Coming Event: Financializing Intelligence: AI, Neo-Liberal Economics, and Reactionary Politics
5/14/25, 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM
Filene Auditorium, Moore Building
Orit Halpern discusses the historical convergence between neo-liberal economic thought, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, leading her to interrogate the implications this history holds for contemporary politics and society.
 
Orit Halpern '94 is Lighthouse Professor and Chair of Digital Cultures at Technische Universität Dresden. Her work bridges the histories of science, computing, and cybernetics with design.
 
She is currently working on two projects. The first is a history of automation, intelligence, and freedom; the second project examines extreme infrastructures and the history of experimentation at planetary scales in design, science, and engineering.
 
Her first book Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason (2015) investigates histories of big data, design, and politics. Her most recent book The Smartness Mandate (with Robert Mitchell, 2023) is a history of our current obsession with smart technologies and artificial intelligence.