WGPTalks: Recent Episodes
WGPT
We are a group of philosophers linked to the Institute of Philosophy (HIW) whose aim is to philosophically reflect on technology, in a way that is informed by scientific research, technological developments, and the history of philosophy of technology. We organize conferences, workshops, evening lectures, and reading groups.WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This ninth episode is with Massimiliano Simons, one of the founding members of WGPT, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, and who will start a position as Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Technology at Maastricht University in the Summer. . He is interested in contemporary technosciences, ranging from synthetic biology to robotics, and will talk in this episode about the advantages and disadvantages of the concept of technoscience to capture what is going on in these new fields.
Interview done by Hannes Van Engeland.
Content
00:40 Start Interview
01:11 What is technoscience?
02:34 The concept of 'technoscience'
05:35 The history of the concept
09:10 Technoscience as a societal diagnosis
11:17 Technoscience as a prescriptive term
14:00 Modernity as technoscientific
14:56 Technoscience as the essence of science
20:22 Criticisms of the concept
26:00 Technoscience and philosophy of science
29:09 Technoscience and the history of science
31:00 What are the aims of technoscience?
32:39 Towards and ecology of technoscience
34:16 The future of technoscience
31:52 Multiple relations virtue ethics and technology
35:37 Thanks and goodbye
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This eighth episode is with Fabio Tollon, a doctoral candidate at Bielefeld University, who is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute of Philosophy at KU Leuven. He is interested in questions of agency and responsibility, and how these concepts may be complicated or undermined by technological systems. In this episode, we discuss how virtue ethics might provide a better framework to map the ethical concerns provoked by new, emerging technologies.
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.
Content
00:41 Start Interview
01:05 What is your PhD about?
02:35 What is virtue ethics?
03:42 What are emerging technologies?
04:27 What is moral panic?
05:29 Issues with deontology
08:15 Why context matters
09:25 Issues with consequentialism
12:48 Why virtue ethics is better
14:37 Does virtue ethics ignore context?
16:43 Virtue ethics and emerging technologies
19:13 Ontological and pragmatic approaches
21:49 Problems with virtue ethics
28:18 Example of self-driving cars
31:52 Multiple relations virtue ethics and technology
34:41 Thanks and goodbye
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This third episode is with Ann-Katrien Oimann, who is a doctoral researcher at the KU Leuven Institute of Philosophy in collaboration with the Royal Military Academy Department of Behavioral Sciences. Her research focuses on the military use of AI in the context of the development of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous weapon systems. In this episode, she focuses however on her work on AI in the courtroom: does it already exist? Will judges be replaced by robots in the future? What are the issues when AI infiltrates the courtroom?
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This second session is with Tim Christiaens, a member of WGPT, who will soon start his position at Tilburg University. In the podcast, we talk about platform capitalism: are we entering a new form of capitalism? What is it about? What is the role of technology in this shift? And is there a way out, perhaps, inspired by Ivan Illich?
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This seventh episode is with Lode Lauwaert, who teaches philosophy of technology at the KU Leuven, and works on AI and killer robots. In this episode, Lode Lauwaert will talk about parts of his new book 'Wij Robots' (Lannoo, 2021), which offers an introduction to philosophy of technology through three questions: Is technology neutral? Is AI disruptive? And is technological development necessary? In this episode, we focus on the third question.
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This fourth episode is with Hannes Van Engeland, who did his master and research master in philosophy at the KU Leuven, focusing on the work of Gaston Bachelard and quantum mechanics. In this episode, he focuses on the notion of phenomenotechnique, which Bachelard introduced to capture the way in which science and technology relate. What is precisely the role of technology in science? Has this shifted throughout history? And can the work of Bachelard offer us, not only an interesting way to understand contemporary science, but also a way out of current debates concerning science denial?
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.
WGPTalks is a series of short podcasts with members of the Working Group on Philosophy of Technology (WGPT), to explore their work and current research.
This fifth episode is with Stefan Ramaekers, who is a Professor in Education, Culture and Society at the KU Leuven and a member of our working group. In this episode, he focuses on the role of parenting apps, applications that are used to assist or replace certain task in parenting children. What is the function of these apps? In what way do they reconceptualize what it means to foster children? Do they lead to a politicization or a depoliticization of parenting?
Interview done by Massimiliano Simons.