Workshop CYBERPLAN at INFORMATIK23
Information on the workshop CYBERPLAN at the INFORMATIK23-conference.
Title
CYBERPLAN: Does the Economy fit into a Matrix or Tensor? Interrogating Cybernetic Planning Proposals
Short Description
Triggered by technological developments, deepening inequality and a looming ecological crisis, one could observe a discursive resurgence on the theorisation of post-capitalist futures in recent years. Especially the successful use of algorithms in gigantic corporations such as Amazon might indicate the feasibility of a conscious control over entire economies. In the workshop, we aim to bring together scientists working on such a large-scale algorithmic mediation with a wider audience of critical computer scientists. We will discuss the utility of algorithms for economic coordination, namely optimisation algorithms for the best allocation of scarce resources and forecasting algorithms for the prediction of future demand. Next to technical issues such as computational complexity, we would like to debate the political dimension of such a cybernetic vision concerned with the threat of too much centralisation, linking it historically to past experiments such as Project Cybersyn.
Detailed Description and Timetable
The detailed description of the programme of the workshop, the timetable as well as the speakers can be found here (a screenshot, as the website is not online anymore). Videos of the talks will be shared here soon, please have some patience.
Organising Team
- Johannes Buchner, IPE Berlin and Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, FU Berlin
- Max Grünberg, Arts and Economies, Department of Sociology, University of Kassel
- Sandra Sieron, Sociology of the Future of Work, Department of Social Sciences, HU Berlin
Supporting Team
- Christoph Sorg, Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr-University Bochum
- Jan Groos, Centre for Sociological Theory, Kiel University
- Stefan Ullrich, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin
Additional information
In the workshop, we aim to bring together scientists working on Postcapitalist Economic Systems with a wider audience of critical computer scientists. To get an impression of the field and the topics that will be discussed at the workshop, see e.g. the recent call for papers Rethinking Economic Planning or the podcast episode on Postcapitalist Economic Systems (in German).