Free

Liege will host the World Humanities Conference from Sunday, the 6th to Saturday, the 12th August 2017. Co-organized by UNESCO, the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) and the World Humanities Conference – Liège 2017 Foundation, this congress will gather about 1800 participants from all over the world working in the fields of science, politics, art and communication, as well as representatives of international, governmental and non-governmental organizations. The title of the conference is: "World Humanities Conference. Challenges and Responsibilities for a Planet in Transition".
L'ENS de Lyon is associated to this world event through 3 of its researchers and professors. Stéphane Grumbach  (IXXI, Inria), Olivier Hamant (RDP, Inra) and Ioan Negrutiu (Inst. Michel Serres) will participate in a seminar organized by IXXI with Patrick Degeorges (Ministère de l'environnement) about : "Developing Transformative Knowledge to Navigate the Anthropocene".
Environmental issues are eminently social, originating at the heart of the economic, cultural and political organization. The Anthropocene is characterized by the growing importance of the technosphere, which is formed by the intertwined activities developed by humans (incl. industries, agriculture, administration, etc.). The datasphere forms a complex system offering strong similarities with Earth sciences natural spheres, and increasingly independent from human decision. It is controlled by complex feedback loops, which result from information transformation. With each feedback, we learn the hard way what being on Earth means, and therefore to account for our interactions with a fragile and sensitive habitat. This experience is transformative. Beyond purely technological solutions or incremental adjustments, this transformation involves changes in individuals, institutions, and cultures through fundamental alterations of existing feedbacks, power relations, thinking patterns, values, consciousness, as well as the questioning of key the assumptions that underpin contemporary societies and economic systems.
Anthropocene and the Michel Serres Institute : More information here