OxyTalks "On Tap" AI & Society

This event is part of a new speaker series OxyTalks “On Tap” starting with the topic of AI and Society, in partnership with Occidental College Dean's Office, the Library, and Center for Research and Scholarship.

We live in an age of astonishing intelligence—and deep confusion about what it means to be human. We are surrounded by once unimaginable technology—yet many of us feel oddly diminished by it. AI promises to solve all of our problems—but we now have to defend ourselves against our own creations. In short, we are living through what the Mexican philosopher Samuel Ramos called “the crisis of humanism.”

In this talk, Professor of Philosophy Robert Sanchez will discuss the contradictions inherent in modern life and how, in a world racing toward automation, getting “crafty” can reorient us toward human values and help to save us from ourselves. Examples are drawn from the woodshop, but the lessons can be applied to perfecting any craft.

Robert Sanchez is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at Occidental College. He specializes in Mexican/Latinx/Latin American philosophy, as well as existentialism, and he has interests in the philosophy of race, the philosophy of food, and the history of philosophy. He co-hosts a blog on Mexican philosophy.

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Host or Publisher Occidental College CRS