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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260107T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260107T183000
DTSTAMP:20260116T094815Z
CREATED:20250926T101612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260116T094815Z
UID:14323-1767805200-1767810600@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Reimagining Cities: Computational Thinking in the Post War Period - Nathalie Bredella (Hanover)
DESCRIPTION:This event is part of our winter term 2025/26 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/reimagining-cities-computational-thinking-in-the-post-war-period-nathalie-bredella-hanover/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 25/26
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Header-LS-25-26.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260121T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260121T183000
DTSTAMP:20260116T094750Z
CREATED:20250926T101537Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260116T094750Z
UID:14325-1769014800-1769020200@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Did the Computer Drive Science? Hardware Development and Digital Complexity in the 20th Century - Ulf Hashagen (Munich)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nThe assumption that economic\, technological and scientific development is driven by technological\ndeterminism is widespread in politics\, business\, and society\, as well as among scientists and\nengineers. A notable example of this belief is the current notion that advances in scientific\nknowledge are inextricably linked to the development of AI technology. Since the AI boom in the\n2010s was based on the particular potential of graphics processing units (GPUs) for implementing\ndeep learning algorithms\, the question arises as to what extent modern science in the 20th century\nwas already based on computers and driven by hardware innovations. \nA historical review should enable a critical examination of this assumption from a broader historical\nperspective. The lecture addresses the question of the extent to which the development of computer\nhardware and scientific development have influenced each other since the invention of the computer\nin the 1940s. Historical research has shown that the design and development of the first computers\nwas primarily driven by scientific problems in war research. From the mid-1950s onwards\,\nuniversities and non-university research institutions increasingly entered into “alliances with\nindustry” in the planning and production of new computers and eventually became customers of the\ncomputer industry. How this bilateral producer-customer relationship and the trilateral relationship\nbetween the computer industry\, the state\, and science have developed since the 1950s in terms of\nresearch funding\, the equipping of scientific institutions with computers\, and their use by scientists\nfrom various disciplines is a question that has received relatively little attention in historical research\nto date. \nThese questions are discussed against the backdrop that\, since the 1970s\, the history of technology\nhas been committed to a model of contextualized historiography and has sought to prove in\nnumerous studies that the assumption that technology is an autonomous factor in the continuous\ntransformation of the human environment is a naïve idea. \nThis event is part of our winter term 2025/26 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/did-the-computer-drive-science-hardware-development-and-digital-complexity-in-the-20th-century-ulf-hashagen-munich/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 25/26
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Header-LS-25-26.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260211T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260211T183000
DTSTAMP:20260115T104027Z
CREATED:20250926T101445Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260115T104027Z
UID:14327-1770829200-1770834600@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Digital Complexity in Historical Perspective: Lessons from the Study of Technological Transitions in Data Production and Visualization - Charlotte Bigg (Paris)
DESCRIPTION:This event is part of our winter term 2025/26 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/digital-complexity-in-historical-perspective-lessons-from-the-study-of-technological-transitions-in-data-production-and-visualization-charlotte-bigg-paris/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 25/26
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Header-LS-25-26.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260312T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260312T170000
DTSTAMP:20260226T092556Z
CREATED:20260226T092506Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T092556Z
UID:16043-1773309600-1773334800@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Workshop: Digital Capitalism & Varieties of Science (Tokyo\, Japan)
DESCRIPTION:In recent years\, digital technologies have not only given rise to new sociocultural realities\, thus reshaping economies\, but have begun to profoundly alter the ways in which knowledge is produced\, validated\, and disseminated. Against this backdrop\, this workshop explores the intersection of varieties of science and varieties of digital capitalism through a comparative and interdisciplinary lens. Starting from specific digital technologies – particularly the metaverse\, extended reality\, and human augmentation – we examine distinct institutional\, cultural\, and epistemic configurations.\nOur focus lies especially on Japan\, which has been characterized as a coordinated market economy alongside Germany. The workshop adopts an approach that investigates how science and capitalism co-evolve under conditions of digital transformation – understood here as a topic for critical inquiry (following Stolterman and Croon Fors 2004). Moving beyond modernization theory\, we ask how digital tools and platforms take shape across a range of socio-political contexts\, and how they in turn affect knowledge regimes and research practices.\nBy bringing together perspectives from STS\, economics\, and Japanese studies\, along with insights from practice\, the workshop seeks to open up a productive dialogue on how emerging technologies\, digital capitalism\, and scientific cultures co-constitute one another – across regions\, disciplines\, and epistemic traditions. We hold that the case of Japan\, the first non-Western country to become an advanced economy and fertile spawning ground for technoscientific imaginations and attributions\, offers particularly valuable insights into these processes. \nCo-Organizers: Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research (RWTH Aachen)\, German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo\nConvenors: Stefan Böschen\, Harald Kümmerle\, Nicole Müller\nLocation: German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ)\, Tokyo \nThe Sessions on Day One (“Digital Technology in Context”) will be livestreamed for a public online audience. Please register via: maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/webinar/register/WN_dKDVTS-VS5agd0_ea9wzaA. \nYou can find more information in the program and the speakers’ bios. \nPlease keep the time difference between Japan and Germany in mind!
