Digital Transitions & Society is an interdisciplinary research initiative hosted by the University of Nicosia. It critically examines emerging technologies by interrogating how they are implicated in the production of cultural and political systems.
We are currently conducting research on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Prefiguring Novel Democratic Constellations
Our overarching goal is to examine how new forms of technology are implicated in the consolidation of power, the exacerbation of inequalities and processes of de-democratization. We reject both the naïve optimism (“technology will solve humanity’s problems”) and technophobic estimations (the “terminator” scenario) that are currently dominating public debates. The potentials, limitations and challenges that emerging technologies behold, ranging from life-saving promises to catastrophic potentials can only be effectively deduced following rigorous scientific study and creative investigations that situate novel technological developments within current and emerging cultural and political trends. At the end of the day, the potential inhering in emerging technologies can only be positively harnessed through sincere and radical processes of democratization. This will involve articulations of novel social, political and technological constellations that we hope to prefigure as an outcome of our research initiatives.
Contingent futures. Contingent digitalities.
New (digital) technologies emerge at the crossroads of increasing cultural complexity and increasingly dislocated political systems. Technology is changing the social and political landscape on a minute-to-minute basis, rendering reality contingent and fluid. Ethical questions that demand immediate answers are, by extension, emerging. Our goal is to appropriately channel our research in directions that yield ethical answers and tangible solutions. At the same time, it is important to highlight that digitalities are themselves contingent. Recent breakthroughs in quantum computing, biotechnology and nanotechnology prefigure radical reconfigurations in digitalities and, by extension, society. Critical social and political inquiry should accompany such technological developments, positioning itself as an active agent involved in their shaping. Our future research will therefore be oriented towards the study of:
- The metaverse
- Blockchain technologies
- Quantum technologies
- Biotechnologies
Partners
Synergies for a democratic horizon
At Digital Transitions & Society, we believe that the positive transformation of our social-technological worlds is not a solo endeavour. It requires diverse synergies, guided by a shared commitment to ethical and democratic values. That’s why we’re eager to collaborate with like-minded academics, civil society actors, and private enterprises.
