SEMINAR: Speculating About the Future: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
Guest: Abraham Mhaidli (Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy)
Title: Speculating About the Future: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned (CS, EE, IE)
Date/Time: 19 November 2025, 13:40
Location: https://sabanciuniv.zoom.us/j/
Abstract: The rapid rise of technologies such as social media, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, has led to a similar rise in harms caused by these technologies. This, in turn, has raised a crucial question: could we have anticipated these harms, and could these harms have been prevented (or at least mitigated)? This has lead to a growing interest in speculating about the future of technology: in other words, understanding (1) what technology may look like in the future (2) what are the harms these technologies could bring, and (3) what can be done to mitigate or avoid these harms in the present day. Despite this interest, little is known about how exactly to conduct this kind of work -- how does someone accurately predict the future of tech?
In this talk, Abraham will shed some light on these questions. Drawing on his experiences working on understanding the future of technology, he will provide an overview of the various methods that can be used to study the future, as well as practical advice for those seeking to speculate about the future of technology in their own work.
Bio: Abraham Mhaidli is a Junior Research Group Leader working at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Germany, where he leads the Technology Harm Prevention Group. His work primarily looks at new and emerging technologies (including artificial intelligence, brain computer interfaces, smart devices, and virtual reality) to understand what are their harms and how to mitigate them. He is also interested in research and technology ethics, meta-science, and understanding how capitalism and neoliberalism impact and influence academia. Abraham obtained his PhD in Information from the University of Michigan in 2023. Outside of research, Abraham enjoys watching football, playing board games, cooking, and spoiling his two cats.