In order to adjust brightness and to facilitate dialogue about the role of data science, our films are selected on actual discussions in our society. Therefore, all films are introduced by a keynote speaker and followed by a panel discussion or a participative dialogue session.
Below, you will find our events, keynote speakers, and the line-up of the films.
Mega-corporations like Amazon and Facebook are becoming more powerful. And their growth shows no signs of slowing down. They are in the public eye -- but are they also above the law?
The pandemic has only made the "big four” -- Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook -- more influential. Our data has become big business. But are these corporations out of control?
Experts have long watched as corporations like Apple and Amazon flout antitrust laws, while receiving special treatment: When it comes to wages, taxes and laws, these corporations seem to rewrite the rules as they go. Many critics consider Facebook and Google’s systematic data exploitation a violation of our core democratic principals. Moreover, the line between the state and mega-corporations is growing even foggier. Some states believe there is simply no way around these giants. Corporate power seems like it is here to stay. Market driven surveillance undermines our sovereignty and thus the very foundation of Western democracies. There is a storm brewing both in the U.S. and Europe. But the corporations are ready for it. Will they continue on this dangerous trajectory, or is there some chance we can still rein them in?
About Ksenia Podoynitsyna
Dr. Ksenia Podoynitsyna is Associate Professor of Data-Driven Entrepreneurship at JADS, the Joint Institute of Tilburg University and the Eindhoven University of Technology. She also serves as the Program Director for the master “Data Science and Entrepreneurship” and is the Data Entrepreneurship research unit head @ JADS. Her research focuses on the ways data allows to create and capture value through innovative business models, ecosystems, and platforms, and on risk and uncertainty management in new organizations. Ksenia is keen on doing research with clear business and societal implications, such as in Ph.D. projects funded by the EU, EIT KIC InnoEnergy, Philips, CZ, and KPN. Furthermore, she has published in the leading entrepreneurship and management journals, including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and California Management Review. Ksenia got her Ph.D. from Eindhoven University of Technology (2008), and her dissertation was nominated for the prestigious Heizer dissertation award of the Academy of Management.
One of the favorite hands-on exercises I use while teaching is to ask participants to map out the business models of Amazon. For once, this illuminates the powerful synergies between its business models, which allowed Amazon to become what it is right now. And inevitably we talk about the dangers of the big tech firms.
She selected the recent DW documentary called “Google, Facebook, Amazon – The rise of the mega-corporations” to continue the discussion on how the big tech firms impactvarious markets, businesses, and citizens. The film will be introduced through an interactive lecture based on the projectsdone by the Data Entrepreneurship research unit of JADS.
This documentary follows the booming artificial intelligence industry, what opportunities and challenges it brings and its impact on the global community.
One of the major challenges of our times is how the global community is going to deal with artificial intelligence (AI). Who will control this technology? Has the train left the station, never to be stopped? What sort of society do we want to create and live in? Who knows the destination we are heading to?
With great access to influential voices on this subject, iHuman presents a wide range of views, from tech optimism in Jurgen Schmidhuber “the father of AI,” to more cautious voices like technology journalist Kara Swisher and human rights lawyer Philip Alston. Animated computer graphics visualize a polymorphous, self-developing structure with ever-greater autonomy guiding us forward.
AI can infinitely increase our potential for great good but it is already capable of contributing towards total surveillance states and a distortion of truth. AI development is hurtling forward with tech companies affiliated to the defence industry and algorithms in law enforcement enhancing existing biases. Will we allow the use of such powerful technology to open an unchecked Pandora’s Box dictating our future?
About Willem-Jan van den Heuvel
Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film co-written, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Set in a dystopian future where humanity is struggling to survive, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for mankind.
About Eric Postma
Eric Postma is professor Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Tilburg University and JADS. He started his academic career in theoretical physics, prompted by Albert Einstein’s accessible book on the perception of simultaneity and the theory of relativity. After Eric realised that physics was not about perception, he switched to study cognitive science and AI. Throughout his career he remained interested in astronomy, black holes and exoplanets. Recently, he worked on the detection of exoplanets with the help of AI. The movie Interstellar, brings together Einstein’s theory of relativity, exoplanets, and AI.
Choice of this film
Eric chose the film because: "The movie Interstellar connects AI with the fundamental physics of the universe and black holes. The former is my expertise, the second is my interest. Both come together in the study of the automatic detection of exoplanets with deep learning that Koko Visser, Bas Bosma and I perform at JADS. "