In the universe of modern medicine, the focus is shifting from just offering treatment to curing diseases. Innovative approaches, such as gene therapies, have gained space and relevance. This type of method seeks results by editing the genetic code of individuals and can potentially revolutionize the treatment of serious diseases such as cancer.

On December 13, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, representatives from two organizations linked to the development of effective gene therapies will participate in a workshop at the IEA-USP. Geoff MacKay, president of AVROBIO, and Matthew Kane, president of Precision Biosciences, will present their oncology and enzyme replacement therapy projects at the event Gene Therapy in Oncology and Enzyme Replacement. Silvano Raia, a professor at USP's School of Medicine (FM) and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (ANM), will be the mediator of the meeting.

There will be live webcast

Photo: Max Pixel

Digital revolution proposes a different model of society, deeply dependent on information and data. In almost any area of knowledge, managing, organizing and analyzing these data is critical to taking a prominent position. In order to meet this demand, mechanisms such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have gained relevance. The IEA will host the conference 'Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Current State, Trends and Social Aspects' to discuss the advancement of these technologies on May 3, at 10.00 am. There will be a live webcast.

The lecturer will be Professor André Ponce de Leon F. de Carvalho, from USP's Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICMC) at the São Carlos campus. Glauco Arbix, a professor of USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), and coordinator of IEA's Innovation and Competitiveness Observatory, will be the moderator.

The most remarkable aspects of machine learning as well as the main applications will be presented. Some of them allow social benefits in addition to obvious economic advantages. Nowadays, machine learning is being used to detect bank frauds, to improve search engines, to recognize faces, pupils and gestures in videos, to increase software security, to guide autonomous vehicles, to predict diseases in patients and to various other functions.

The increasing use of these tools, however, makes the apprehension with the good use of their techniques also increase. The recent scandal surrounding Facebook and data policy has made this unease clear. According to the organizers of the event, "concerns such as transparency, privacy and respect for legislation need to be addressed and will do so in the speech."

In Brazil, half of the female university students has suffered harassment, and almost 30% of them have experienced sexual violence during the academic life. The alarming figures revealed by the 2015 survey by the Avon Institute / Data Popular show only one side of a cultural model that is reproduced in an environment that should be the place of difference and diversity. Instead of being a plural space, the university also reveals to be the place of the implied prejudice against women with regard to progression in the academic and scientific career, as demonstrated by the debate Women in University and Science: Challenges and Opportunities, held on September 15 at the IEA.

"Much of this discussion is associated with the power of women or with the conflict of power in relation to men and its social, cultural and political implications. In the private and public contexts, women are not willingly admitted in power domains. Even in large democracies of the 21st century, power relates to men," said the lecturer Leila Saadé, president of the RESUFF (Francophone Network of Women Responsible for Higher Education and Research).

The RESUFF's mission is to educate leaders and academics to question male-female inequality at universities, especially in access to positions of responsibility. It has been developing teaching modules on gender that offer training tools for professional and institutional strategies. The agency has also opened a call for proposals for a gender observatory at universities, which will work with a representative of the network in each participating university with the aim of consolidating data and indicators on women's participation in academic life.

As an expert in law and president of the Doctoral School of Law of the Middle East, Saadé addressed experiences in Lebanon and France on the issue of gender in academia and science. She also explored affirmative actions created by the Francophone University Association (AUF), which has been consolidating initiatives to promote women's access to positions of responsibility. The association, founded in Canada, funds university projects of teaching and research, and its headquarters is located in an office of São Paulo State University (UNESP), in São Paulo.

Vera Soares, from USP Mulheres (USP Women), and conferencist Leila Saadé

"We can not want a better world where half the population is in a hidden corner of the planet. If women are struggling to reach the summit of positions of responsibility we are offering a gift to democracy as we strive for the triumph of a set of values that have founded democracies, ie the principle of equal rights and opportunities," she said.

Physicist Caroline Carvalho dos Santos, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and coordinator of the university extension program Girls in Science, participated as a panelist. Moderation was in charge of Vera Soares, from USP Mulheres (USP Women).

The meeting has been organized by the Consulate General of France in São Paulo, the Institut Français in Brazil, USP Women and the IEA.

