Unlearn "The Future" at DISRUPT.SYDNEY 2022

If the recent health, climate and geopolitical crises have taught us anything, our future is looking to be increasingly digital and filled with disruption.

On Friday, the 16^th of September 2022, the University of Sydney Digital Futures Research Group will host thought leaders, academic and industry experts, and technology specialists in the annual DISRUPT.SYDNEY conference. This is a time to learn, reflect and envision what the future looks like.

Where: The University of Sydney Business School CBD campus (133 Castlereagh Street Sydney)

When: Friday 16 September 2022, 9.00AM to 6:30PM

Register: www.disrupt.sydney

Speakers from the University of Sydney Business School include:

• Dr Mike Seymour – internationally respected expert in digital humans and virtual production. Mike will co-facilitate the workshop Design Thinking with DALL-E
• Professor Kai Reimer – expert in enterprise social networking, e-collaboration, virtual work, and the practical philosophy of technology. Kai will co-facilitate the workshop Unlearning “The Future”
• Dr Sandra Peter – director of Sydney Business Insights and researcher of the social, ethical and political implications of emerging technologies. Sandra will co-facilitate the workshop Unlearning “The Future”
• Associate Professor Daniel Schlagwein – international expert on digital work, digital nomadism, crowdsourcing and IT-enabled openness. Daniel will co-facilite the workshop Working As and With Digital Nomads

In addition to researchers and scholars from the University of Sydney, prominent guest speakers at the event will include:

• Genevieve Bell (ANU, Intel) – thought leader on cybernetics
• Simon Kemp (Kepios) – industry expert on online behaviour
• Grant Reaber (Respeecher) – technology start-up entrepreneur based in Kyiv, Ukraine
• Michela Ledwidge (Mod) – technology specialist in virtual world-building
• Adam Ferrier (Thinkerbell) – industry expert on digital innovation
• Max Soyref (KPMG) – industry expert on blockchain technologies
• Kellie Nuttall (Deloitte) – industry expert on the future of AI in Australia

Grant is flying from Ukraine for the conference to share his remarkable technology, which uses artificial intelligence to perform ‘speech cloning’ – transforming any voice into the voice of your choosing.

Kai Riemer, Professor of Information Technology and Organisation at the University of Sydney Business School, will co-host a workshop Unlearning ‘The Future’.

“Conventional ways of thinking about the future treat it as a distant destination that we want to get to know, and control, by way of predictions or forecasting. Yet, most of these predictions are grounded firmly in today’s understanding about how the world works. Time and again, changes that unfold around us bring about surprising developments that turn out to be unpredictable – but not unimaginable,” Professor Riemer said.

“By unlearning the very concept of ‘the future’, we will introduce an approach to anticipate and prepare for possible futures using signals that already exist all around us in the world today.

“Join us to challenge common sense, learn about new ways of thinking, and engage with our digital futures in fun and creative ways.”

Launched in 2013, DISRUPT.SYDNEY is Australia’s premier disruption conference. Our expert speakers engage with the big questions from a diverse range of angles.

Enquiries about DISRUPT.SYDNEY can be directed to Dr Blair Wang (blair.wang@sydney.edu.au) or Dr Julian Prester (julian.prester@sydney.edu.au).