Philosophy of Technology and Space Travel

Subproject: Digital Design and Human Experience

How are new digital methods changing both design processes and our experience? This project is about how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to design new objects - in disciplines and at scales as diverse as pharmacy and architecture. And it is about the possibilities and consequences this has for human processes of perception and experience.

This project is being pursued in particular with the Singapore-ETH Centre and through collaborations such as "AI-Augmented Architectural Design".

Subproject: Space-based Geoengineering

Countering climate change from space? Together with OHB, the Bremen-based space company, and other international institutions from space and environmental research, the Theoretical Philosophy Department of the University of Bremen is part of a consortium on the topic of space-based geoengineering. We discuss in an open-ended way to what extent we can and should counter climate change from space.

Philosophy does not ask how geoengineering can be implemented concretely, but asks why in terms of general theoretical and societal frameworks. The concrete research on feasibility is thus reflected and placed in a larger context. The focus lies on the interdisciplinary exchange, without the influence of further interest groups. We investigate which metaphors and analogies are used in the context of geoengineering and solar-radiation management ("framing"). What kind of understanding of the Earth emerges from these? To what extent do these frames influence our acceptance of geoengineering? And what do they reveal about our relationship to nature? Future projects could address the question of whether we simply want to outsource our problems on Earth to space; or the question of how such consortium work actually requires and enables interactions and exchanges between disciplines ("genuine" interdisciplinarity) - as opposed to a mere stringing together of individual scientific competencies ("assembly line" multidisciplinarity).

Subproject: Space Travel

What can we learn in space that we could not learn "at home" on Earth? What is so interesting about Mars in contrast to what we can study in terrestrial laboratories or what we can still study on Earth (such as the deep sea)? Why should something be interesting(er) just because it is far away? As theoretical philosophers, we are particularly interested in such epistemic questions about space travel - never, of course, in complete isolation from the exciting ethical, anthropological, and techno-philosophical questions that arise in the course of space travel. We do philosophy of spaceflight in particular in the context of the Bremen research initiative "Humans on Mars".

Publications on the Subprojects:

Sieroka, N. (2022): Neues Wahrnehmen. Manege für Architektur (Heft 2: Automationen), 36-37.
Hsieh, Chieh-Min et al. (2022): Can a Finite Chain of Hydrogen Cyanide Molecules Model a Crystal? ChemPhysChem 23(23), e202200414.
Nebling, R. (2022): Warum Framing beim Thema Geoengineering eine Rolle spielt. OHB Magazin (EngineeringOurEarth Teil 6.
Avila, M. et al. (2022): A Vision for Human Mars Exploration Made in Bremen. 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), September 2022, Abstract IAC-22-B3.8.11.
Safdari Sharabiani, A. (2021): Genuine Empathy with Inanimate Objects. Phenom Cogn Sci 20, 831–846.
Sieroka, N. (2020): Philosophy of AI and the Role of Digital Design. In: Rethinking Design with Artificial Intelligence, Blog-Serie des ETH Think-and-Do-Tanks RETHINK, 28.09.2020.
Schneider, P. et al. (2020): Rethinking Drug Design in the Artificial Intelligence Era. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 19(5), 353-364.
Sieroka, N. (2019): Human-induced or Natural? – Some Philosophical Considerations and Concepts. Abstract Book 3rd Induced Seismicity Workshop, p. 18.