NEWS • 2021-12-06
Emotions affect how we make sense of the world, communicate with each other, and collaborate. Emotions influence the way information is shared online, how communities perceive and respond to environmental crises, and how elites, civil society and citizens engage in the climate crisis. The importance of emotions on our lives is certainly not a new observation. However, human emotions are being increasingly mediated and affected by a variety of technologies, advanced machine intelligent systems and digital platforms. Data extracted from wearable devices, cameras, social media, and “behavioral surplus” created by online behavior can be combined with artificial intelligence to extract, measure, understand, simulate, and respond to human emotions at depths and at scales that are unprecedented in human history.
What are the risks embedded in “emotion technologies” as we move into a more turbulent climate future? Could these technologies be a force for good by helping people expand and deepen their empathy towards other humans, non-human species, and future generations, and even towards Nature? And how can societies prepare for this new reality in creative and constructive ways?
Welcome to “Intelligent Machines, Emotions, and Our Planet”, a virtual event that explores the frontiers and social challenges created by the increased interplay between human emotions, machines and nature.
This event is organized by “AI, People & Planet”, an initiative between the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Urban Systems lab at the New School, and the Princeton’s Institute for International and Regional Studies at Princeton University. The event is funded by The Crafoord Foundation.
