[Philosop] CfP: Technology and Language - philosophical, historical, socio-anthropological, linguistic dimensions
Alfred Nordmann
Another issue of "Technology and Language" has appeared, and with it a
new call for contributions that appeals to the interests of philosophers
and historians of technology, of linguists and multilingualists, of
cultural studies and literary scholars, art and engineering educators.
https://soctech.spbstu.ru/en/issue/15/
http://www.philosophie.tu-darmstadt.de/T_and_L
Guest-edited by Elena Seredkina and LIU Yongmou, the most recent issue
is dedicated to “ChatGPT and the Voices of Reason, Responsibility, and
Regulation”: When we evaluate the capacity of ChatGPT to match or
surpass human capabilities, this is evidently an invitation to look at
ourselves. Some of the authors offer enactivist or Derridean accounts of
human communication, understanding, and thought that allow for machines
to do the same. Others cite creativity and conceptual reasoning to
highlight an unbridgeable gap between human and machine intelligence. ¬–
More generally, André Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986) viewed humanity through
the lens of technical intelligence. His 1952 lecture on the origin of
science is here for the first time published in English, accompanied by
three papers about his historical and philosophical legacy. Werner
Rammert finally provides a social pragmatist perspective on "Doing
Things with Words and Things."
For the June 2025 issue, we are issuing once again a general call for
contributed papers (deadline March 15, 2025). All papers at the
intersection of technology and language will always be considered, of
course. This is a chance also to submit small groups of papers, e.g.,
from workshops, conferences, summer schools, research projects. This
issue can exhibit a great variety of themes: on the language of things,
on human and machine voice, on resonance, on technology and tragedy – or
comedy or farce. And much more.
Other open calls (shortened):
„Speculative Technologies“ (inquire about the upcoming
submission-deadline) — It is a distinctive feature of human language
that we can refer to things that aren't there - to events in the future
or the past and even to things that wiill never exist. Does this hold
for technology as well? Can machines and other technical schemes refer
to impossibilities? Can they invite us to engage in hypothetical
thinking about alternate worlds? And where do they come from, what is
the cultural or socio-technical milieu for their conception?
Astronomical clocks invoke ideas of the cosmic order, a perpetuum mobile
reflects the human ambition to conquer physical limits, von Kempelen’s
chess player challenges humans to question human and machine
intelligence, prototypes herald an imagined future, envisioned carbon
reduction technologies enter into calculations of climate futures - and
a machine that is standing still holds the secret to that machine in
motion. There is a long tradition of wish-fullfilment machines (quantum
computers, fusion reactors), and a long tradition of difference engines
with different settings for various contingencies. We invite historical
reconstructions, philosophical reflections, and cultural technology
assessments on this range of subjects. (guest editors: Anna Kotomina and
Colin Milburn)
“Translation - Theory and Technology” (deadline: Oct 5, 2024) —A
mechanical device delivers faithful translations of rotary motion into
the vertical back and forth of a beam - and vice versa. Ludwig
Wittgenstein analogized translation to the ways in which a musical
performance can be mapped onto the grooves of a gramophone record as
well as a score - no interpretation involved. And if only the data set
is big enough, new computer applications for translating between natural
languages require nothing but the discovery of correlations in the
occurrence of words in phrases - again, no interpretation involved. To
be sure, there are other conceptions which highlight gains and losses,
proximity and distance, inventiveness and transformation in the process
of translation. If one thinks of translation as a kind of transport from
the one bank of a river to the other side, this would be akin to the
work of engineers who transport knowledge of functional regularities in
biological systems into the sphere of human devices. And if one thinks
of the techniques and collaborative arrangements for rendering old
meanings in new settings, one will appreciate how new works and new
ideas are created. — Considered for its linguistic as well as technical
dimensions, the art of translation will be of interest not only to
philosophers, linguists, and literary scholars, but also to cultural
studies, biomimetics, mathematics and engineering. (guest editors:
Andrea Breard and Marco Tamborini)
#mediaopera. Recomposing Agency (deadline: Dec 15, 2024), guest editor:
Cheryce von Xylander. The word „opus“ refers to a technically or
artfully produced work. The plural form „opera“ refers to an art-form
that draws together many artists and technicians - musicians, singers,
dancers, architects and builders of the space, costume and light
designers, and then writer(s) and composer(s), conductor(s) and
stage-director(s) who bring all this together. Not only the cinema has
been transformed by video which is now routinely incorporated in opera
stagings and, most recently, spawned a whole new genre of „mediaoperas“
- such as „Einstein and Margarita,“ „Theremin’s Last Secret,“ or „Pink
Mouse“ by Iraida Yusupova. Akin to the medieval and renaissance
Cathedral, modern opera and cinema enable assembly — and the
„Gesamtkunstwerk“ finally constellated is arguably never completed. — We
invite contributions from history, art theory, media studies, data
science, sociology, philosophy, and related fields to consider more
generally the configuration of aesthesis in social space: How are
technical media and sensory modalities organised in spectacular
art-forms which herald the historical changes they exemplify?
Beyond these calls for special topics, any submitted paper and
interdisciplinary exploration at the interface of technology and
language is always welcome. The next deadline for submitted papers in
English or Russian is October 10, 2024.
“Technology and Language” is a quarterly journal: international, peer
reviewed, Scopus listed, online, open access, academic (no fees).
Queries, suggestions, and submissions can be addressed to
soc...@spbstu.ru or to Daria Bylieva (bylie...@spbstu.ru) and Alfred
Nordmann (nord...@phil.tu-darmstadt.de).
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