DATAFIED: A Critical Exploration of the Production of Knowledge in the Age of Datafication
This presentation by Hélène Liu introduces the main findings of her PhD critical research on the profound epistemological shift that accompanies the digital age. To a large extent, civilisations can be understood by the kind of knowledge they produce, and how they go about knowing what they know.
Inspired by The Arcades Project, the seminal work of early 20th-century philosopher and social critic Walter Benjamin, “DATAFIED” asks what civilisation is emerging at the dawn of the 21st century. The spread of algorithms -based on quantified, discrete, computer-ready data bits- to all qualitative aspects of life has far-reaching consequences.
The fanfare around the novelty aspect of social media and more recently of AI obfuscates the old paradigm ideology of quantification underlying the development of those technologies. The language used since its inception anthropomorphises digital technology and conceals a fundamental difference between datafied and human ways of knowing. As we embark in a new wave of increasingly inescapable digital architectures, it has become more urgent and more crucial to critically investigate their problematic epistemological dimension.
The video begins with an introduction of Hélène Liu and is followed by her talk that concludes with pointers toward a more regenerative ecology of knowing deeply inspired by the knowledge and insights shared during the Capra course (capracourse.net). After her presentation we hear reactions and reflections by Fritjof Capra, the teacher of the Capra Course and co-author of The Systems View of Life.
Presenter: Hélène Liu
Helene holds Masters degrees from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris-University of Paris (Economics and Finance), the University of Hong Kong (Buddhist Studies) and a PhD from the School of Design at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. She is a long-term meditator and student of Vajrayana Buddhism. She recently produced and is releasing her first music album, The Guru Project (open.spotify.com/artist/3JuD6YwXidv7Y2i1mBakGY), which emerged from a concern about the divisiveness of the algorithmic civilisation. The album brings together the universal language of mantras with music from a diversity of geographies and genres, as a call to focus on our similarities rather than our differences.
NB: The link to the Vimeo is https://vimeo.com/839319910