Socratic Salon: Hope In The Age Of Advanced AI

​Doom is the atmosphere of our times, whether it takes the form of fear of an AI apocalypse, climate catastrophe, pandemic, or countless other disasters. It is telling that one of the most popular political bumper stickers of the past election was “Giant Meteor 2024 - Just End It Already.” Faced with the prospect of so many terrible futures, many have lost the ability to imagine any futures at all, let alone positive ones. To put it simply, we seem to have collectively forgotten how to hope.

​This loss of hope has ironically taken place at a historical moment in which technological development has the potential to make a significantly more positive world possible. But such a world must first be imagined and collectively willed through significant political and cultural action. And before that, there must be hope that something better than the present is even possible in the first place.

​In this Socratic Salon, we will explore the following questions:

• ​What is hope? How does it differ from mere optimism? How does it differ from faith?

• ​Have we as a society forgotten how to hope? If so, how did it happen, and can it be undone?  

• ​How does hope enable personal or collective action? Can there be meaningful political action without hope?

• ​What does hope for the future mean in our unique historical and technological moment?

​Optional Readings:

• ​The Spirit of Hope (Preface) - Byung-Chul Han

• ​It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism - Mark Fisher

​Both readings are available in PDF form here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18EUb0fhpkxjMYtJBNffYVvMIW6xD9qPK?usp=sharing