SIBF 2025 18-22 June, 2025 l COEX Halls A & B1

Archive

Theme Seminar

Theme Seminar

Let’s remember the futures we’ve imagined in the past.

Those futures included people whose lives depended on evolved technology, and nonhumans were but a vague presence.

With the future of our present lying ahead of us, we look where the scales of inequality have tipped between humans and nonhumans.

The time has come to ask questions about that old balance.

By consulting with experts in various fields about the relationships between humans and technology, animals, and the environment, we can take a step toward what comes next.

 

Robot-Human Community of Care

Technological advancements bring with them new landscapes for our era, and as robots and humans increasingly share the same spaces, how has the robot-human community of care been shaped, and where is it headed? What motivates people to desire robots that resemble humans and can therefore take their place? This conversation will be about robots and the people who work with them.

l Speaker: Shin Hui-seon (Researcher in Technology Studies and Doctoral Student at the KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy), Leem So-yeon (Assistant Professor at the College of General Education at Dong-A University)
l Moderator: Kim Tae-hun (Director of the Institute of Medical AI at the Seoul National University Hospital Venture)

- Date/Time: June 15 (Thu) 17:00–18:30
- Location: Readers Hall 2

Generative AI: Humans Becoming Nonhumans

The futures we imagined in the past have made great strides and now stand before us. Through collaborative research and debates over the desired direction of technology, we can minimize our uncertainty. Generative AI analyzes massive amounts of data to produce content that is both similar and different from the input data. In this conversation, we will address these concerns and explore various aspects of generative AI.

l Speaker: Koh Han-gyu (Senior Analyst at LG AI Research), Oh Yeong-jin (Professor of Seoul National University of Science and Technology), Jeon Eung-jun (Partner at the Lin Law Firm)
l Moderator: Jeon Jun (Professor at the College of Chungnam National University)

- Date/Time: June 16 (Fri) 12:00–13:30
- Location: Readers Hall 2

Mal de Terre: Sensing and Pondering the Sick Earth

Unable to sleep because of a summer heat wave in Paris, sociologist Nikolaj Schultz traveled to a resort in the Mediterranean to flee his concerns about climate change. But he soon realized that the concerns and anxiety he’d felt in Paris are not limited to that city and that the reality he encounters is a product of the manifold connections between humans and nonhumans. Through his philosophical travelogue Mal de Terre, the author guides us from our personal experiences of climate change to a broader perspective on the present and future of the Anthropocene era in which we are collectively living.

l Speaker: Nikolaj Schultz (Sociologist)
l Moderator: Sung Ki-wan (Poet, Musician, and Professor in the Department of Intermedia Art at Kaywon University of Art and Design)

- Date/Time: June 17 (Sat) 12:00–13:30
- Location: Book Salon

Transcending the Boundaries of Non-animal Human

In a world that has been divided around the human center, what lies beyond those boundaries? We discuss the realms of

l Speaker: Kim Bok-hee (Poet), Nam Jong-young (Journalist, Climate Change Team at "Hankyoreh", author), Choi Myung-ae (Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Yonsei University)
l Moderator: Park Ju-yeon (Director of People for Non-human Rights)

- Date/Time: June 17 (Sat) 14:30–16:00
- Location: Readers Hall 1