Society 5.0 Festival

Historically technology driven innovation has largely shaped our development as humans and society. The invention of making fire, the wheel, agriculture and industry has brought us much to be grateful for: we have become wealthier, older and healthier. The most recent technological revolution, the information society, also coined as Society 4.0, added far reaching digitization with promises of more equality, freedom, democracy and wealth.

But in addition to the great progress that all technological revolutions have brought, the undesired and often unforeseen consequences also become increasingly clear and urgent. It is time to change the dynamic and instead start with asking ourselves the question what we want a sustainable society that centers around the human scale and public values, should look like, and how smart, digital technology could help us build it.

During the Society 5.0 Festival, we asked designers, artists, policymakers, researchers, teachers and students to join each other in exploring answers to exactly that very question.

From 12 to 13 October The Student Hotel will be the beating heart of a program full of content, discussion and creation around five substantive themes. With a variety of (International) speakers, panels and table discussions, interactive break outs, master classes, BedTalks, workshops, performances, installations, walking talks, slam poetry, midday raves, and much more. And all of this connected by a vibrant evening program.

Shauna Jin is co-curator of the Speculative Futures track within the Society 5.0 festival and co-lead of the Amsterdam Speculative Futures Chapter. Her work is focused on how to help organisations future proof themselves through innovation + futures imagining and doing, especially regarding emerging technologies.

• How can we imagine what does not yet exist?
• How can we remain proactive to the future despite the bad news around the world?
• How can we ensure that our actions embody our current and future values, avoiding unintended consequences?
• How might the future look radically different than what we know today?

We will explore these questions and more within the Speculative Futures track. Join us for interactive exhibitions, workshops (Control Wars: AIs Gone Wild, Worldbuliding climate futures, and SF Amsterdam meetup), panel, and keynote from Futurity Systems, “build better futures faster,” to collectively imagine and build our future literacy.

Do you want to know more about the event? Click here