2017 ASC Conference “Resilience and Ethics: Implications”

August 7-12, 2017, Salem, MA Pre-Conference Meetings: August 5-6

Why Attend?

Tentative Conference Schedule

Introduction

Addressing problems has long been regarded as a search for solutions. But, solutions are not independent of the individuals and organizations that attempt to identify and implement them. Equally or more important is the resilience — the ability to respond to change — of the individuals and organizations that identify problems. This trans-disciplinary conference seeks to enable the many disciplines that consider the concept to broaden and expand the general understanding of “resilience.”

Our goal is to increase the resilience of resilience by considering the many ways in which the concept is — or might be — understood. Psychology, business, systems, media, material science, and philosophy, among others, consider resilience a key concept, though each defines resilience somewhat differently and applies resilience in a different context. In considering resilience, ethics (i.e., responsibility for how, when, and why we respond) comes into play. For example, is an emphasis on efficiency ethical to the extent it subtracts from an organization’s resilience? Is resilience itself ethical if what is resilient is deemed to be objectionable? Are there entities, organizations, or systems whose ethics (or about whom the ethics) suggest that resilience is to be minimized in favor of some present moment optimization? Such ethical questions surrounding resilience have been kept in the background for far too long. If resilience is to gain resilience, then its ethics must be made explicit.

Who should attend: We invite all those who wish to broaden their own understanding. Together we will participate in a deepening of our overall concept of resilience and its ethics. The event will include conversation, presentations, guest speakers, and papers (to be published post-conference in peer-reviewed journals). Conversation is an important part of conference, and opportunities for planned and informal conversation are built into the schedule.

Confirmed Speakers

• Dean Becker
• Pille Bunnell
• David Chandler
• Thomas Fischer
• Christiane M. Herr
• Donald Hoffman
• David Hurst
• Richard Knowles
• Paul Pangaro
• John Vargo
• Mitch Waldrop

Mini-Symposium/Panel: A Conversation about Design and Designing with a Conversation (Tribute to Ranulph Glanville)

“In conversation, participants find themselves discussing topics they’d never thought of, when they began, and they may find radical, new ideas in and through the conversation.” -Ranulph Glanville

Panel topics: cybernetics, epistemology, perception, computation, design research and pedagogy.

Participants (tbc): Omar Khan (University of Buffalo), Ted Krueger (RPI), Philip Beesley (University of Waterloo), Mark Goulthorpe (MIT), Patrick Harrop (Laurentian University), Bill Seaman (Duke), Joseph Choma (Clemson).

Conference Fees and Deadlines

Fees (in USD)

¹) Non-members registration fees include a year’s membership of the ASC.

²) Those claiming student status should be active full time students in a university or similar, and are asked to bring proof of their status in the form of a valid student card to be charged the reduced student rate for attendance. We do not include as students those with lecturing and other jobs, who are also studying, except under very particular circumstances (ask us).

³) Those earning $30,000 per year or less.

Conference Registration

To sign up and register for this conference please click here.

Hotel Bookings

To book a room at the Salem Waterfront Hotel‎ (which is the conference venue), please click
here. Please note that a group discount rate for this conference is available for bookings up until June 24th 2017 only.

Paper Submissions

The paper submissions portal is open here.