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/workshop-digital-capitalism-varieties-of-science-tokyo-japan/
CATEGORIES:Workshops
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/RWTH-Turkis-75-1280x720-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260415T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260415T183000
DTSTAMP:20260318T104621Z
CREATED:20260318T100823Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T104621Z
UID:16131-1776272400-1776277800@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Dis/Trusting Generative AI? Assessing Four Types of Deception Through Generative AI - Judith Simon (University of Hamburg)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nGenerative AI has taken the world by storm\, intensifying debates on the ethics of AI in general and notions of trustworthy Generative AI in particular. In my talk\, I propose the notion of quadruple deception to capture a distinctive feature of Generative AI with significant epistemological\, ethical and political implications: 1) deception regarding the ontological status of one’s interactional counterpart\, 2) deception regarding the capacities of AI\, 3) deception through content created with Generative AI as well as 4) deception resulting from function creep of Generative AI. Arguing that deception endangers trust and trustworthiness\, I assess the epistemic\, ethical and political implications of these four different types of deception for trust and trustworthiness. I will end with some conclusions on how to increase the trustworthiness of Generative AI to enable more justified trust in such technologies. \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/dis-trusting-generative-ai-assessing-four-types-of-deception-through-generative-ai-judith-simon-university-of-hamburg/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260416
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260418
DTSTAMP:20260415T135842Z
CREATED:20260316T091932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T135842Z
UID:16113-1776297600-1776470399@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:DFG-Workshop: Erkennen und Handeln zwischen Simulation und Realität
DESCRIPTION:The DFG workshop “Erkennen und Handeln zwischen Simulation und Realität” (Recognizing and Acting Between Simulation and Reality) will take place from April 16 to 17\, 2026\, in the c:o/re lecture hall. The event will be held in German. The full program can be found here. \n 
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/dfg-workshop-erkennen-und-handeln-zwischen-simulation-und-realitat/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Workshops
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/RWTH-Orange-50-1280.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260429T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260429T183000
DTSTAMP:20260318T104657Z
CREATED:20260318T104657Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T104657Z
UID:16133-1777482000-1777487400@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Digital Complexity: De-Anthropological Trends in Computing\, AI\, and Robotics - Gabriele Gramelsberger (RWTH Aachen University)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nCurrent developments in the fields of simulation and artificial intelligence (AI) have shown that the complexity of digital tools has exceeded the level of human understanding. We can no longer comprehend\, understand or explain the results that AI delivers. Even AI deceptions and hallucinations are now almost impossible to detect. This raises the question of the relationship between humans and their technology anew. Are technologies as instruments useful extensions of human capabilities\, as it was understood in the classical philosophy of technology\, or are we now extensions of our technologies? Will AI dominate and manipulate us in the near future? \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/digital-complexity-de-anthropological-trends-in-computing-ai-and-robotics-gabriele-gramelsberger-rwth-aachen-university/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260508T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260509T200000
DTSTAMP:20260416T083045Z
CREATED:20260205T081710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T083045Z
UID:15905-1778245200-1778356800@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Hidden Futures: Prediction and Promise
