Ruhr-Universität Bochum

By 30. November we have ended our CFA for DigitAs-Conference. We would like to thank all applicants for their very interesting contributions. All abstracts will now undergo a peer-review-procedure. You do not need to do anything at the moment. We will get back to our applicants once we have finished our review.

Meanwhile please check our announcement for Prof. Hartmut Remmers public lecture at the Blue Square which will be held as part of the conference.

In future, an increasing number of elderly people will be reliant on the healthcare system. In the looming resource crisis of european healthcare systems, the use of digital assistive technologies such as social assistants or smart companions may attentuate the resource gap and to preserve oportunities to societal participation and individual decision for those who rely on support. However, social assistive technologies raise difficult ethical questions. Social assistants produce simulations to interact with – and manipulate their environment. Users run the risk of falling victim to a deception. What are the moral implications of such a risk of deception? Should such technology be used to support the elder or the impaired? And if it should, how should we use it?

“DigitAs – Aging between Simulation and Participation” examines the use of social assistive technologies and their tendencies to produce simulation and deception from an ethical and interdisciplinary perspective. A one week international conference for young scholars will be held in February 2019 (4th – 8th) . More Information on the call for abstracts and conference theme will follow soon.