Night of Ideas: Our Digital Lives

Does your social media know you better than you know yourself? The democratisation of social networks and big data leads to a confusion between private and public; between what we really want and what we are told to like. How does this affect our capacity to make choices, and the control we have over our own lives?

Mercedes Bunz, (Senior Lecturer in Digital Society, CMCI) joins other guest speakers as part of the programme for the Institut français Night of Ideas 2020.

Launched by the Institut français in 2016, the Night of Ideas is a project staged simultaneously in Paris, London and worldwide. For the 2020 edition, the Institut français du Royaume-Uni,  the Higher Education, Research and Innovation Department and the Cultural Department of the French Embassy has put together a thought-provoking programme of debates, performances and screenings exploring the latest ideas behind issues central to our times, taking place on Thursday 30 January 2019, from 5 pm to midnight.

Crossing French, British and European perspectives, this new edition will engage audiences in free debates with the theme ALIVE as the common thread to tackle the latest ideas behind issues central to our times.

What does being alive mean today? Some say we’re on the brink of extinction. Some say we can build a new man. Earlier this month, a whale was found dead with 100kg of plastic in its stomach on the Isle of Harris,Scotland. In 2017, Sophia became the first robot to be granted citizenship, and while some saw in her the possibilities of the future, others found their worst nightmares realised. At a time when nature is threatened and technology seems all-powerful, let’s question, collectively, the borders of our humanity and rethink what was once taken for granted.

Scientists, artists, intellectuals and activists engage with these issues in many ways: through campaigning for animal rights, innovating sustainable fashion, creating works of art using AI, or developing domestic robots,they push the boundaries of art, knowledge and politics. The NIGHT OF IDEAS will bring them together to explore the changing shape of our lives and plant the seeds of new initiatives.

All events in the Night of Ideas are free to attend and open to all, but booking to one of the strands or to the whole Night is required. 

You can find more information about the programme and how to register on the website.