The European Parliament has called for national ethical and legal councils to support decision making on the profound and comprehensive disruptions that automation will likely engender—"without stifling innovation" while keeping ethical and cultural values in view. This is a crucial signal to policy-makers that economic considerations alone must not prevail. It is also a signal for researchers, policy makers, engineers, and corporations to realize that they jointly share the burden of responsibility for shaping the course of the ‘robot revolution’.

The conference Robophilosophy 2018 – Envisioning Robots In Society: Politics, Power, And Public Space has three main aims; it shall:

• present interdisciplinary Humanities research in and on social robotics that can inform policy making and political agendas, critically and constructively
• investigate how academia and the private sector can work hand in hand to assess benefits and risks of future production formats and employment conditions.
• explore how research in the Humanities, including art and art research, in the social and human sciences, can contribute to imagining and envisioning the potentials of future social interactions in the public space.

Plenary speakers:

• Joanna Bryson (Department of Computer Science, University of Bath, UK)
• Hiroshi Ishiguro (Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, Osaka University, Japan)
• Guy Standing (Basic Income Earth Network and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK)
• Catelijne Muller (Rapporteur on Artificial Intelligence, European Economic and Social Committee)
• Robert Trappl (Head of the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Austria)
• Simon Penny (Department of Art, University of California, Irvine)
• Raja Chatila (IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in AI and Automated Systems, Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, France)
• Josef Weidenholzer (Member of the European Parliament, domains of automation and digitization)
• Oliver Bendel (Institute for Information Systems, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland)
• Juha Heikkilä (Head of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence unit at the European Commission)

Robophilosophy 2018 – Envisioning Robots In Society: Politics, Power, And Public Space is the third event in the biennial Robophilosophy Conference Series which facilitates robophilosophy, a new area of interdisciplinary applied research in philosophy, robotics, and other disciplines in the Humanities, social and human sciences. The event with gather researchers, artists, representatives from politics, and actors of the private sector to create constructive dialogue and concrete collaborations on the joint task of envisioning robots in human societies. 

Main Organizers of Robophilosophy 2018:

• Mark Coeckelbergh, Janina Loh, and Michael Funk 
  Chair of Media and Technology, University of Vienna see also https://coeckelbergh.wordpress.com 

Organizers of the Robophilosophy Conference Series and Co-Organizers RP2018:

• Johanna Seibt, and Marco Nørskov, 
• Research Unit for Robophilosophy, Aarhus University see also Research Network TRANSOR 

Onsite Organization:

• Caroline Krecké,
  Univeristy of Vienna
  
• Agnes Buchberger,
  Univeristy of Vienna

Funding is provided by the Carlsberg Foundation, the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, the Faculty of Philosophy and Education, University of Vienna, the Danish Council for Independent Research, and the Vienna Convention Bureau.