DESCRIPTION:Our futures are made by technologies. How do data\, algorithms\, platforms\, and code structure the future? What kinds of visions of the future are designed and foreseen by scientific practices and technological development? Who is included in such visions? How can we act in the midst of our technological present? \nTogether with PACT Zollverein\, an international center for the performing arts working in the fields of dance\, performance\, theater\, media\, the KHK c:o/re organizes the event series “Hidden Futures”. The series brings together activists\, researchers\, and artists\, opening new perspectives on the increasing complexity of digital life. Here\, the future is not merely conceived as a distant vision\, but also as a concrete reality embedded in the present – inscribed in data and platforms\, in decision-making systems\, in landscapes\, infrastructures\, in actions\, and in social contexts. \nThe second edition\, “Hidden Futures: Prediction and Promise”\, explores how technological development creates future scenarios\, shapes human and nonhuman life\, and forms social and ecological contexts in the present. On May 8 and 9\, 2026\, we will engage in a series of conversations\, walks\, and tours to unpack how the future is being made and decided\, with and by technologies. \nOn May 8\, we are taking a bus tour into the Rhenish mining area: Where the massive pit of the Hambach surface mine still stands today\, a new lakeland is set to emerge in the coming decades – one rich in ecological\, economic\, and tourist potential. In Elsdorf\, Manheim\, and Bürgewald\, we meet people\, including artist Silke Schatz and landscape and open space planner Daniela Karow-Kluge\, who are planning\, accompanying\, or questioning this structural transformation. \nOn May 9\, we will meet at PACT Zollverein in Essen\, where artists and researchers will engage in a dialogue to explore different forms of knowledge and practices that go beyond the promises of technological developments. The future is conceived here as a present shaped by predictive systems that already organize and yield reality. With Choy Ka Fai\, Ren Loren Britton\, Nonhuman Nonsense\, Nelly Y. Pinkrah\, Yi Gu\, Tomas Percival and many more. \nFind further information and tickets on PACT’s website here.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/hidden-futures-work-clicks-crowds-2/
LOCATION:PACT Zollverein\, Bullmannaue 20a\, Essen\, 45327\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Art,Talks
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/0019_PACT_Hidden_Futures_2000Px_Foto_Rose_DR29467.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260513T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260513T183000
DTSTAMP:20260506T120411Z
CREATED:20260318T104310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T120411Z
UID:16135-1778691600-1778697000@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Inferential Blueprints and Windows on Reality - Michela Massimi (University of Edinburgh); only online via Zoom!
DESCRIPTION:Only online via Zoom! \nAbstract:\nIn this talk\, I present a key aspect of my 2022 book Perspectival realism (OUP)\, namely the view of scientific models as inferential blueprints. Against a long-standing tradition that has focussed on the representational role of scientific models\, I explain the rationale for regarding models as primarily inferential blueprints that allow different epistemic communities to exchange relevant and appropriate inferences on the relevant target system. I illustrate the view with both historical and contemporary examples of scientific modelling and I spell out the nature of the modal knowledge licensed by scientific models. \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/inferential-blueprints-and-windows-on-reality-michela-massimi-university-of-edinburgh/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260603T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260603T183000
DTSTAMP:20260318T104450Z
CREATED:20260318T104450Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T104450Z
UID:16137-1780506000-1780511400@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Causation as Sign Action: Semiotic Empiricism and the Causal Complexity of Large Language Models - M. Beatrice Fazi (University of Sussex)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nCan large language models (LLMs) engage with causation\, or are they confined to detecting correlations in data? This talk argues that addressing this question requires rethinking what causation itself is and how it becomes intelligible. Drawing on Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic theory of signs\, the talk develops the position that causation is semiotically constituted: causal relations become meaningful not through experiential grounding alone but through irreducibly triadic sign processes involving signs\, objects\, and interpretants. Albert Michotte’s “launching effect” experiment provides a key departure point\, demonstrating that causal perception is already semiotic rather than a matter of direct apprehension or Humean inference. This reframing challenges Judea Pearl’s influential “ladder of causation”—which positions LLMs as processors of correlations incapable