SNF Conference 2020

SNF Conference - Online Edition

22-23 June, 2020

For the past eight years, the SNF Conference has brought together some of the world’s best thinkers, leaders, artists, iconoclasts and visionaries to explore critical questions regarding the future of humanity and society.

In this time of pandemic and rapid technological change, such dialogue helps us understand what is happening around us, and the new choices ahead of us. And so, despite the pandemic’s disruptions, on June 22nd and June 23rd, we will be presenting a focused, virtual version of the SNF Conference, open to all.

The conference will balance broad discussions of the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic with a sneak-peek at our 2021 event, which will be focused on the challenging issue of Humanity and Artificial Intelligence. Over two days, we’ll explore questions such as: what lessons can we learn from past crises? How can we “bounce forward” from the pandemic to a more inclusive and sustainable future? What’s the proper role for philanthropy and the arts in responding to this global moment? And how do we ensure that in that future, technology – and artificial intelligence in particular – serves humanity, and not the other way around?

Each session will feature a mix of presentations, discussions and live questions. The conference is part of the larger Summer Nostos Festival: RetroFuture Edition, convening online, June 21-28, 2020.

The conference is hosted and moderated by iMEdD Managing Director, SNF DIALOGUES Executive Director and Journalist Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

Monday June 22, 2020

Looking Back, Looking Forward
6:30PM (EET) / 11:30AM (EST) / 8:30AM (PST)
The SNF Conference emerged in 2012, in the midst of another major disruption – the 2008 global financial crisis. We’ve invited back some of our most provocative and irreverent presenters, to explore how ideas they’ve shared at past SNF conferences about critical issues speak to the present moment, and our possible futures. We’ll examine the way public space is changing and challenged, the role of philanthropy and cultural institutions in responding to crises, and the role of ethics in shaping our public choices.

with…
Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President, Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Ruth Faden, Founder, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Bill T. Jones, Co-Founder, New York Live Arts    
Eric Klinenberg, Sociologist, NYU    
Alan Stoga, Chairman, The Tällberg Foundation

Rebirth, Reinvention, and Return: Framing Questions for the Post-COVID World
7:30PM (EET) / 12:30PM (EST) / 9:30AM (PST)
What might the world look like, and what choices might we face, in the post-COVID world? How might the practice of public health change? How might society’s institutions change, evolve or devolve? How might the world of work change? How might the social contract change? And how might we “bounce forward” to a new and more sustainable future?

with…
Nicholas Christakis, Director, Human Nature Lab, Yale University    
Hilary Cottam, Social Entrepreneur and Author    
Aarathi Krishnan, Humanitarian Futures and Strategic Foresight Advisor
Andrew Zolli, Vice President, Planet Inc., Forecaster and Author

Tuesday June 23, 2020

Humanity & AI: Cooperation, Collision, or Co-evolution?
6:30PM (EET) / 11:30AM (EST) / 8:30AM (PST)
Few tools, if any, promise to shape humanity as deeply and widely as artificial intelligence. In this sneak-peak at our 2021 SNF Conference, we will discuss the promise of AI and the many surprising ways it’s shaping the future of society, the way we work and connect and our very idea of who we are.

with…            
Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Distinguished Scientist, Google
Azeem Azhar, Founder, Exponential View    
Madeleine Clare Elish, Program Director, AI on the Ground, Data & Society
Andrew Zolli, Vice President, Planet Inc., Forecaster and Author

Humanity & AI: Can We Keep Humanity at the Center?
7:30PM (EET) / 12:30PM (EST) 9:30AM (PST)    
How do we ensure that AI works for humanity and not against it? We’ll explore how our values can and should shape the tools we make, how we can maintain the right kinds of controls, and how the conversation between technology and society is evolving.

with…
Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California Berkeley
Tristan Harris, Co-Founder & President, Center for Humane Technology    
Tenzin Priyadarshi, President and CEO, Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, MIT
Sabelo Mhlambi, Founder, Bantucracy    
Aarathi Krishnan, Humanitarian Futures and Strategic Foresight Advisor
   
Humanity & AI: How Do Youth Perceive AI Ethics?
8:40PM (EET) / 1:40PM (EST) / 10:40AM (PST)
The next generation will inherit a world transformed by artificial intelligence. In this special conversation, hear from two young people exploring the future they will shape and inhabit, and challenging the adults about the consequences of their current choices and decisions for future generations.

with…          
Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President, Stavros Niarchos Foundation    
Elize Dracopoulos, Student    
Ypatia Fafalios, Student
Francesca Rossi, AI Ethics Global Leader, IBM