In this lecture series, Alex Quicho, Wassim Alsindi and Günseli Yalcinkaya will talk about politics of technology, language, and future societies followed by a Q&A. 

13:00 Alex Quicho 
14:00 Wassim Alsindi
15:00 Günseli Yalcinkaya
16:00 Q&A 

Curated in cooperation with Spike Art Magazine

Lecture by Alex Quicho: SYCOPHANCY 

This talk explores sycophancy as a cross-domain phenomenon, linking the deferential tendencies of large language models (LLMs) – their habit of flattering – to similar dynamics in animal behaviour, political rhetoric, and social performance. Framing "sweetness" and charm as strategic deception, Quicho draws on prior research into feminized aesthetics and the performative aspects of AI modelling. Today’s “model collapse” reflects an overabundance of simulated empathy – too much sweetness, perhaps, is a threat rather than a virtue. 

Lecture by Wassim Alsindi: Collapse of Nations: Technocapital Utopias and their Reactionary Shadows 

Today, new forms of imperialism are emerging on land, sky, sea, and space, led by messianic anti-democracy elites who seek to reshape the global polis. These new patriarchs wish to challenge the nation-state system itself, through the creation of privatised zones of exception such as charter cities and network states. Framed as libertarian utopias, these emerging polities leverage ecological exploitation, patriarchal chauvinism, and colonial logics to enshrine the crowns and empires of tomorrow. What can be learned from the Athenian democracy and piratical governance, to destabilise today’s strongman supremacy? 
       

Lecture by Günseli Yalcinkaya: Age of Aquarius 

On AI’s psychedelic edge, science is spiralling back towards its mystical origins – or is it? Inspired by her Spike essay of the same name, London-based writer and researcher Günseli Yalcinkaya explores the role that emerging technologies such as AI and quantum have played in shaping our perception of reality, where rational and technoscientific paradigms disintegrate into a freaky collision of accelerationism and psychedelic renaissance, which give birth to magical thinking both good and bad.