of causal reasoning—while also taking seriously Pearl’s own acknowledgment that causal information is embedded in the training texts on which these models operate. The talk proposes “semiotic empiricism” as a framework in which experience is structured by meaning-making rather than preceding it\, and examines its consequences for understanding how LLMs might participate in causal reasoning as semiotic machines\, thus moving the debate beyond both dismissive critique and anthropomorphic overclaiming. \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/causation-as-sign-action-semiotic-empiricism-and-the-causal-complexity-of-large-language-models-m-beatrice-fazi-university-of-sussex/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260617T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260617T183000
DTSTAMP:20260616T054011Z
CREATED:20260318T104735Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260616T054011Z
UID:16139-1781715600-1781721000@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Canceled: Cybernetics and Critique: A Theory of Digital Governmentality - Anna-Verena Nosthoff (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg)
DESCRIPTION:‼️ Unfortunately\, this lecture by Anna-Verena Nosthoff has to be canceled.\nWe hope to see you on July 1 for Yi Gu’s lecture on “The Stack of Territory: Digital Complexity and the Making of Geospatial Infrastructures in China.” \nAbstract:\n \nElon Musk describes X as a “cybernetic superintelligence\,” Mark Zuckerberg views companies as “learning organisms\,” and the inventor of Google Glass says\, “Cybernetics is everywhere\, like air.” These statements are not coincidental. Anyone who seeks to understand the digital transformation must look at its cybernetic origins. In her lecture\, Anna-Verena Nosthoff offers insights into her recent book\, “Cybernetics and Critique: A Theory of Digital Government” (Suhrkamp Verlag)\, and illustrates its fundamental theses with the current authoritarian shift in Silicon Valley. Indeed\, contemporary techno-fascism\, as promoted by figures like Musk\, can be understood particularly well from the perspective of cybernetic constructs. This brings into focus not only transhumanist cyborg fantasies and solutionist\, post-ideological concepts of technology\, but also binary and affect-centered concepts of the public sphere and technocratic\, information-centered understandings of the state. These topoi find totalitarian parallels in the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency\,” in Musk’s decidedly right-wing management of his platform “X\,” and also in the current AGI hype. Against this backdrop\, contemporary “Muskism” (Lepore) proves to be a simultaneously disruptive and incremental form of digital governance: it is primarily recognizable as cybernetic authoritarianism. \n  \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/cybernetics-and-critique-a-theory-of-digital-governmentality-anna-verena-nosthoff-carl-von-ossietzky-university-oldenburg/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260701T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260701T183000
DTSTAMP:20260623T120042Z
CREATED:20260318T104806Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T120042Z
UID:16141-1782925200-1782930600@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Seam Work and Digital Complexity in China’s Real-Scene 3D - Yi Gu (University of Toronto)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\n \nThe Real-Scene 3D China initiative\, launched in 2019\, set out to turn photorealistic three-dimensional spatial data into what state documents call an “important new infrastructure” and a “unified spatial positioning framework and analytical basis” for Digital China. While LiDAR and satellite imagery also enter the workflow\, the privileged technique of Real-Scene 3D China is oblique photogrammetry: multiple aerial cameras capture ground objects from vertical and slanted angles\, and software reconstructs these images as a textured 3D mesh. Unlike studies that examine photogrammetry primarily through heritage preservation\, film and gaming industries\, or computer-vision approaches to automated reconstruction\, this talk asks what happens when photographic realism becomes cartographic and administrative infrastructure. \nI propose “seam work” to describe the operations through which Chinese software systems address the fractures generated by photogrammetric meshes: holes\, texture smearing\, geometric distortions\, coordinate mismatches\, and the absence of object-based segmentation and semantic enrichment. DP-Modeler repairs and supplements faulty photogrammetric surfaces. SuperMap overlays vector units to perform single-object extraction\, turning continuous meshes into selectable and queryable entities. Mirauge3D and related tools further suggest how imperfect