Shear effect

According to Saadé, 20% of the presidents in French university positions were women in 2008 and recently this ratio has halved. Eight years ago there were 58% of women enrolled in master's and bachelor courses, as well as 48% in PhD courses. Only 23% reached the position of university professor, showing that the higher the career level, the greater the shear effect. "Unfortunately, academia is deeply discriminatory against women and cultivates women's discrimination," she said.

The European average is no exception: only 9% of research management positions are occupied by women and only 11% of them are high academic responsibility positions.

In Lebanon, women represent 37% of academic researchers, and 11% of them work in engineering and technology. "We have asked for a national observatory in Lebanon to define gender indicators and structure inclusion strategies," said Saadé.

The shear effect has deep roots in stereotypes in which unfortunately even women themselves believe and reproduce, she said. "The L'Oreal Foundation has conducted a survey on the view that Europeans have of women in science and revealed that 67% believe that women are not qualified to occupy high positions in science. The reasons given for having that thinking are the lack of perseverance, practical spirit, rigor and scientific spirit, as well as rational and analytical mind. Women have the same view, which is the worst part. It is a universal vision. The same survey has been conducted among the Chinese, who reproduced the same responses. We are forced to admit that cultural factors and stereotypes play an important role in this view of women", she showed.

The researcher believes that it is possible to change that, even if a long way to go is necessary. First, one must create a network that encourages and supports female scientists besides consolidating data and indicators. "There is a lack of indicators. The figures are uncertain and often false. We need surveys on the real situation of women in science and academia so we can create action strategies," she said.

Besides consolidating indicators, the network proposed by Saadé will need to act to "break the vicious circle in which research projects are created and evaluated only by men, and in which only men are accepted."

A survey in France has shown that women coursing the last year of graduation in science had better terms than men and this proves that they have scientific spirit, Saadé explained. "So we need to leave solitude and silence by valuing women, their skills and their ego; give them the opportunity to fall in love with the sphere of science," she said.

Segregation by area

Carolina Brito: "There is a lack of female models in scientific high positions"

Physicist Carolina Brito, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), said that women suffer both vertical and horizontal segregations throughout their academic careers. The first one relates to the shear effect, while the horizontal segregation concerns the areas in which women do often not seek for positions due to pre-existing prejudices in career choices.

Brito showed data of the 2006 School Census, in which women were the majority in high school both in enrollment (54%) and as graduates (58%). Women also represented most of the students in Brazilian universities according to the 2012 data of the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Educational Studies (INEP). However, for each 100 graduate students, 15 graduated in engineering and mathematics, and only five women headed to the so-called hard sciences.

In the case of physics, segregation is even greater, showed Brito. If something like 30% of scientific initiation scholarships in physics go to women, only 15% of PhD scholarships and only 5% of A-level research scholarships remain with them.

Stereotypes, culture, and family and school influences play an important role so that women do not choose a scientific career, believes Brito, who also points to another important trend. "I insist on the lack of female models in scientific high positions. There are very few giving this example. Therefore, women do not see themselves in careers like that," she said.

Moreover, it is necessary to end scientific committees formed predominantly by men. The scientific committee of physics at the National Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq), for example, has only 10% of women in its composition. "The pharmacy case is even worse. Although the area has mostly women, the scientific committee at CNPq is 100% composed of men," she said.

The requirements for women are much higher. "In the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the male presence on the chairs is very strong. But if we analyze the profile of the occupants by choosing the criterion members under 35 years studying PhD, for example, we notice that among men 15% do not have a Research Productivity scholarship (PQ), and only 1% of women do not have a PQ. This shows that the criteria are more restrictive for women," said Brito.

Professor Marcos Nogueira Martins, director of USP's Institute of Physics (IF), showed some figures from a foreign institution to confirm that gender segregation occurs worldwide.

"At the University of Chicago, men make up 87% of the academic body. This is a global phenomenon. But in my academic experience, I do not notice any difference in ability between men and women, and I agree that there is a loss of talent by leaving women out. But it is difficult for a person to get interested in what they do not know or do not understand. Unfortunately, you can not make miracles with the education we have in Brazil," said Martins.

