In his recent article “How the Enlightenment Ends” (The Atlantic, June 2018), Henry Kissinger joins the Gegenaufklärer (as well as the Dark Aufklärer) and announces the end of the Enlightenment in view of the rise of Artificial Intelligence. He proposes that this end demands a new philosophy. However, did the Enlightenment really end? What is the relation between the Enlightenment and technology? What comes after its end? This talk attempts to respond to Kissingner’s article by addressing these questions.
Yuk Hui is a philosopher based in Berlin. He is the author of three monographs: On the Existence of Digital Objects (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), The Question Concerning Technology in China: An Essay in Cosmotechnics (Urbanomic, 2016), and Recursivity and Contingency (Rowman and Littlefield International, Spring 2019).
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