data\, lower-cost production\, and bureaucratic campaigns helped Real-Scene 3D reach industrial scale. Drawing on media archaeology\, history of technology\, and visual culture studies\, I examine these domestic software systems not merely as expressions of China’s ambition for indigenous innovation\, but as epistemic techniques for making defective and heterogeneous spatial data usable at scale. \nWhile attentive to China’s historical and political specificities\, I approach the booming Chinese geospatial information industry not as a technological exception but as a diagnostic site. The closest comparison may be the U.S. military’s One World Terrain\, yet Real-Scene 3D China moves one step further in coupling simulation-like realism with cartographic and administrative objectification. Through bureaucratic campaigns\, photorealistic 3D modeling has been extended not only to urban centers but also to the countryside. The case therefore makes visible a political condition of digital complexity: power operates through the management of seams that turn uneven territorial data into administratively legible\, scalable\, and governable spatial order. \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/the-stack-of-territory-digital-complexity-and-the-making-of-geospatial-infrastructures-in-china-yi-gu-university-of-toronto/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Header-LS-SoSe26.png
ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260706
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260711
DTSTAMP:20260304T095155Z
CREATED:20260304T095155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260304T095155Z
UID:16060-1783296000-1783727999@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Summer School: The impacts of digitalization on science and society in the quest for more sustainable futures
DESCRIPTION:The PRAXIS research group at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU\, the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS\, KIT Karlsruhe) and the KHK c:o/re at RWTH Aachen University will host an International Summer School for PhD students\, titled “The impacts of digitalization on science and society in the quest for more sustainable futures”\, from July 6-10\, 2026\, in Donostia-San Sebastián. \nThe transformative effects of the digitalization of science are evident at various levels\, but its interactions with\, and future impacts on\, the broader socio-cultural transformations of science and society remain largely unknown and call for further research. Accordingly\, the Summer School will focus on the following key topics: \n\nTransformations in scientific knowledge production through digitalization\nTransformations of scientific cultures in everyday practices\nTransformations of science–society interactions in transdisciplinary and transformative research through real-world experiments using digital twins\nConcepts and methodologies for the assessment and governance of digital transformation activities\nVarieties of knowledge production and their transformation through digitalization worldwide\n\nKeynote lecturers of the Summer School will be Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gramelsberger\, KHK c:o/re\, c:o/re Fellow Prof. Dr. Harro van Lente\, full professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Science\, Maastricht University\, and Prof. Dr. Stefano Balbi\, Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and IKERBASQUE – Basque Foundation for Science\, Basque Country. \nThe Summer School invites PhD-researchers worldwide from a broad range of Humanities\, Social Studies and Cultural Studies\, Science & Technology Studies (STS) and Technology Assessment (TA) and other inter- and transdisciplinary approaches such as policy-\, sustainability-\, and transformative-research\, which address the interrelations of digitalization of science and socio-cultural transformations.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/summer-school-the-impacts-of-digitalization-on-science-and-society-in-the-quest-for-more-sustainable-futures/
CATEGORIES:Summer School
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260722T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260722T183000
DTSTAMP:20260702T113058Z
CREATED:20260318T104418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260702T113058Z
