Lecture

Much of the contemporary research on race in communication media studies begins with media representations. However, for this talk, Armond R. Towns will focus on the relationship between the modern research university, race, and the development of communication and media studies in the early and mid-twentieth century, with a focus specifically on US and Canadian communication and media studies. Like the modern university, the discipline of communication and media studies, Towns argues, has a difficulty with understanding non-Western life. This talk is a beginning conversation on how to push toward new forms of understanding humanity beyond Western life. The topic of who counts as human is crucial in a context where big tech aims to control the future of so-called humanity and the AI race closes the gap between human and machine communications.

This is a hybrid event and may be attended in-person or online.

The climate crisis calls for a massive and speedy transition away from fossil fuels towards energy systems based on renewable, clean sources like the sun, the wind and the tides. But to date, what we’re seeing is a move towards extractive, large-scale, corporate-owned for-profit models of green energy. These so-called solutions are replicating the social and environmental injustices perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry, including the rampant violation of Indigenous Rights and desecration of their lands and waters .

Upholding indigenous rights and fighting for a climate just future for all requires not just a change in energy sources, but a transformation in the very systems of power, governance, worldviews and values that have driven the climate crisis. In this talk Eriel Deranger and Jen Gobby will share their own visions for what this transformation can look like and open up a discussion about how these visions can inspire and ground the work of those in the tech and innovation world.

In 2002, Ghyslain Raza made a fun video of himself playing a Star Wars character. Later the video was posted on the internet without his consent.
It became the first viral video, with enormous consequences for Raza.
In 2022, Raza broke his silence to speak about his experience and reflect on its meaning today.
Join us in E5 6004 @ 7pm on Feb. 15 to watch this documentary as Raza revisits "The Star Wars Kid."

Free admittance!  Free popcorn!

Join us via zoom on Friday, October 28, 12 pm - 1:30 pm. CARE-AI welcomes philosopher, cognitive scientist and author Paul Thagard as he discusses a new theory of information and misinformation based on mechanisms of acquisition, inference, memory and spread.

 Join us on October 28 at 4pm, in-person or virtually via livestream, for Critical Tech Talk 4: Batya Friedman!

Artificial intelligence will take your job! Genetic engineering will accelerate the loss of biodiversity! The modern smart-city is a privacy disaster! Killer robots and technological progress are out of control! Is the techno-apocalypse upon us? Should we run for the exit? Or are there more nuanced ways to understand the complex interaction between technology and society and values?

Artificial intelligence is the cutting edge in decision-making and computer science. However, there is also the sense that AI is nothing more than a buzzword used in almost every facet of our lives right now. Given the current buzz surrounding AI, it is relevant to ask: what are the limits of AI? In many instances, such as with military technology, the availability of artificial intelligence is what made the technology possible in the first place. Can we expect systems to achieve decision-making capabilities and performances that are better than human across domains?

Critical Tech Talk 1: Nicole Aschoff – The digital frontier and its limits

Monday, November 8, 2021, 5 PM | Theatre of the Arts, University of Waterloo, in-person and livestreamed | REGISTER 

The Centre for Security Governance is hosting the fourth Waterloo Symposium on Technology & Society on December 10, 2019.