Past Events

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Limits of Machines, Limits of Humans	Tue, 24.05.2022	Lecture	Edward Lee Ludger HagedornStefan Woltran, Gerti Kappel, Michael Wiesmüller	Limits of Machines, Limits of Humans Tue, 24.05.2022 Speakers: Edward Lee Ludger HagedornStefan Woltran, Gerti Kappel, Michael Wiesmüller Series: Lecture "Rationality" in Simon’s "bounded rationality" is the principle that humans make decisions based on step-by-step (algorithmic) reasoning using systematic rules of logic to maximize utility. "Bounded rationality" is the observation that the ability of a human brain to handle algorithmic complexity and data is limited. Bounded rationality, in other words, treats a decision maker as a machine carrying out computations with limited resources. In this talk, Edward A. Lee argued that the recent breakthroughs in AI demonstrate that much of what we consider "intelligence" is not based on algorithmic symbol manipulation, and that what the machines are doing more closely resembles intuitive thinking than rational decision making. Under this model, the goal of "explainable AI" is unachievable in any useful form. Read more
Limits of Machines, Limits of Humans Tue, 24.05.2022 Speakers: Edward Lee Ludger HagedornStefan Woltran, Gerti Kappel, Michael Wiesmüller Series: Lecture "Rationality" in Simon’s "bounded rationality" is the principle that humans make decisions based on step-by-step (algorithmic) reasoning using systematic rules of logic to maximize utility. "Bounded rationality" is the observation that the ability of a human brain to handle algorithmic complexity and data is limited. Bounded rationality, in other words, treats a decision maker as a machine carrying out computations with limited resources. In this talk, Edward A. Lee argued that the recent breakthroughs in AI demonstrate that much of what we consider "intelligence" is not based on algorithmic symbol manipulation, and that what the machines are doing more closely resembles intuitive thinking than rational decision making. Under this model, the goal of "explainable AI" is unachievable in any useful form. Read more
	‘Patriotic Science’: The COVID 19 Pandemic and the Politics of Indigeneity and Decoloniality in Sri Lanka	Mon, 23.05.2022	Seminars and Colloquia	Harshana Rambukwella Ludger Hagedorn Saurabh Dube	‘Patriotic Science’: The COVID 19 Pandemic and the Politics of Indigeneity and Decoloniality in Sri Lanka Mon, 23.05.2022 Speakers: Harshana Rambukwella Ludger Hagedorn Saurabh Dube Series: Seminars and Colloquia This paper uses the Sri Lankan case to argue that decoloniality, which has become a global theoretical trend, is insufficiently self-reflexive of how its sharp East-West binary can be politically disabling for on-the-ground struggles in postcolonial societies. The fetishization of indigeneity can have devastating consequences. Read more
‘Patriotic Science’: The COVID 19 Pandemic and the Politics of Indigeneity and Decoloniality in Sri Lanka Mon, 23.05.2022 Speakers: Harshana Rambukwella Ludger Hagedorn Saurabh Dube Series: Seminars and Colloquia This paper uses the Sri Lankan case to argue that decoloniality, which has become a global theoretical trend, is insufficiently self-reflexive of how its sharp East-West binary can be politically disabling for on-the-ground struggles in postcolonial societies. The fetishization of indigeneity can have devastating consequences. Read more
	South Asian Labour Migration and Maritime Migrants	Sat, 21.05.2022 - Mon, 23.05.2022	Conferences and Workshops		South Asian Labour Migration and Maritime Migrants Sat, 21.05.2022 - Mon, 23.05.2022 Speakers: Series: Conferences and Workshops The Calcutta Research Group and the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna [under its project 'Justice, Protection and Government of the People: A Two Year Research and Orientation Programme on Protection and Democracy in a Post-COVID World (2021-2023)] in collaboration with the Nepal Institute of Peace and Alliance for Social Dialogue have conceptualised this three-day summer camp in a dialogue-workshop pattern where activists associated with NGOs, INGOs, human rights activists, human rights defenders for migrants and refugees at sea, migrant labour union activists, legal activists, scholars, from different parts of South Asia in addition to Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region will be joining the Meet on 'South Asian Labour Migration and Maritime Migrants' in Kathmandu from May 21-23, 2022. The focus of this summer camp will be to frame a policy draft through the consultative and interactive meet on the governance of the labour migration scenario and protection offered to the returnee labour migrants etc. Read more