UID:16143-1784739600-1784745000@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Artificial Intelligence as Cultural Technique: Do Chatbots Understand What They Communicate — Almost Perfectly? - Sybille Krämer (Leuphana University of Lüneburg)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\n \nGenerative digital media—particularly those that produce text—create the impression of a dialogue between humans and machines. The more perfect the communicative interaction—which is often epistemically useful—becomes\, the more it triggers anthropomorphic notions. This lecture develops a non-anthropomorphic interpretation of artificial intelligence by conceptualizing it as a cultural technique. A cultural technique\, however\, that not only changes the foundations of work and communication but also transforms basic scientific practices (“scholarly primitives”)\, comparable to the upheavals associated with the invention of the printing press. \nThe methodological starting point is the premise of a genuine technical nature of human being as practice. The central argument of analyzing the transition from alphanumeric to digital literacy is the “written” character of token-statistical operations in the context of the use of large language models. This “written” nature determines\, on the one hand\, the continuity of the digital—which must be understood independently of the computer—and\, on the other hand\, the radical\, disruptive novelty associated with the normalization of artificial intelligence use. \nThis event is part of our summer term 2026 Lecture Series Digital Complexity: Beyond Human Understanding. \nIf you would like to attend\, please register with events@khk.rwth-aachen.de.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/artificial-intelligence-as-cultural-technique-do-chatbots-understand-what-they-communicate-sybille-kramer-leuphana-university-of-luneburg/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais/Online\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Lecture Series 2026
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ORGANIZER;CN="c%3Ao/re":MAILTO:events@khk.rwth-aachen.de
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260723T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260723T160000
DTSTAMP:20260706T083307Z
CREATED:20260706T083307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260706T083307Z
UID:16556-1784817000-1784822400@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Imaginationskraft\, Literalität und das fragende Humanum im KI-Zeitalter: Empirische Befunde und bildungsphilosophische Resilienzstrategien am Fallbeispiel Südkorea - Chun-Shik Kim
DESCRIPTION:The talk will be held by Chun-Shik Kim\, former RWTH Kármán-Fellow at c:o/re\, in German. \nAbstract: \n\n Einleitung und problemgeschichtlicher Kontext\n\nDie zeitgenössische Transformation der globalen Wissensgesellschaft durch die rasante Durchdringung mit generativer Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) stellt keine bloße technologische Evolution dar\, sondern eine fundamentale anthropologische Zäsur. In einer Epoche\, in der algorithmische Systeme zunehmend kognitive\, kreative und diskursive Vorrechte des Menschen präemptieren – vom autonomen Verfassen akademischer Texte bis hin zur automatisierten Synthese ästhetischer Artefakte –\, gerät das traditionelle Selbstverständnis des Homo sapiens als singuläres denkendes Subjekt in eine existenzielle Krise. Vor diesem Hintergrund fungiert Südkorea\, als eine der am stärksten digitalisierten und technologisch am weitesten fortgeschrittenen Gesellschaften der Gegenwart\, als ein globales\, empirisch hochgradig relevantes „Frühwarnsystem“. Die dort sichtbaren Entwicklungen erlauben es\, die tiefgreifenden Konsequenzen der KI-Revolution und des ubiquitären Konsums algorithmisch optimierter Kurzinhalte auf die menschliche Kognition\, die psychische Vulnerabilität und die Mechanismen der sozialen Kohäsion ex ante zu analysieren. \n\n Die Krise der Literalität und der kognitive Verfall im Spiegel digitaler Monokulturen\n\nEin zentraler Fokus des Vortrags liegt auf der kritischen Dekonstruktion der aktuellen Krise der menschlichen Lesekompetenz (Literalität). Empirische Befunde aus der südkoreanischen Bildungslandschaft der letzten Jahre zeichnen ein alarmierendes Bild: Über alle Altersgruppen hinweg ist ein signifikanter Rückgang der Fähigkeit zum tiefen\, linearen und hermeneutischen Lesen zu verzeichnen. Diese Entwicklung korreliert kausal mit der Etablierung einer digitalen Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie\, die primär auf die Rezeption algorithmisch gesteuerter Kurzvideoformate (sog. „Shorts“\, „Reels“ oder „TikTok-Feeds“) ausgerichtet ist. Kognitionswissenschaftlich und neurobiologisch lässt sich zeigen\, dass dieser permanente\, fragmentierte Reizstrom das menschliche Gehirn auf ein rein diskontinuierliches\, reaktives Rezipieren konditioniert. Die synaptische Fähigkeit\, komplexe\, textbasierte Argumentationsketten gedanklich zu durchdringen\, logische Inkonsistenzen zu identifizieren und eigenständige Abstraktionsleistungen zu erbringen\, wird dadurch systematisch atrophiert. Im interkulturellen Vergleich mit europäischen\, insbesondere deutschen Bildungs- und PISA-Daten wird deutlich\, dass es sich hierbei nicht um ein isoliertes ostasiatisches Phänomen handelt\, sondern