Join us for a Friday Forum that will debate some of today’s most pressing questions about tech innovation. Our focus is robotics, and the relation between machines and ‘the life well-lived’. Chaired by Dr Nejra Van Zalk, director of the Design Psychology Lab, in the Dyson School of Design Engineering. Our suite of questions include:
- Should robots become more like humans, or should the science of robotics become more human-centred and interpretative?
- What risks or misconceptions arise when we anthropomorphise machines?
- In care, education, work, and social settings, what forms of support are both realistic and desirable?
- Are there aspects of human flourishing that robots can enhance but never replace?
- Can robotics responsibly incorporate insights from the humanities and social sciences?
Panel members
- Professor Peter Childs, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London
- Professor Mirko Kovac, Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London
- Professor Zion Tse, Queen Mary University of London.
Friday Forums are congenial in-person discussions, open to all College members, where for a short hour we can step back from our busy schedules and consider wider perspectives. Expect discussion, intellectual challenge, and the opportunity to meet colleagues from across Imperial.
The discussion runs from 13:00 – 14:00, Friday February 27th. Lunch from 12:20.