Philosophers Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams co-authors of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, will discuss these questions with a panel of roboticists, philosophers and politicians including Tony Dyer, Sabine Hauert, Darian Meacham, Matthew Studely and Alan Winfield. Audience questions and participation will be encouraged.

Are technological advancements threatening to make human labour redundant across broad swathes of the economy? If so how should we respond politically? Should automation be resisted or should we look for new paths toward a future where the link between labour and flourishing or even survival is severed? Is a Universal Basic Income the way for us all to enjoy the gains made possible by automation?

Speakers

Nick Srnicek

Nick Srnicek is a PhD graduate in International Relations from the LSE. His latest book, Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (Verso 2015), co-authored with Alex Williams, is described as a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Instead of running from a complex future, Srnicek and Williams call for a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms.

Twitter: @n_srnck

Tony Dyer

Tony Dyer is the Green Party candidate for Mayor of Bristol having previously stood as the parliamentary candidate for Bristol South in the General Election. His background is in business, innovation and skills, having worked with an organisation that supported start-ups and small enterprises before moving into IT training and strategy. More recently he ran his own consultancy working with organisations in the retail industry and in the financial sector. The impact on employment from increased automation and technological advancement has been a major theme throughout his career.

Twitter: @TonyDDyer

Sabine Hauert

Sabine Hauert is a swarm engineer interested in designing large collective systems that self-organize. Underlying all her work is a strong involvement in science communication and online learning as demonstrated by the award-winning and SNSF-backed non-profit association that she co-founded and which features over 1,000 blog posts and 1.5 million podcast downloads. She has also produced award-winning videos.

Twitter: @sabinehauert

Darian Meacham

Dr Darian Meacham is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE, Bristol), and a member of the Bristol Synthetic Biology Centre (University of Bristol). His areas of teaching and research interest include political philosophy, philosophy of nature, philosophy of biology, phenomenology and bioethics broadly construed.

Matthew Studley

Dr Matthew Studley is senior lecturer in engineering and mathematics at UWE, Bristol. He is also responsible for overseeing research and scholarship at the BRL (Bristol Robotics Laboratory). He is an expert in robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer programming.

Alan Winfield

Professor Alan Winfield’s work at UWE spans Research and Public Engagement. He conducts​​ research in C​​​​​​​​ognitive Robotics within the Bristol Robotics Lab. He is director of the Science Communication Unit, and undertakes public engagement​ work centred upon robotics. Within that work he has a particular focus on robot ethics.