um eine universelle Pathologie der digitalen Moderne. \n\n Psychopathologische Implikationen und die Krise der psychischen Vulnerabilität\n\nParallel zum kognitiven Abbau manifestiert sich in Südkorea eine soziopsychiatrische Krise von beispiellosem Ausmaß. Seit dem Jahr 2020 ist eine dramatische Zunahme psychischer Erkrankungen\, insbesondere unter Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen\, zu beobachten. Die Fallzahlen und Beratungsanfragen an schulischen und akademischen psychologischen Diensten verzeichnen innerhalb eines Fünfjahreszeitraums einen Anstieg von über 40 Prozent. Phänomene wie extreme soziale Isolation\, pathologische Angststörungen und chronisch-depressive Episoden weisen eine statistisch signifikante Korrelation mit exzessivem\, dysfunktionalem Smartphone- und KI-Konsum auf. Der Vortrag bettet diese Befunde in einen sozialpsychiatrischen Kontext ein und argumentiert\, dass die Entfremdung von der physischen Realität und die Substitution genuiner interpersoneller Interaktionen durch algorithmische Feedbackschleifen die psychische Resilienz des modernen Subjekts systematisch untergraben. Diese epidemiologische Entwicklung liefert drängende Impulse für eine transnationale präventive Bildungs- und Gesundheitspolitik. \n\n Synästhetische Atrophie und das Paradoxon der „freiwilligen Domestizierung“\n\nAuf einer tieferen philosophischen und anthropologischen Ebene führt die permanente digitale Reizüberflutung zu dem\, was als synästhetischer Verfall bezeichnet werden muss – dem Verlust der Fähigkeit\, diverse Sinnesmodalitäten kreativ\, emotional und hermeneutisch miteinander zu verknüpfen. In theoretischer Anlehnung an Peter Sloterdijks Konzepte der anthropotechnischen Selbstformung sowie an das evolutionär-soziologische Theorem der „domestication by choice“ (der freiwilligen Verhaltensvereinfachung und kognitiven Selbstunterwerfung unter technologische Entlastungsarchive) analysiert der Vortrag die Dialektik der digitalen Befreiung. Indem der Mensch fundamentale kognitive Prozesse an KI-Systeme delegiert\, entzieht er seinen eigenen geistigen Vermögen den notwendigen Widerstand. Die Folge ist eine paradoxe Verengung des sensorischen\, imaginativen und kognitiven Repertoires. Das Staunen\, das spekulatieve Erfinden und das genuine Fragen – als Kernmerkmale des Humanum – drohen in einer technologisch kuratierten Passivität zu erlöschen. \n\n Bildungsphilosophische Gegenstrategien: Die Stärkung des „Gedankenmuskels“\n\nGegen diese dystopischen Tendenzen artikuliert der Vortrag eine dezidiert konstruktive\, bildungsphilosophische Gegenposition. Im Zentrum steht hierbei die theoretische Fundierung des in der koreanischen Reformdiskussion geprägten Begriffs des „Gedankenmuskels“ (Mind Muscle). Dieses Konzept zielt auf die systematische\, curative Rekultivierung der kognitiven Resilienz\, der imaginativen Kapazität und der sprachlichen Souveränität des Subjekts. Historisch-philosophisch inspiriert wird dieser Ansatz durch das Vermächtnis des späteren südkoreanischen Präsidenten und Friedensnobelpreisträgers Kim Dae-jung (1925–2009). Dieser hatte während seiner politischen Hafthaft unter akuter Todesgefahr in seinen berühmten Gefängnisbriefen ein humanistisches Bildungsmanifest formuliert\, das die „geistige Erhebung des Menschen“ und die unbedingte Bewahrung der inneren Freiheit als ultimatives Ziel jeglicher Pädagogik proklamierte. \nDer Vortrag plädiert abschließend für eine transnationale Renaissance des fragenden\, selbstdenkenden Subjekts. Nur durch eine bildungspolitische und philosophische Neuausrichtung\, welche die Ausbildung tiefer Literalität und die Stärkung des kognitiven Widerstandes gegen die algorithmische Sedierung priorisiert\, kann die internationale Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft der Gefahr einer technologisch induzierten Selbstdomestizierung des Menschen wirksam begegnen.
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/imaginationskraft-literalitat-und-das-fragende-humanum-im-ki-zeitalter-empirische-befunde-und-bildungsphilosophische-resilienzstrategien-am-fallbeispiel-sudkorea-chun-shik-kim/
LOCATION:Stadtpalais\, Theaterstraße 75\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Talks
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20261104T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20261105T170000
DTSTAMP:20260205T081236Z
CREATED:20260205T081229Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260205T081236Z
UID:15900-1793779200-1793898000@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Freedom of Research: A European Summit
DESCRIPTION:For more information about the program\, check out the event website. \nThe Summit is organized by the Charlemagne Prize Foundation and RWTH Aachen University’s Knowledge Hub and Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research (c:o/re).
