The Awareness of ‘Skynet’

‘So that's the telephone? They ring, and you run.’
- Edgar Degas

There is no denying that the impact of emerging technology and digitalisation has created a dramatic shift in the discipline of architecture. From the design process to the advancements in the construction industry, material technologies, fabrication, robotics and AI, these have all contributed to shape new grounds where the boundaries and hierarchy between man and machine have been blurred and constantly redefined. The question that arises is: will we be facilitators to the rise of the machine?

New forms of digitalization are being developed globally, from 3D printing through contour crafting, to robotics fabrication, from technologies such as big data, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to virtual reality and augmented reality, have these trends erased our ideology by flattering our egos?

Research in cutting edge technology and robotics will craft buildings with the computational ability to continuously learn and the capacity to make decisions therefore increasingly anticipate, the question is, will they be solutions or will they turn us into a depressed alienated species where primordial desires and chaos will rule once again?

Will artificial intelligence and technological advancements pose problems or solutions, but more importantly, where and what is man’s role in the emerging robotics age? Will the future underline the man-made or will there be augmented reality designer, chief drone experience designer, Internet of Things conductor and a chief design officer?

How do we regain power over these technological systems? How will we create a new balanced structure for the decisions and construction of our future? We need to rediscover the potential and limitations of these technologies to create a new radical alternative scenario.

Participants

In no specific order:

Francois Roche, Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger, Winka Dubbeldam, Jenny Sabin and Katherine Sender, Mario Carpo, Liam Young, Friedrick Ludewig, Hannah Corlett, Marjan Colletti, Dustin Cosentino, Donald Leslie Bates, Samuli Woolston, David Hills, Deborah Saunt, Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, Ezio Blasetti and Danielle Willems, Francesca von Habsburg, Mika Tamori, Hans Larson, Gerard Reinmuth, Vere van Gool, Alisa Andrasek, Sille Pihlak, Gilles Retsin, Eva Franch, Stefanos Roimpas, and many more.