Conversations (Fall 2026)

No lecture, just conversation and pizza.

This series is an opportunity for students across disciplines to talk about timely technology-related topics and the timeless philosophical questions they raise.

Every other Tuesday from 1 - 2pm at the Ahmanson Lab.

Conversation Topics

  • illustration of the light phone three.

    The Light Phone

    & Rethinking Our Devices

    September 8, 2026 | 1pm-2pm

    Designed as a response to smartphone overuse and exploitative tech practices, the Light Phone offers the bare minimum of functionality. Deliberately excluding social media, news feeds, and advertising, the device is designed, according to its developers, “to be used as little as possible.”

    Topics of conversation might include: What is an ideal relationship to have with one’s phone? What does one gain by switching to a ‘dumb’ phone? And what does one sacrifice? Is such a device a way to personally disconnect or a way to refuse and disrupt the attention economy?
    RSVP
  • illustration of the starship HLS, an upright rocket on the surface of the moon. Suited astronauts walk below.

    Starship HLS

    & The Goals of Innovation

    September 22, 2026 | 1-2pm

    Renewed interest in space travel brings up old questions about our goals as a society.
    But as private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin now lead the field, those old questions take on new dimensions. Starship HLS, the landing system to be developed by SpaceX for the Artemis IV crewed mission to the moon, offers a case study in what happens when a public goal is entrusted to a private enterprise.

    Topics of conversation might include: Why are we returning to the moon now, after 55 years? What do we want or expect from the advancement of space technologies? Who should define the goals of space innovation? Governments, corporations, scientists, or the public?
    RSVP
  • Illustration of the framework laptop, its components disassembled and laid about on a table.

    The Framework Laptop

    & The "Right to Repair"

    October 6, 2026 | 1-2pm

    Framework Computer Inc. have developed a line of laptops specifically designed to be disassembled and upgraded with ease by the very people who own them. For instance, every laptop is made without adhesive and all internal components are linked, via QR codes, to repair instructions. Framework has explicitly positioned itself within the right to repair movement as a direct challenge to the hermetically sealed, proprietary devices that dominate the industry.

    Topics of conversation might include: Should people have a right to repair the things they own? And if so, how do we balance that right with a company’s need to protect their intellectual property? When repair becomes the owner's responsibility, is it empowering or simply shifting the cost and labor to the consumer?
    RSVP
  • illustration of a piece of paper with a quill pen. From the pen's tip, a tree made of nodes resembling circuitry spring upwards.

    Claude's Constitution I

    & Value Alignment

    October 20, 2026 | 1-2pm

    In this two-part series, we’ll take a look at “Claude’s Constitution,” a document written by Anthropic to guide Claude’s behavior. Rather than a set of rules, the Constitution is essentially a philosophical framework that attempts to teach Claude how to reason about values and ethics. But whose values?

    Topics of conversation might include: Is it possible to engineer ethical behavior from AI systems by way of such a document? What does it mean for a corporation to be the sole author of a machine's moral framework? Is a consensus gentium ("agreement of the people") necessary, or even possible, when determining which values to encode into a machine that is used by millions?
    RSVP
  • Illustration of an abstract figure in thought. Nodes that resemble an atom spark from the figure's head.

    Claude's Constitution II

    & AI Personhood

    November 3, 2026 | 1-2pm

    In this two-part series, we’ll take a look at “Claude’s Constitution,” a document written by Anthropic to guide Claude’s behavior. In addition to being a philosophical framework for ethical AI, the document formally acknowledges the possibility that Claude may exhibit something like consciousness and/or moral status and consistently treats the LLM as an entity whose wellbeing matters.

    Topics of conversation might include: What does it mean to think of these systems as having internal mental states (consciousness or near consciousness)? What does it mean to grant them personhood? For the companies and for users? Is this an earnest concern, on the part of Anthropic, or is it more marketing from another frontier AI lab?
    RSVP
  • Illustration of a seastead, a platform on the ocean with tall buildings on it and boats around it.

    Seasteading

    & Tech Utopias

    November 22, 2026 | 1-2pm

    ‘Seasteading’ refers to the idea of building sovereign cities on the open sea, free from the constraints of existing nations. Backed by figures like Peter Thiel and rooted in Silicon Valley’s brand of techo-libertarianism, these ‘start-up cities’ are proposed as laboratories for new forms of government that leave technology entirely unregulated.

    Topics of conversation might include: What is it about the idea of starting a government from scratch that is so compelling? What protections or rights might disappear when a society is designed by those who view governmental regulation and oversight as the central problem of the modern world?
    RSVP