City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, Goethe Institut San Francisco, MIT Press, and Centre for International Security Studies at University of Sydney present

For The Protection of All Beings: An inquiry into advancing technologies and their consequences and possibilities

Saturday, October 7 and Sunday October 8, 2023. Events will be both virtual and onsite between 12 pm – 6 pm Pacific Standard Time each day. Schedule to be announced.

Following in the conceptual footsteps of City Lights’ Journal for the Protection of All Beings, a pacifist journal produced in the 1960’s, this weekend symposium considers the intersection of advanced technologies and their effect upon culture and the environment. What happens when quantum computing, AI, advanced robotics, nanotech, biotech, info networks, and internet of things collide with the political sphere? What are the benefits and the hazards of these high levels of interconnectedness? The event encourages a deep inquiry into what kind of a society we are creating and offers room for thinking critically about our relationship to technologies and their effects upon the environment. Who do technologies serve? Does bias in the development of technologies primarily serve its corporate arbiters? How do we encourage cultural diversity when thinking about new and emerging technologies? Is a more fluid ontology necessary in the way we think about how technologies are utilized? Is it time for a renaissance and reemergence of “Open Source”? In the wake of San Francisco attempting to develop a “killer robot” program for its police department, is it time to develop a Declaration of Human Rights regarding technology in the age of quantum computing and its future marriage with AI? In this event, we will bring together artists, poets, scientists, and theorists to explore these issues through lectures, panel discussions, workshops, film screenings, and exhibits.

With appearances by Celia Aragon, Meredith Broussard, Finn Brunton, Marina Cogan, James Der Derian, Jonathon Keats, Ramesh Srinavasan, Fred Turner, Wendy Wong, and more to be announced.

Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/