South Asian Labour Migration and Maritime Migrants Sat, 21.05.2022 - Mon, 23.05.2022 Speakers: Series: Conferences and Workshops The Calcutta Research Group and the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna [under its project 'Justice, Protection and Government of the People: A Two Year Research and Orientation Programme on Protection and Democracy in a Post-COVID World (2021-2023)] in collaboration with the Nepal Institute of Peace and Alliance for Social Dialogue have conceptualised this three-day summer camp in a dialogue-workshop pattern where activists associated with NGOs, INGOs, human rights activists, human rights defenders for migrants and refugees at sea, migrant labour union activists, legal activists, scholars, from different parts of South Asia in addition to Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region will be joining the Meet on 'South Asian Labour Migration and Maritime Migrants' in Kathmandu from May 21-23, 2022. The focus of this summer camp will be to frame a policy draft through the consultative and interactive meet on the governance of the labour migration scenario and protection offered to the returnee labour migrants etc. Read more
	Time to Decide Europe Summit	Fri, 20.05.2022	Conferences and Workshops	Dimitar Bechev Gerald Knaus Heather Grabbe Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ivana Dragičević Karolina Wigura Maxim Trudolyubov Nathalie Tocci Nikola Dimitrov Olivia Lazard Serhii Plokhii Stefan Lehne Stephen Holmes Zsuzsanna Szelényi Misha Glenny Slawomir SierakowskiFranziska Brantner, Marina Davydova, Florence Gaub, Anna Jermolaewa, Marta Pardavi, Susanne Scholl, Želimir Žilnik	Time to Decide Europe Summit Fri, 20.05.2022 Speakers: Dimitar Bechev Gerald Knaus Heather Grabbe Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ivana Dragičević Karolina Wigura Maxim Trudolyubov Nathalie Tocci Nikola Dimitrov Olivia Lazard Serhii Plokhii Stefan Lehne Stephen Holmes Zsuzsanna Szelényi Misha Glenny Slawomir SierakowskiFranziska Brantner, Marina Davydova, Florence Gaub, Anna Jermolaewa, Marta Pardavi, Susanne Scholl, Želimir Žilnik Series: Conferences and Workshops In the early hours of 24 February 2022, Europe woke up to a grave new world. Something considered unthinkable after WWII had happened, and the European security order was blown up. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine put an end to the “end of history” era, which had begun in 1989. This attack has triggered events in Europe that had been previously unimaginable. We want to look ahead and think about the consequences of these dramatic events for Ukraine, for Europe and the EU, and for Russia. ERSTE Foundation and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) have invited some of the brightest minds to start a debate on the difficult questions that Europe is facing today and the answers that will determine the future. Read more
Time to Decide Europe Summit Fri, 20.05.2022 Speakers: Dimitar Bechev Gerald Knaus Heather Grabbe Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ivana Dragičević Karolina Wigura Maxim Trudolyubov Nathalie Tocci Nikola Dimitrov Olivia Lazard Serhii Plokhii Stefan Lehne Stephen Holmes Zsuzsanna Szelényi Misha Glenny Slawomir SierakowskiFranziska Brantner, Marina Davydova, Florence Gaub, Anna Jermolaewa, Marta Pardavi, Susanne Scholl, Želimir Žilnik Series: Conferences and Workshops In the early hours of 24 February 2022, Europe woke up to a grave new world. Something considered unthinkable after WWII had happened, and the European security order was blown up. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine put an end to the “end of history” era, which had begun in 1989. This attack has triggered events in Europe that had been previously unimaginable. We want to look ahead and think about the consequences of these dramatic events for Ukraine, for Europe and the EU, and for Russia. ERSTE Foundation and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) have invited some of the brightest minds to start a debate on the difficult questions that Europe is facing today and the answers that will determine the future. Read more
	Democracy and Demography	Tue, 17.05.2022	Panels and Discussions	Ivan KrastevRainer Münz	Democracy and Demography Tue, 17.05.2022 Speakers: Ivan KrastevRainer Münz Series: Panels and Discussions The interactions between demographic structures and democracy are often overlooked, but they work two ways. On the one hand, the demographic composition of societies and demographic change have implications for the way elected governments address issues, allocate fiscal resources and represent interests of their constituencies. Demographic ageing obviously has an impact. The same is true for settled as well as emerging diasporas. On the other hand, democratically elected governments backed by a parliamentary majority can influence part of their polity via citizenship and naturalization policies as well as inclusive or exclusive electoral regimes targeting specific demographically defined groups. Gerrymandering in the process of redesigning electoral districts is just one of several examples. The discussion between Rainer Münz and Ivan Krastev explored such interactions and discussed their implications for the future of democracies. Read more
