Abstract

Prof. Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology (Ottawa) will explore the issues of data ownership, privacy and security, as well as the broader implications of ‘the cloud’ as an instance of our increasing tendency to delegate complex human operations and activities to machines. Is the voluntary relinquishment of control (not merely by individuals to corporations but also by corporations to machines) warranted? Through an investigation of the underlying vision of cloud computing and an equally opaque series of related processing techniques in the fields of ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence and robotics, Professor Kerr will consider whether – and under what circumstances – we ought to trust the machines to do our bidding. Free public lecture. No booking required.