Photos: Marcos Santos/Jornal da USP and Leonor Calasans/IEA

Deputy Sibá Machado, rapporteur of the project that gave rise to the Innovation Law

This is the Brazilian reality because "we are very poor in terms of patents," said Helena Nader, president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), one of the exhibitors at the seminar The New Innovation Law: Expectations, Perspectives and Initiatives, held on April 4 at the USP's Faculty of Economics, Management and Accounting (FEA).

The poor performance in patents is an indicator of the country's difficulties in producing innovation, an activity surrounded by legal, institutional, financial and even cultural impediments.

"Brazil has 20% of the world's biodiversity but an archaic legislation on the issue. In the last 10 years we have only allowed 300 researches in this area. The result is that companies prefer to patent their products abroad." The example was given by Paulo Mól, national superintendent of the Euvaldo Lodi Institute (IEL) of the National Industry Confederation (CNI) and coordinator of the Business Mobilization for Innovation (MEI).

Legal advancement

While there is still much to be done, the spirit of the actors involved in science, technology and innovation in Brazil is renewed. This is a result of the new legal framework established for the sector in recent years.

Helena Nader: a perspective of the scientific community

The most recent achievement was the adoption of a constitutional amendment (Emenda Constitucional nº 85 - in Portuguese), amending and adding devices in the Federal Constitution to update the treatment of activities in science, technology and innovation. The amendment has led to the final law project presented by various members of the Parliament in 2011 and resulted in the new innovation law, enacted on January 11 by President Dilma Rousseff.

The new law provides for incentives to scientific development, research, scientific and technological capacity, and innovation. It also amends various legal provisions.

In addition to the law and the constitutional amendment, deputy Sibá Machado also addressed a set of legal texts from which science, technology and innovation benefit, and which deals with the supporting foundations; a law on the access to biodiversity; a provisional measure on the imports by supporting foundations; and a proposed constitutional amendment that regulates professional and graduation courses.

Vahan Agopyan, vice-president of USP, and Guilherme Ary Plonski (left) during the opening of the seminar

Machado was the rapporteur of the project that gave rise to the law. He said that the idea of establishing a National Code of Science, Technology and Innovation was dropped because something like that would head the standards to a relatively inflexible way, which would be inappropriate for an area in constant transformation.

One of the great achievements of the process that led to the new legislation was the fact that it is the result of consensus among the scientific community, companies, the Brazilian congress and the government (including the effort for the overthrow of vetoes), according to the speakers at the seminar.

At the opening of the seminar, Professor Guilherme Ary Plonski, organizer of the event and scientific coordinator of the USP's Center for Policy and Technology Management (PGT), said that the five-year work that resulted in the constitutional amendment and in the Innovation Law has involved 53 academic, entrepreneurial and government institutions, 19 of them taking a more active role.

Maria Paula Dallari Bucci: initiatives for effectiveness

USP's vice-president Vahan Agopyan cited the problem of legal uncertainty, which hinders many companies to invest in innovation. According to him, a 2010 survey indicated that only 0.25% of the companies in the State of São Paulo able to invest in innovation had the courage to use the Law of Innovation. FEA's deputy director, Joaquim José Martins Guilhoto, highlighted the national and regional impact of the new law. The opening of the seminar has also been attended by the University's provost for research, José Eduardo Krieger, who has moderated the seminar.

Regulation

According to the exhibitors, the immediate steps are the overthrow of the eight partial vetoes and the regulation of the new law, whose proposal will be drawn up by a working group of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), and submitted to public consultation.

The regulation will be a crucial stage in the process in order to resolve doubts and disagreements, and again try to reach a consensus. At the seminar, it was up to the USP's legal superintendent, Maria Paula Dallari Bucci, a professor at the University's Law School, to detail the legal aspects involved in the new legislation and the precautions to be taken in its implementation. Bucci took the point of view of the public sector, giving special attention to the peculiarities of the State of São Paulo.

Paulo Mól: perspective of the business community

For her, instead of talking about regulation, one must speak of "regulations for specific points." The first priority, she said, is to define a legal concept that gives support to the managing entity of technology parks and incubators. She recalled that the qualification of private law's legal entities as social organizations whose activities are directed to science, technology and innovation is allowed, but by law the government of the State of São Paulo is not. This prohibition places the future of many São Paulo institutions at risk, according to the professor.

