Are You Becoming Obsolete?
Norman WirzbaDuke Divinity School
Ben ZhaoUniversity of Chicago
Emily WengerUniversity of Chicago
Free and open to the public. No registration required. This event is presented by the Veritas Forum and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute.
We find ourselves on the cusp of a revolution. In the realm of language, image, and voice, AI technologies showcasing incredible potential, such that distinguishing the work of humans from computers is becoming nearly impossible. What does this mean for human identity and purpose? What might this mean for our future?
Join us for the University of Chicago Veritas Forum as we bring computer science into conversation with theology, philosophy, and ethics. Duke theologian and ethicist Norman Wirzba will participate in a moderated dialogue with University of Chicago computer science researchers Ben Y. Zhao over the implications of an AI-saturated future. A Q&A will follow.
Norman Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. As Director of Research at Duke’s Office of Climate and Sustainability, he is working with colleagues from across the university to develop multi-disciplinary teams and research programs that can address the many social and ecological dimensions of climate change. He recently completed his role as the director of a multi-year, Henry Luce-Foundation-funded projected entitled “Facing the Anthropocene.” In this project, housed at Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, he worked with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment.
