Digital Dystopia: Presentation by Nobel Laureate, Professor Jean Tirole

Digital Dystopia, with Nobel Laureate, Professor Jean Tirole (TSE)

In association with the ATE network and the Centre for Mathematical Social Science (CMSS)

Date: Thursday 3 September

7pm – 8.30pm

Venue: Webinar via Zoom

A zoom link will be sent the day before to the email address provided.

How transparent should our life be to others?

Modern societies are struggling with this issue as connected objects, social networks, ratings, artificial intelligence, facial recognition, cheap computer power and various other innovations make it increasingly easy to collect, store and analyse personal data.

While this holds the promise of a more civilised society, in which non-compliance with the laws and shared norms would be a memory of the pre-big-data past, citizens and human rights activists fret over the prospect of mass surveillance by powerful players engaging in the collection of bulk data in shrouded secrecy.

A dystopian scenario will be used to emphasise the excesses that may result from an unfettered usage of data integration in a digital era.

Bio: Jean Tirole is honorary chairman of the Foundation JJ Laffont-Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), and scientific director of TSE-Partnership. He is also affiliated with MIT, where he holds a visiting position, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and the Institut de France. Professor Tirole’s research covers industrial organization, regulation, finance, macroeconomics and banking, and psychology-based economics.

Jean Tirole has published over two hundred articles in international reviews, as well as twelve scientific books. Published in English in 2017, his latest book entitled Economics for the Common Good is accessible to a wide audience and available in a number of other languages. He is laureate of numerous international distinctions, including the 2007 CNRS gold medal and the 2014 Sveriges Riksbank prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel.

Contact Simona Fabrizi for more information: s.fabrizi@auckland.ac.nz