Join Professor Tim Schultz as he speaks about "Humans versus Machines: Frameworks, Fusions, Fears, and Frontiers." U.S. Naval War College graduates must think, lead, and fight at "the frontier;" this goes beyond the frontiers of sea and air to include the frontier of techno-scientific change and the frontier where humans and machines cooperate and collide.
This presentation provides some frameworks to aid our perspective of the evolving relationship between human and machine. It uses historical and modern concepts ranging from cybernetics to singularities to examine how human-machine fusion advances our creativity and control. The fears associated with robotic overlords and Orwellian consequences will also be addressed in this discussion of what it means to be human--and how we can lead--in the age of technology.
Tim Schultz is the U.S. Naval War College Associate Dean of Academics. Prior to joining the Newport faculty in 2012 he served as the Dean of the U.S. Air Force’s School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Tim earned his Ph.D. in the History of Technology from Duke University, and his research interests include the interaction between technology and strategy and the transformative role of automation in warfare. He is the author of The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) and co-editor of Air Power in the Age of Primacy: Air Warfare since the Cold War (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). He is a graduate of the USAF Academy, Colorado State University, Air Command and Staff College, and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Formerly a USAF colonel, he spent much of his aviation career as a U-2 pilot enjoying the view over interesting regions of the globe.
About the Lecture Series
The Issues in National Security (INS) lectures are specifically designed to offer scholarly lectures to the spouses, partners, and significant others of our students; military/civilian employees assigned to the Naval War College and Naval Station Newport and its tenant activities; Foundation members; and local-area retirees or active/reserve personnel.
Participation is voluntary and neither reading assignments nor written requirements are required. In previous years these lectures were presented live in Pringle Auditorium. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, however, these lectures will be conducted on-line using the Zoom conferencing system. Live lectures may be reinstated when medical conditions allow.
Lectures will he held approximately every other week on Tuesday afternoons from 4:30 pm to 5:35 pm (followed by a 30-minute Family Discussion Group meeting for interested spouses).
There will be a total of 18 offered lectures during the period of September 2020 through May 2021. A link to the Zoom sessions will be posted by the Public Affairs Office one day prior to each lecture. These lectures are being offered to provide intellectual stimulation to the participants, and no formal academic credit will be awarded. Participants who complete at least 60% of the offered lectures can qualify to receive a Certificate of Participation at the end of the series.