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/freedom-of-research-a-european-summit/
CATEGORIES:Conference
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261114
DTSTAMP:20260630T122949Z
CREATED:20260630T122826Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260630T122949Z
UID:16529-1794441600-1794614399@khk.rwth-aachen.de
SUMMARY:Conference: Varieties of Science and Technology in Europe: Shifting Fortunes of STS in Turbulent Times
DESCRIPTION:This year’s Gesellschaft für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung e.V. (GWTF) conference is organized in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University’s Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research (c:o/re) and its current thematic focus on “Globality and Varieties of Science.” We therefore expressly invite members of national STS associations in Europe to discuss this topic with us. \nScience and Technology Studies (STS) currently find themselves in a precarious position: Epistemologically\, they are caught between multiple disciplines precisely because they have become highly specialized. Institutionally\, as a relatively small field\, this position is often weak. At the same time\, STS are increasingly called upon to contribute to innovation and transformation processes originating in other disciplines\, such as biosciences or engineering. This is less surprising than it appears at first glance\, for science and technology themselves confront a range of tensions. On the one hand\, STS are mobilized to address societal problems and increasingly help to play a prominent role in processes of collective problem-solving. Key terms here include transdisciplinary research\, mission-oriented research\, co-creation\, and responsible research and innovation. On the other hand\, science and technology face increasing attacks and challenges. Growing restrictions of academic freedom in many countries are evident in the Academic Freedom Index. In addition\, universities have become battlegrounds for right-wing culture wars\, in which slogans like “cancel culture” are used to stir up sentiment against those deemed undesirable. In this situation\, research into the social and cultural dimensions of science and technology is growing in significance. Under these conditions\, and in playing an integrated role for science and technology\, STS must navigate more actively the tension between engagement and distancing. \nIn this context\, we want to take a closer look at the question of the positioning of Science and Technology Studies against the backdrop of different circumstances in European countries. We want to learn about specific cultural and institutional embeddings of STS and also focus on developments where these embeddings are particularly salient. We suggest the following two thematic strands as exemplary cases: \n\nForms of hybrid knowledge production and technology development in different European countries. It is truly astonishing how diverse the variants of transdisciplinary research have become under various labels (be it transdisciplinary research\, citizen science\, real-world laboratories\, etc.). Modes of funding and innovation policy have provided stimulating impe-tuses for how specific academic systems and forms of civil society organization interact. How have these forms of transdisciplinary research developed and which variations can be ob-served? And what is the relationship between such variations and their respective cultural-institutional contexts? What self-conceptions of researchers have developed? What does the balance between engagement and distancing look like\, how did it develop\, and how is it per-formed? For example\, the conditions and limitations of academic freedom differ from country to country. Europe\, too\, is not free from authoritarian developments\, which assigns science and technology research a significant yet precarious sociopolitical role in preserving academic freedom through its continued advancement.\nAcademic careers (in STS) in different countries. Academic systems can be understood in terms of their form and orientation particularly through the academic careers that emerge within them—or fail to emerge. The conditions of socialization of aspiring researchers reflect the particular cultural and institutional characteristics of a scientific system. What career paths are typically institutionally predefined? What meritocratic signals must scientists in their early career paths demonstrate to accumulate the symbolic capital that is so crucial? Even if the prevailing impression is that these are measured by the respective disciplines using purely objective criteria (such as\, publication and external funding success)\, a closer look is warranted here. What experiences and career paths exist in the various European countries? What key factors influence the similarity or dissimilarity of such career paths? And what is the situation in particularly specialized fields such as STS\, where it can be assumed that career trajectories within the academic system—which are already highly complex—develop in even more intricate ways? In addition to disciplinary quality indicators\, researchers often face other requirements that they must fulfill\, which presents a significant problem in the academic careers of researchers in STS\, as academic careers have traditionally been determined by discipline—that is\, by a qualification in a specific academic field. Cross-disciplinary perspectives are often critical in this regard. However: how does this relate to the different fields of application and the disciplines involved? What differences emerge depending on funding formats?
URL:https://khk.rwth-aachen.de/event/conference-varieties-of-science-and-technology-in-europe-shifting-fortunes-of-sts-in-turbulent-times/
LOCATION:Forum M\, Mayersche\, Buchkremerstraße 1-7\, Aachen\, 52062\, Germany
CATEGORIES:Conference
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