Schedule 9th International Degrowth Conference

Degrowth perspectives have so far largely left unshaped their visions on the role of technology. In the meantime, governments all over the world are accelerating the development and application of high-end digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, notably because of their potential to enhance economic growth. Considering the possibility that these developments lead to new lock-ins of our society in a set of technological infrastructures that are environmentally destructive and growth-pursuing, there is an urgent need to carry out a critical analysis from a degrowth perspective.

In this paper, I focus on Artificial Intelligence and first explain how it can act as a growth-accelerator and an instrument of capitalism. I do so by focusing on three sectors (manufacturing and retail, transport, and health) and by showing how growth-accelerating applications are in each sector being encouraged by neoliberal governments, powerful tech companies and consultancy firms.

Second, I take a degrowth perspective and ask the following question: if Artificial Intelligence is pushed to be a growth accelerator, should a degrowth proposal refuse the technology as a whole or could it re-appropriate it in a degrowth system? I build my answer by reflecting on how applications of Artificial Intelligence could exist within degrowth visions of the sectors transport and health, using notions of convivial technologies.

Overall, my paper contributes to building an imaginary on the role of technology in a degrowth society.

Info

Day: 2023-08-30
Start time: 11:00
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-KC-2
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Technology and science for degrowth

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