Democracy and Demography Tue, 17.05.2022 Speakers: Ivan KrastevRainer Münz Series: Panels and Discussions The interactions between demographic structures and democracy are often overlooked, but they work two ways. On the one hand, the demographic composition of societies and demographic change have implications for the way elected governments address issues, allocate fiscal resources and represent interests of their constituencies. Demographic ageing obviously has an impact. The same is true for settled as well as emerging diasporas. On the other hand, democratically elected governments backed by a parliamentary majority can influence part of their polity via citizenship and naturalization policies as well as inclusive or exclusive electoral regimes targeting specific demographically defined groups. Gerrymandering in the process of redesigning electoral districts is just one of several examples. The discussion between Rainer Münz and Ivan Krastev explored such interactions and discussed their implications for the future of democracies. Read more
	Arts after Violence: How to Read the History of Ukrainian Art?	Mon, 16.05.2022	Seminars and Colloquia	Kateryna Iakovlenko Katherine Younger	Arts after Violence: How to Read the History of Ukrainian Art? Mon, 16.05.2022 Speakers: Kateryna Iakovlenko Katherine Younger Series: Seminars and Colloquia According to Walter Benjamin, there is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism. Thus, art history might be reviewed as a history of violence–and the history of Ukrainian art is no different. Today, learning of the deportation of Ukrainian art to Moscow or the destruction of cultural heritage, the methods of barbarism and colonization become clearer. During her talk, Kateryna Iakovlenko provided an overview of Ukrainian art through the lens of violence, emphasizing the role of Ukrainian artists in the socio-political and cultural struggle against tyranny. Read more
Arts after Violence: How to Read the History of Ukrainian Art? Mon, 16.05.2022 Speakers: Kateryna Iakovlenko Katherine Younger Series: Seminars and Colloquia According to Walter Benjamin, there is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism. Thus, art history might be reviewed as a history of violence–and the history of Ukrainian art is no different. Today, learning of the deportation of Ukrainian art to Moscow or the destruction of cultural heritage, the methods of barbarism and colonization become clearer. During her talk, Kateryna Iakovlenko provided an overview of Ukrainian art through the lens of violence, emphasizing the role of Ukrainian artists in the socio-political and cultural struggle against tyranny. Read more
	"Difficult to Settle" Refugees in Post-War Trieste	Wed, 11.05.2022	Seminars and Colloquia	Ayşe ÇağlarPamela Ballinger	"Difficult to Settle" Refugees in Post-War Trieste Wed, 11.05.2022 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarPamela Ballinger Series: Seminars and Colloquia As the principal city of a border region long imagined as straddling Europe’s East-West divide, Trieste became a critical hub in the post-1945 landscape of European refugee relief. Under Anglo-American Allied Military Government until 1954 as a result of the protracted territorial dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia, the city remained an important transit point for persons displaced out of the newly established socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe well into the 1960s. Read more
"Difficult to Settle" Refugees in Post-War Trieste Wed, 11.05.2022 Speakers: Ayşe ÇağlarPamela Ballinger Series: Seminars and Colloquia As the principal city of a border region long imagined as straddling Europe’s East-West divide, Trieste became a critical hub in the post-1945 landscape of European refugee relief. Under Anglo-American Allied Military Government until 1954 as a result of the protracted territorial dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia, the city remained an important transit point for persons displaced out of the newly established socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe well into the 1960s. Read more
	Can Europe Create Peace?	Sun, 08.05.2022	Panels and Discussions	Karolina Wigura Masha Gessen Philipp TherClaudia Gamon, Eric Frey	Can Europe Create Peace? Sun, 08.05.2022 Speakers: Karolina Wigura Masha Gessen Philipp TherClaudia Gamon, Eric Frey Series: Panels and Discussions The war in Ukraine has united the EU, but it is also brutally confronting us with very fundamental questions. It is a European war, and as such it lengthens the already long shadows of the violent twentieth century. What is our talk of “lasting peace” worth, when its intellectual foundations are being shaken, and our security is imperiled in the face of violence, displacement, and nuclear threat? Do European democracies need to arm themselves and confront external aggression, or do these policies undermine the EU’s aspiration as a peace project? Read more
