January 14|25 2018
The future of blurred boundaries between humans and machines is a recurrent theme in science fiction. This future is today.
Join us for two weeks of discussions, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and cultural and recreational events that will inspire our shared vision for a brighter, human-machine future.
Is the future human?
Sensors monitor our state, health and behavior, relaying this data to configure a digital signature that is as much part of us as our biometric traits. Fed at petabyte levels, our digital signatures allow increasingly powerful machine learning algorithms to learn from the continuous data streams we generate and anticipate our needs and behaviors as consumers.
Machine learning algorithms can increasingly mimic the function of our brain and will soon establish a direct interface that allows for the seamless control of robots. Robots are endowed with powerful sensorial capacities in order to interact with other humans, as well as their robotic avatars, through virtual networks that may eventually replace much of our human-to-human interactions.
While this human-machine future offers to bring about unlimited potential, it also creates risks—of losing our privacy and the social traits inherent to our human nature. We live in a world where machines are increasingly embedded in our everyday lives. Machines shape our individual identities, social interactions, and society as a whole. During the 2018 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), we invite you to immerse yourself in a diverse and stimulating program, touching on the opportunities and risks of a future where the boundaries between machines and humans will become even more diffuse.
Facebook On-Air Interview with David Edwards
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series *Speaker to be confirmed David Edwards, a creator, writer and educator who teaches at Harvard University, will be interviewed during WEP as part of the Facebook On-A ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Todd Nims
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Todd Nims *Speaker to be confirmed Todd Nims is the film producer at the Kingdom's state-of-the-art cultural center for inspiring creativity, the King Abdulaziz ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Carolyn Porco
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Carolyn Porco *Speaker to be confirmed Carolyn Porco led NASA's imaging science team on the Cassini mission in orbit around Saturn. Facebook&n ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Elizabeth Churchill
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Elizabeth Churchill *Speaker to be confirmed Currently a Director of User Experience at Google, Elizabeth Churchill is an applied social scientist working ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Alexandru Ionut Budisteanu
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Alexandru Ionut Budisteanu Alexandru is a 23 years old - Forbes 30 under 30 Europe alumni, TIME magazine nomination for one most influential teens in the w ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Jeffrey Schnapp
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Jeffrey Schnapp *Speaker to be confirmed Jeffrey is the founder/faculty director of metaLAB (at) Harvard University, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder of ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Oussama Khatib
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Oussama Khatib *Speaker to be confirmed Oussama Khatib is the Director of the Robotics Lab at Stanford University. Facebook On-Air consists of ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Leslie Dewan
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Leslie Dewan *Speaker to be confirmed Dr. Leslie Dewan wants to save the world with nuclear power using new, innovative nuclear technology. This #womaninsc ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with James Lyne
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with James Lyne *Speaker to be confirmed James Lyne is currently Global Head of Security Research at Sophos. Facebook On-Air consists of a 20 minute live inter ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Yves Agid
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Yves Agid *Speaker to be confirmed Yves Agid is a neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, cell biologist, neurochemist, academician, university professor, hospital doct ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Margaret Livingstone
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Margaret Livingstone *Speaker to be confirmed Margaret Livingstone is Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Facebook On-Air consists ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Susan Polgar
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Susan Polgar *Speaker to be confirmed Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-born American chess Grandmaster. She is famous for having been a child prodigy at chess, for b ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Nate Hagens
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Nate Hagens *Speaker to be confirmed Nate Hagens is a Professor at the University of Minnesota. Nate is a public intellectual who writes and speaks on the ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Ayman Al Harbi
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Ayman Al Harbi (interview in Arabic) *Speaker to be confirmed Ayman Al Harbi is the Director of Information Technology and Project Director at the SmartCity Pro ... more
Facebook On-Air Interview with Munther Dahleh
Location: WEP HUB (University Library)
The KAUST Facebook On-Air Series with Munther Dahleh *Speaker to be confirmed Munther A. Dahleh is the MIT and the Director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). Facebook&nbs ... more
