Humanizing the Future in a Digital World

The University of Arizona College of Humanities is exploring the intersection of technology and humanities, focusing on the vital role of human context and perspective in guiding digital innovations such as big data, artificial intelligence and robotics. Launching this week, the Dorrance Lecture Series brings together faculty, students and outside guests to examine the relationship between so-called disruptive technologies and human cultures. The first symposium, "Humanities Innovators in a Tech World," is Thursday and Friday in the Integrated Learning Center, Room 120, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. "As technological advances bring us closer to a digital future, the humanities become more important than ever in helping to understand what makes us human, especially as those same technological advances bring greater connectivity to all people across the globe," says Alain-Philippe Durand, dean of the College of Humanities. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the fusion of technologies is blurring the differences between the physical, digital and biological. Advances such as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, genetic algorithms, collaborative commerce, additive manufacturing, spatial computing and genetic engineering will impact the future, in ways both predictable and unpredictable.