THE PROGRAM

During the course of the pandemic most of us have become progressive future work experts, at least in our own minds. Although the patterns of work were forced on us, and that many of us have suffered from being guinea pigs, we've got some new experiences about how, when, where and maybe why we work.

To this hour on the future of work we've invited three scientists to help us ground the anecdotes we hear from friends and colleagues, and our own experiences in research. What does science say about work, work-place and work-time?

Lunch is very much included in your The Conference ticket. So is coffee. And snacks. And breakfast. You shall not go hungry!

All food and snacks at The Conference are vegan and prepared by the great chefs at Slagthuset. If you have any special diet requirements or allergies make sure to let us know -> theconference@mediaevolution.se.

During lunch time you'll have plenty of time to mingle, and try out the different installments and experiences around the venue. It will be a universe of its own.

At 12.50 there's an interview about the future of work with Carl Benedikt Frey (Oxford University) at The Conversation.

You will all get lunch! It's included in your The Conference ticket and it will be both delicious and vegan. So you don't have to register for having lunch.

BUT if you feel like spicing up the lunch hour and enjoy your meal with a bunch of other conference goers you haven’t met before, then sign up for lunch with new friends and we will mix and match and decide with whom you be eating :)

That’s that, you won’t know with whom you’ll be having lunch with until it’s lunch time. A soft take on Russian roulette and a much appreciated The Conference classic.

To follow up on the morning session on Senses and sensibilities and How to use a computer we’re diving into the digitally enhanced universes of augmented reality, virtual reality and the metaverse.

Spatial computing is a way of expressing both digital layers of the physical world and digital representations of physical objects. The session aims to draw connections between digital and physical experiences - all within the context of how we as humans situate ourselves in a space and how technologies within the scope of spatial computing will develop said experiences.

We spend most of our lives in places that are human-made surrounded by technology designed by humans. These places, spaces and technologies impact who we are, how we feel, what we do and how we interact with the world around us. How they are designed impacts our very being.

In this session, we meet an interaction design professor and an urban designer who reflect on how the design choices we make have a big impact on making the world a less intrusive, more humane, and healthier place. A place where we can be well.

Let’s start the morning with a cup (or two) of coffee and breakfast to fuel up for the second day of our explorative journey.

Psst, it's also a great time to explore the happenings and installations around the venue.

Let’s start the morning with a cup (or two) of coffee and breakfast to fuel up for the second day of our explorative journey.

Psst, it's also a great time to explore the happenings and installations around the venue.

Humanity depends on nature for the very building blocks of life itself – food, air, water, livelihood – yet our systems strip nature on a daily basis of the ability to provide. The toll is now unsustainable. Let’s try a new approach.

During this workshop we will dive deep into the concept of regeneration. We’ll look at how others have done it, co-create new solutions and discuss how we can create the future that we so badly need.

To begin tackling the immediate changes required, we will design new business models that go beyond sustainability, and become truly regenerative. Surviving and thriving, people, planet, and business together. That is the regenerative future, and it begins now.

FACILITATORS: Lisa Lindström (CEO EY Doberman) and Tove Blomgren (Creative Director, SALLY EY Doberman)

While “artificial intelligence”, with its novelty, scale and efficiency is on everyone’s mind, could “natural inteIligence”, with its unprecedented long record of successful R&D, offer an additional perspective on innovation – one of longevity and true regeneration?

While we tend to computers to amplify our intelligence and capacity, it’s easy to ignore the very intelligent ways of life itself. Following both the logic and irrationality of nature itself instead of trying to map it into common technological narratives of innovation, provides new answers to old problems.

What would nature say if it had a vote in your next board meeting? How is it that something so seemingly simple as slime, has proven so hard to mimic artificially?

In approaching a complex system, metaphors and mental models are useful tools for acquiring entry points and seeing the scope of the system. For this session we are exploring methods for understanding planetary systems, corporate collaboration to address grand challenges and so on. It’s fascinating how circles, layered cakes and charts can be enlightening at the level of epiphany.

Lunch is very much included in your The Conference ticket. So is coffee. And snacks. And breakfast. You shall not go hungry!

All food and snacks at The Conference are vegan and prepared by the great chefs at Slagthuset. If you have any special diet requirements or allergies make sure to let us know -> theconference@mediaevolution.se.

During lunch time you'll have plenty of time to mingle, and try out the different installments and experiences around the venue. It will be a universe of its own.

At 12.20 there's an interview about planetary boundaries with Victor Galaz (Stockholm Resilience Centre) at The Conversation.

You will all get lunch! It's included in your The Conference ticket and it's both delicious and vegan. So you don't have to register for having lunch.

BUT if you feel like spicing up the lunch hour and enjoy your meal with a bunch of other conference goers you haven’t met before, then sign up for lunch with new friends and we will mix and match and decide with whom you be eating :)

That’s that, you won’t know with whom you’ll be having lunch with until it’s lunch time. A soft take on Russian roulette and a much appreciated The Conference classic.

Whereas the idea of artificial general intelligence is speculative, AI systems are already shaping our lives and societies. Today, algorithms control the route we travel, decide what we listen to, organize our photos, analyze our medical records, and define the salary for contract workers paddling through the rain to deliver our evening pizza. It may still be a faint whisper of a possibility, but whispers can build into winds and take the world by storm.

In this session, we’ll listen to the whisper and let ourselves become the storm, as we acknowledge that artificial intelligence exists in a circular relationship with its human creators: so to understand machine intelligence, we must understand the people, systems, and cultures creating it. We aim to leave you with questions about human agency and individuality -- and allow for a billion intelligences to bloom.

In a time when it feels like we are innovating for innovation’s sake, how we frame the question that needs to be answered, and the context for its outcome is of utmost importance.

This session will look into how nations (in this case Sweden) can scope problems more holistically and how companies can learn to handle uncertainty.

Few topics divide the waters as much as blockchain technologies. On one side, we have hordes of true believers, spanning from the ultra-left to the extreme right. And on the other side, we have the critics who shake their heads from the computational incapabilities, financial speculation, and rising environmental cost.

In this session, we get together to talk about web3, not to pick sides but to reflect on the thinking behind the technologies. We start the session with a layman’s introduction, aiming to demystify the jargon we hear thrown around. From there, we explore how web3 thinking inspires new ways of organizing innovation and communities online through radical experiments with decision making, governance, and finance.

Storytelling and speculation bears tremendous power in influencing our imageries and actions towards the future. Who's shaping how we perceive the future, what does history (who’s history?) have to do with it – and how does one go about to write and tell stories that shape our understanding of the future, or futures? This session will be an hour on speculation, futurism and its unexpected side effects.