Events

hmi-II-21

Workshops and Conferences

Upcoming events

Workshop on Modeling, Optimization, and Control in Biomedicine

August 28 and 29, 2025

Workshop location: Executive Learning Centre (2A), Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Adickesallee 32–34, 60322 Frankfurt am Main)

This workshop explores how optimization and control methods can improve biomedical applications, from precision medicine to antibiotic treatments. By integrating mechanistic modelling, data-driven insights, and modern AI tools, participants will gain perspectives on calibrating and managing complex biological systems. Day one focuses on advances in modelling and control across biomedical systems, while day two highlights the dynamics of microbiomes, antibiotics, and the pressing challenge of antibiotic resistance.

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Past events

Abstract:

A number of concerns have been recently raised regarding the possibility of human agents to effectively maintain control over intelligent and (partially) autonomous artificial systems. These issues have been deemed to raise ‘responsibility gaps.’ To address these gaps, several scholars and other public and private stakeholders converged towards the idea that, in deploying intelligent technology, a meaningful form of human control (MHC) should be at all times exercised over autonomous intelligent technology. One of the main criticisms to the general idea of MHC is that it could be inherently problematic to have high degrees of control and high degrees of autonomy at the same time, as the two dimensions appear to be inversely related. Several ways to respond to this argument and deal with the dilemma between control and autonomy have been proposed in the literature.

In this paper, we further contribute to the philosophical effort to overcome the trade-off between automation and human control, and to open up some space for moral responsibility. We will use the instrument of conceptual engineering to investigate whether and to what extent removing the element of direct causal intervention from the concept of control can preserve the main functions of that concept, specifically focusing on the extent it can act as foundation of moral responsibility. We show that at least one philosophical account of MHC is indeed a conceptually viable theory to absolve the fundamental functions of control, even in the context of completely autonomous artificial systems.

11 April 2022

Digital computing is facing different fundamental physical limitations in terms of higher clock frequencies, energy requirements, and integration density (i.e., the number of components per area). However, many computational problems (e.g., training neural networks, optimization problems, etc.) require more and more computing power to solve. Other computing paradigms can help tackle complex problems that arise in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

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Talk by Lucas Böttcher at the APS March Meeting 2022

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Talk by Lucas Böttcher at NetSciX 2022

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4 October 2021

Talk by Lucas Böttcher at the 5th Workshop on Virus Dynamics

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12 June 2021
Lucas Böttcher and Jan Nagler

Overall Topic:
Introduction to the physical description of social systems including discussion in the context of a weekend seminar of the jDPG.

28 May 2021

The MIDAS Webinar Series features research by MIDAS members, and is open to the public.

4 May 2021

Professor Lucas Böttcher, Professor of Computational Social Science at Frankfurt School

7-10 July 2019

Ninth Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic

 

2 October 2018

The Future of Work. The Digital Revolution and Its Consequences,
Kick-Off Impulse & Panel Discussion

 

27 September 2018

Keynote Speech & Discussion with Prof. Gregory Wheeler

 

18 June 2018

The Third Wave of Artificial Intelligence is game changing.

 

15 June 2018

The Annual Frankfurt Metaethics Conference (FrankMeta) aims to offer a forum for current research in metaethics, broadly construed, including research on topics in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics and epistemology of normativity, as well as papers on the nature of rationality, reasons, and similar topics.

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FrankMeta.6 is designed to bring together philosophers working on normativity and metanormativity, broadly construed. We invite submissions on new work in the metaphysics, (meta)semantics, epistemology and psychology of normative discourse, as well as papers on reasons and rationality.

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The Annual Frankfurt Metaethics Conference (FrankMeta) aims to offer a forum for current research in meta ethics, broadly construed, including research on topics in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics and epistemology of normativity, as well as papers on the nature of rationality, reasons, and similar topics. The conference will run over two days and provide plenty of time for discussion and exchange.

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