The Unaffordable Social & Ecological Impacts of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence intensifies existing trends towards ecological collapse and social polarization through its high dependence on materials and energy, as well as its development in the context of a profit-maximizing and growth-oriented economic culture. To correct this situation, we advocate for a political ecology of technology and a postgrowth cultural paradigm, so that AI is redirected to serve the common good and the regeneration of ecosystems. About the speaker: Luis I. Prádanos (Iñaki) is professor of contemporary Hispanic cultural studies at Miami University. He is the author of Postgrowth Imaginaries (Liverpool UP, 2018) and the editor of A Companion to Spanish Environmental Cultural Studies (Tamesis, 2023). Iñaki's research and teaching interests include environmental humanities, political ecology of technology, critical energy studies, regenerative design, and decolonial extinction studies. His teaching approach is based on "The Pedagogy of Degrowth". Date: Thursday, March 30th - 10:00am-11:00am Location: Smith Warehouse, Bay 5, Amazon Lab 114 S. Buchanan Blvd., Durham, NC 27708