The lecture entitled: World on Auto-Pilot: The Social Theory of Automation will be delivered by Prof. Anthony Elliott

The second seminar in the series Social Theory and Contemporary Challenges organised by the Department of Theoretical Sociology, IFiS PAN
in cooperation with the Digital Sociology Section of the PTS
will be held in hybrid format:
at Staszic Palace, Nowy Świat 72, Room 268 (2nd floor), Warsaw and online via Zoom on 26 March 2026 at 2 pm GMT/ 3 pm CET.
The lecture entitled:
World on Auto-Pilot: The Social Theory of Automation
will be delivered by
Prof. Anthony Elliott at the University of Adelaide

Abstract: Automation in the age of industrial modernity was rooted in heavy machinery, mass-production manufacturing and standardized, mechanized assembly-lines. Automation in our time has gone both digital and algorithmic. In the new streamlined, made-over, computationally predictive brand of automation we witness the metamorphosis of the world rewritten in terms of apps, algorithms and artificial intelligence. Arguably this historical shift from industrial automation to postindustrial automation amounts to the greatest period of technological innovation ever in human history in terms of transformations across economy, society and identities. Digital automation should be seen, however, as the increasingly complex integration of emerging technologies, transformed social relations, as well as the emotional and perceptual shifts wrought by automated human-machine interaction. In this lecture, Anthony Elliott introduces and outlines the concept of automization for the critical analysis of self and society. The argument is developed that, in the passage from ‘industrial society’ to the ‘algorithmic society’ stage of modernity, the logic of automization is gradually supplemented through metrics, quantification and predictive analytics on the one side, and on the other side accelerated through emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, augmented and virtual realities. It is concluded that one of the prime tasks of sociology today must be to track these implications and relate them to the core concerns of the discipline.

Anthony Elliott is Bradley Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Adelaide University, where he is Executive Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformations. He holds visiting professorships in Japan and Ireland and is a Fellow of many prestigious academic societies. An internationally acclaimed author, Elliott has written over fifty books translated into 17 languages, including ‘The Culture of AI’, ‘Making Sense of AI’, ‘Algorithmic Intimacy’, and ‘Algorithms of Anxiety’. His new book ‘Automated Lives’ will be published by Polity Press in 2026. He was appointed Member of the Order of Australia for his contributions to education and social science research in the King’s Birthday Honours in 2023.

The meeting will be held in English. Connect to Zoom via the link:
https://zoom.us/j/99495195654?pwd=sozG3bjrI0g9cHcvSBbFttZ25cFsz6.1
ID: 994 9519 5654; Passcode: 258257

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