Those questions about the relationship between people and computers will highlight an April 25-27 symposium at the University of Utah featuring keynote lectures by a novelist who writes about computers, a robot builder and a theologian. The three keynoters also will participate in a live broadcast of National Public Radio's "Science Friday" show on April 26.
"Humans and Their Machines, Machines and Their Humans" is the title of the first annual Utah Symposium in Science & Literature. Most sessions will be held in the Gould Auditorium of the university's Marriott Library.
Keynote lectures in the auditorium will be delivered at:
- 7:30 p.m. Thursday April 25 by prize-winning novelist and University of Illinois English Professor Richard Powers, author of "Galatea 2.2," "Plowing the Dark" and other books.
- 7:30 p.m. Friday April 26 by Rodney Brooks, robot developer and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Lab.
- 9:30 a.m. Saturday April 27 by theologian and computer scientist Anne Foerst of St. Bonaventure University on Olean, N.Y.
All three keynoters will discuss "Are We Our Machines?" during a live broadcast of NPR's "Science Friday" from 1 to 2 p.m. MDT Friday April 26 at the Gould Auditorium. Audience members must arrive no later than 12:30 p.m. Host Ira Flatow will moderate from New York. Seating is limited, so members of the public wishing to attend the "Science Friday" taping, keynote lectures or other events should register in advance using the form on the website or by calling JoAnn Murray at 801/581-7236.
"As machines have gotten more sophisticated, and as they have been built increasingly to resemble us, the question is raised: At what point are we creating the technology, and at what point are we being recreated by our technology?" says symposium director Katharine Coles, a poet, associate professor of English and director of the U's creative writing program.
Coles says symposium speakers will discuss "the ways in which our psychology, spirituality and consciousness are influenced by technology. Talking about this not only is a way of exploring some really important ethical issues we face with our technologies, but also allows us to come to better understanding of who we are."
The symposium opens with a public reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday April 25 in the Gould Auditorium. Powers' keynote lecture will follow.
On Friday April 26, there will be concurrent panel discussions at 9 a.m. titled "Now That My PC is 'Smart,' Is It Wrong to Unplug It? Who Decides Who's Human" and "Printing Press, Steam Engine Cyberspace: New Millennium or Progress as Usual?"
Concurrent panel discussions at 10:30 a.m. Friday are titled "The Medium and the Message: Has Technology Changed the Nature of Creativity?" and "The Man of Parts: Where Do I Leave Off and My Machines Begin?"
After the "Science Friday" broadcast, demonstrations of computers, robotics and other technologies will be conducted from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Marriott Library and at other campus sites, with shuttle buses providing transport to the other sites.
After Foerst's keynote lecture on Saturday April 27, a final panel discussion will include all three keynoters on the topic of "
