Please join us for a free public lecture from Dr Sun-ha Hong (Simon Fraser University): "Predictions Without Futures" Date: Monday 14 August Reception: 5:30pm Lecture: 6:00pm Venue: Lecture Theatre G08 - Melbourne Law School,185 Pelham St, Carlton Online attendance also available *Register here - *https://events.humanitix.com/predictions-without-futures Abstract: Our dominant technological futures help maintain decrepit horizons of the social. As Brecht once observed: "I stood on a hill and I saw the Old approaching, but it came as the New." Prediction supplies a powerful conceptual model for this dynamic of stasis through disruption by connecting technical and mythological attitudes of probabilistic control. I trace some throughlines between the technical conceit of predictivity (that criminality or emotion can be anticipated through data-driven modeling) and the mythological use of prediction (where history is an extrapolation of known technological advancements). Drawing from theories of ritual and experiment, I examine the demonstrative, belief-building work that prediction does - from 18th century automata to Amazon warehouses, from Marvin Minsky to the Year 10,000. What we call "tech" today serves as a legitimising function for capital, and crucial to this function is the active foreclosure of any political future other than more of the same. Bio: Sun-ha Hong examines forms of uncertainty, doubt and belief around surveillance, smart machines & AI. He is Assistant Professor in Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and was previously Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at MIT. Sun-ha is the author of *Technologies of Speculation: The Limits of Knowledge in a Data-Driven Society* (2020), and is working on his next book, *Predictions Without Futures*. Sun-ha Hong is hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. For more information please contact Dr Christopher O'Neill <chris.oneill@monash.edu> -- *CHRISTOPHER O'NEILL (he/him**)* PhD Postdoctoral Research Fellow (ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society) *Monash University* School of Media, Film and Journalism Building B, Room B3.20, Caulfield campus Monash University Caulfield East, Victoria 3145 Australia T: +61 3 9903 2433 E: chris.oneill@monash.edu <name.surname@monash.edu> monash.edu/arts/media-film-journalism <http://monash.edu> CRICOS Provider: Monash University 00008C/01857J We acknowledge and pay respects to the Elders and Traditional Owners of the land on which our four Australian campuses stand. Information for Indigenous Australians <https://www.monash.edu/indigenous-australians>