What will our lives be like when we coexist with digital humans?Our panel of experts and thought leaders will join a live interactive, photo-realistic...

Mummy, can I marry my Avatar? The ethical and societal implications of living with digital artificial humans

Location:

Level 6 Terrace Entrance (Circular Quay West Side)
2000 NSW
Australia

Featuring

Mike Seymour

Mike Seymour

Mike is a veteran of the entertainment industry where he specialized in visual effects. Mike has a B Sc. and masters from Sydney University, where he currently has a PhD fellowship. His research looks into interactive real-time photoreal faces as a new form of human-computer interface.

Mike has worked in R&D and in production, winning an AFI and being nominated for a Primetime Emmy. He has worked as a compositor, vfx supervisor and second unit director on various productions and TV shows. He is well known for his work as a writer, consultant and educator with the websites. 

Rachel Botsman

Rachel Botsman

Rachel Botsman is the world-recognised expert on an explosive new era of trust. An award-winning author, speaker and University of Oxford lecturer, she has written for Wired, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

Her latest book, Who Can You Trust? (Penguin Portfolio, October 2017) will revolutionise our perception of trust. She is also the coauthor of, What’s Mine is Yours, which was named one of TIME’s 'Ten Ideas That’ll Change the World'.

Rachel’s TED talks have 3.5 million views. Monocle named her in the world’s top 20 keynote speakers. She was named one of the "Most Creative People in Business” (Fast Company); a “Young Global Leader” (World Economic Forum) and received the Breakthrough Idea Award (Thinkers50) for a “radical idea which has the potential to change the way we think about business forever.”

Sandra Peter

Sandra Peter

Sandra leads the Sydney Business Insights initiative at the University of Sydney Business School and is commited to being an engaged, relevant and influential voice on major issues and trends.

Sandra has degrees in both business and education. Her research has focused the future of higher education from a learner perspective. She looks at access to education through initiatives and also broader economic, socio-cultural aspects of higher education. She examines how such phenomena are nested in society and in various public debates.

Sandra also has a keen interest in innovation in business education from a very practical, applied perspective. She has implemented a range of innovative educational practices and initiatives.

Kai Riemer

Kai Riemer

Professor of Information Technology and Organisation in the Sydney University Business School

Kai is professor of Information Technology and Organisation in the Sydney University Business School. He received his Ph.D. in Management from Münster University, Germany. He moved to Sydney in 2009.

Kai's research interest is in disruptive technologies, enterprise social media, virtual work, collaborative technologies and the philosophy of technology. Kai has been involved in a number of research projects funded by the European Commission, as well as for industry collaboration projects with Deutsche Bahn or Daimler AG.

Kai is widely published and respected for his work in both the academic community and through long-term collaborations and consultations with industry such as the Digital Disruption Research Group.

Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.
  • Hearing Loop - A hearing loop (sometimes called an audio induction loop) is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. The hearing loop provides a magnetic, wireless signal that is picked up by the hearing aid when it is set to 'T' (Telecoil) setting. Many venues have an induction hearing loop system. Check if your venue has this system.

Event Details

What will our lives be like when we coexist with digital humans?

Our panel of experts and thought leaders will join a live interactive, photo-realistic computer-generated digital person on stage to look at the long-term ethical and social issues we will be facing with digital humans. Explore the dilemma of how far we let replicants in with renowned author and public speaker Rachel Botsman and leading experts and researchers from The University of Sydney Business School and Sydney Business Insights.

Much has been discussed in the press, and especially in dystopian science fiction, about the rise of the machines. In the shadow of a dramatic narrative of robots and cyborgs, a much more likely world is emerging where humans can rely on digital companions to support their everyday activities. While we are less likely to have a human-looking robot walking about our homes doing our daily chores, we are much closer to having virtual digital assistants on our mobiles and home devices that get to know us and start to anticipate our needs. Computer advances will soon make it possible for everyday devices to both acknowledge and respond to us emotionally. 

Because we are hard-wired to respond to faces in uniquely positive ways, artificial realistic faces hold great promise for advancing human interaction with machines. Will it be long before we have conversational agents, such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, with new believable “human” faces and expressions?

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Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.
  • Hearing Loop - A hearing loop (sometimes called an audio induction loop) is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. The hearing loop provides a magnetic, wireless signal that is picked up by the hearing aid when it is set to 'T' (Telecoil) setting. Many venues have an induction hearing loop system. Check if your venue has this system.