July, 28, 2017
Visiting Participants: Johan Söderberg, Heger Attaya, Gustav Eek
Participant Location: Saulkrasti, Latvia
Moderator: Eren Özbay
Communications: Semih Kaldırım
In this event, we would be having a teleconference participation to one of the panels in Nordic Summer University.Participants will be given the opportunity to engage with a panel of speakers participating in the Nordic Summer University, a conference that last a week wherein Eric Deibel (Bilkent STS Instructor) participates in the session on “Appropriating science and technology for societal change”. This year’s main theme is “disruption”, particularly “how new technologies are disrupting the global markets” and the confirmed speakers will approach this question from there expertise in areas such as free software, open source, open hardware, hacking, software piracy and related themes.
We are interested in discussing with you how some look forward to the day when technological progress has abolished the need for market exchanges. For instance, self-acclaimed pirates strive to make intellectual property unenforceable with file sharing protocols. Hobby-engineers develop self-reproducing 3D printers under the slogan “wealth-without-money”. The digital currency Faircoin has been launched as a more equitable alternative to the existing monetary system. Peer production, exemplified in free software development, is showcased as a non-coercive model for organizing work. Towering above these initiatives is basic income as a redistributive principle suited for the age of full automation. Others, however, might argue that it is not markets but monopolies, privileges, and state regulations that are unsettled by technological breakthroughs. Virtual reality paves the way for “augmented property”, block-chain technology unlocks new areas of life to just-in-time monetary flows, and computerization allows work to be parceled up in ever finer tasks and micropayments. Whose utopia will carry the day?
Video Conferencing Coordinator: Mesut Saygi
Faculty Advisor: Eric Deibel