Our seasons of "digital dialogues" have been running since autumn 2020. To date, over 15,000 attendees from over 110 countries have tuned in. To watch recordings of our past events, click here.
We will upload the listings below within a fortnight of each event (and hopefully sooner). You can see the poster for the new series (and all previous ones) here.
Our Monday events begin at 11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK time unless otherwise stated, while our Tuesday events begin at 4pm PT/7pm ET which opens them up to audiences in the Asia-Pacific region.
Our events last for one hour, including time for audience questions. They are free and all are welcome.
Monday 29th April
The Politics of Structural Injustice
Maeve McKeown in conversation with Katrina Forrester
What is the political responsibility of ordinary individuals? How can ordinary individuals with very little power pressure morally responsible, powerful agents to address structural injustice? Do we have the same responsibility for historical injustice as we do for that which we see in today’s world? This event aims for nothing less than a fundamental reassessment of the relationship between power, ordinary people, and responsibility for structural injustice.
Monday 6th May
Capture and Generate: The New Language of AI
Leif Weatherby in conversation with Audrey Borowski
What we mean by the phrase “artificial intelligence” changes from decade to decade and year to year. The rise of “generative AI” has added language to the definition, and not only because chatbots have been the public face of AI for the last year. This talk will analyze the Transformer Architecture and the language that makes it work, arguing that literary theory – in an updated version – is required to make sense of data culture today.
Monday 29th April
Extremism and the Allure of Science
Tracy Llanera and Louise Richardson-Self with Anthony Morgan
Defining extremism may be tricky, but one notable feature of many extremist groups – from white supremacists to the alt-right – is the allure of scientific explanations in reinforcing their views. From biological essentialism to “natural” hierarchies, scientific findings are sought out to add substance to extremist arguments. In this event, Tracy Llanera and Louise Richardson-Self will help us explore the boundaries between fact and fiction, science and pseudoscience.
Tuesday 30th April
Racism, Falsehood, and Political Speech
Jennifer Saul in conversation with Ian Olasov
It is widely accepted that political discourse in recent years has become more openly racist and more accepting of wildly implausible conspiracy theories. In this event, Jennifer Saul will explore how such changes have been brought about. She will show how linguistic devices, such as “dogwhistles” and “figleaves”, contribute to the transmission of norm-violating discourse more generally, exploiting and widening existing divisions in society.
- Will begin in Spring 2023 - Dates/Time TBCThese classes will take place via Zoom