Can Europe Create Peace? Sun, 08.05.2022 Speakers: Karolina Wigura Masha Gessen Philipp TherClaudia Gamon, Eric Frey Series: Panels and Discussions The war in Ukraine has united the EU, but it is also brutally confronting us with very fundamental questions. It is a European war, and as such it lengthens the already long shadows of the violent twentieth century. What is our talk of “lasting peace” worth, when its intellectual foundations are being shaken, and our security is imperiled in the face of violence, displacement, and nuclear threat? Do European democracies need to arm themselves and confront external aggression, or do these policies undermine the EU’s aspiration as a peace project? Read more
	Symposium "Charles Taylor's Questions"	Fri, 06.05.2022	Conferences and Workshops		Symposium "Charles Taylor's Questions" Fri, 06.05.2022 Speakers: Series: Conferences and Workshops Charles Taylor asks questions of a rare quality which go to the heart of things. They are inspiring in two ways, both intellectually and personally. Taylor’s main questions are so closely interconnected that he is often seen as a philosopher driven by one quest only. Small wonder then, that trying to single out three questions is difficult, as one continually comes up against more equally central questions, connections, underpinnings or spheres, in which a question takes on a new form. We had to weave those aspects, which we know are connected to these three. The three questions represented three areas of Taylors interest and engagement: philosophy, religion and secularism, politics and the political. His interests in multiculturalism, language and the ambiguities of modernity would also deserve individual panels but were discussed in the given frame. His questions and ours were daunting as they are existential. Conversations, be they in writing and asynchronously or in shared space and time synchronously, are intellectually and personally enriching experiences. Read more
Symposium "Charles Taylor's Questions" Fri, 06.05.2022 Speakers: Series: Conferences and Workshops Charles Taylor asks questions of a rare quality which go to the heart of things. They are inspiring in two ways, both intellectually and personally. Taylor’s main questions are so closely interconnected that he is often seen as a philosopher driven by one quest only. Small wonder then, that trying to single out three questions is difficult, as one continually comes up against more equally central questions, connections, underpinnings or spheres, in which a question takes on a new form. We had to weave those aspects, which we know are connected to these three. The three questions represented three areas of Taylors interest and engagement: philosophy, religion and secularism, politics and the political. His interests in multiculturalism, language and the ambiguities of modernity would also deserve individual panels but were discussed in the given frame. His questions and ours were daunting as they are existential. Conversations, be they in writing and asynchronously or in shared space and time synchronously, are intellectually and personally enriching experiences. Read more
	To be in Contact with the World	Thu, 05.05.2022	Social and Networking Events	Charles Taylor Misha Glenny Rajeev Bhargava, Hartmut Rosa, Elisabeth von Thadden	To be in Contact with the World Thu, 05.05.2022 Speakers: Charles Taylor Misha Glenny Rajeev Bhargava, Hartmut Rosa, Elisabeth von Thadden Series: Social and Networking Events Charles Taylor, one of the outstanding philosophers of our age, turned 90 on November 5, 2021. Taylor has been closely associated with the Institute for Human Sciences for more than three decades. His life and work have always been inseparably bound up with one another. He is a scholar, a committed citizen, and a public intellectual. Many researchers owe him an immense debt of gratitude being the intellectual inspiration behind their own work and, most importantly, for his generosity and charming esprit. Rajeev Bhargava and Hartmut Rosa, two of Taylor’s long time intellectual companions, honored his work and personality. Read more
To be in Contact with the World Thu, 05.05.2022 Speakers: Charles Taylor Misha Glenny Rajeev Bhargava, Hartmut Rosa, Elisabeth von Thadden Series: Social and Networking Events Charles Taylor, one of the outstanding philosophers of our age, turned 90 on November 5, 2021. Taylor has been closely associated with the Institute for Human Sciences for more than three decades. His life and work have always been inseparably bound up with one another. He is a scholar, a committed citizen, and a public intellectual. Many researchers owe him an immense debt of gratitude being the intellectual inspiration behind their own work and, most importantly, for his generosity and charming esprit. Rajeev Bhargava and Hartmut Rosa, two of Taylor’s long time intellectual companions, honored his work and personality. Read more