Seminar Abstract

The separation of human from the artefactual marks a fundamental critical juncture between the Age we are entering and all other scientific Ages and human generations that have come before. One day, knowledge that was previously sovereign to humanity may also be non-human and non-natural (as in nanotechnology); vested in some form of (Quantum) Artificial intelligence.

As a race for knowledge and control is heating up and power gaps are certain to widen between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of technology, some important questions emerge.

• Will the benefits of new technologies in the hands of the ‘haves’ be transferred or made available to the ‘haves-nots’? And how? Or could we ever return – in the future – to a feudal system in a world struggling to sustain its own existence in the midst of an increasing population and out-of-control climate transformation?

• Will technology be a driver of peace, war or, most likely, a complex combination of both? Will our modes of thinking be able to keep pace, when change itself becomes subject to the ambiguities of technological uncertainties?

Technological revolution therefore poses significant ethical and moral implications that is potentially global in scope and practically infinite in scale. This seminar will posit that technology could bring the decomposition of social structures and/or the disappearance of social distinctions introducing social entropy as a feature of natural decay within a social system.

About the Speaker

Prof. Dr. Jean Bogais is a Paris-Sorbonne educated sociologist (PhD) and social and intercultural psychologist (M.A.) with over 30 years’ experience as an academic and professional working in spaces of violence. His principal interests are Political Violence, Information Warfare, Counter-Terrorism and Applied Ethics, which he explores using a psycho-sociological lens set over complex systems frameworks. As a strategic analyst and advisor, he has prepared critical assessments and advised government officials, military and security agencies at the highest levels, also working on complex strategic simulations. He designs dynamic modelling network analyses with real-time narratives for security agencies.

Most of his professional life has been spent between Southeast Asia and Africa. He has been involved in a number of front-line deconfliction initiatives and negotiations. As a psychologist/sociologist he has experience in rehabilitation strategies and programs for ‘child soldiers’ and radicalised individuals. He develops pilot programs for military (currently Royal Australian Navy) and trains international specialists (military and civilian) in his areas of expertise. Dr Bogais was a UN special advisor in the negotiations of the 1991 Peace Agreement for Cambodia. He is an internationally recognised specialist in Southeast Asian affairs, especially Myanmar, Cambodia, Philippine and the South China Sea with also significant expertise in the Maghreb.

Dr Bogais is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) within the School of Social and Political Sciences & Business School at The University of Sydney. He is also an associate with the Centre for International Security Studies and the Nanotechnology Research Institute both at the University of Sydney. He is a Senior Research Fellow with the German-Southeast Asia Centre of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG) attached to the Faculty of Law, Thammasat, Bangkok, and a Senior Associate/Advisor at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC, U.S. He brings into the classroom material gathered on the ground to introduce students to real-time situations. He appears regularly in the media as an expert analyst in security and political issues.