Further topics that have been discussed: the need to set limits to the possibility of researchers in exclusive dedication to participate in paid private projects so that there is no prejudice to their teaching and research activities; the clarification of how the support of foundations can manage their own revenues from science and technology public institutions; and how to deal with the issue of reciprocity in the case of incentives for foreign companies to settle research and development centers in Brazil.

For Bucci, one amendment inserted by the new law is a setback: the repeal of the Innovation Law devices that dealt explicitly with consolidated information that should be annually passed on by the science and technology institutions to the MCTI (intellectual property policy, developed creations; required and granted protection, and licensing agreements or technology transfer signed).

The event has been a partnership between the USP's Dean of Research, the IEA, the USP's Center for Policy and Technology Management (PGT), based on FEA, and the Centre for Research Innovation and Competitiveness Observatory (NAP- OIC), based on the IEA.

Deputy Sibá Machado, rapporteur of the project that gave rise to the Innovation Law

The seminar will examine the main aspects of the new law, exploring the perspectives of the main drivers for innovation and outlining the actions that should be undertaken to make the law to become effective.

The central exhibition will be made by deputy Sibá Machado, rapporteur of the project that gave rise to the law. The meeting will be opened by the FEA's director, Adalberto Américo Fischmann, and will feature the following speakers:

• José Eduardo Krieger, provost for research at the USP (institutional view);
• Helena Nader, president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) (perspective of the scientific community);
• Paulo Mol, national superintendent of the Euvaldo Lodi Institute (IEL) of the National Industry Confederation (CNI) and coordinator of the Business Mobilization for Innovation (MEI) (perspective of the business community);
• Maria Paula Dallari Bucci, legal superintendent of the USP (initiatives for effectiveness).

Advancements

Just over a year the Boards of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate promulgated a constitutional amendment (Emenda Constitucional nº 85 - in Portuguese), amending and adding devices in the Federal Constitution to update the treatment of activities in science, technology and innovation. The amendment has lead to the final law project presented by various members of the Parliament in 2011 and resulted in the new innovation law, enacted on January 11 by President Dilma Rousseff.

The new law provides for incentives to scientific development, research, innovation, and scientific and technological capacity. It also amends several existing legal provisions, in particular Law No. 10.973 / 2004, known as the Innovation Law.

According to Professor Guilherme Ary Plonski, organizer of the seminar, these advancements in legislation are the result of a "laborious and tense" construction, to which numerous academic, business and government institutions have devoted their efforts over five years. He considers "particularly auspicious the fact that this work has made it to term even in this delicate national context."

The event is a partnership between the USP's Dean of Research, the IEA, the USP's Center for Policy and Technology Management (PGT), based on FEA, and the Centre for Research Innovation and Competitiveness Observatory (NAP- OIC), based on the IEA.

Photo: Gustavo Lima/Chamber of Deputies

The event, organized by professor David Sperling, from the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism (IAU) of the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, marks the beginning of activities pertaining to “Fabrication” at the IEA São Carlos. The aim is to draw together research studies on the potentialities and challenges that arise from “fabrication” in today’s technological environment, permeated by processes that are increasingly mediated and controlled numerically. This is a national ongoing discussion that will address various areas of knowledge, including architecture, engineering, computing, physics and chemistry.

Over the course of two days, the conference will bring together professors and researchers from various institutions, including USP, Unicamp, Embrapa and the Renato Archer Information Technology Center. The opening will be attended by Martin Grossmann, IEA director, and Renato Anelli, coordinator of the IEA São Carlos,

Exhibit

As part of the symposium, the exhibition Homo Faber: Digital Fabrication in Latin America will open on October 14, from 5:00 pm, at the USP São Carlos Cultural Center. São Carlos will be the first city to host the traveling version of the exhibit, which was first presented in July in São Paulo, during the XVI CAAD Futures Congress, and will now travel around South America.

The exhibition features an unprecedented mapping of digital fabrication in the field of architecture in Latin America, with an overview of what 25 university laboratories, research groups, architecture studios and independent actions are investigating and producing in the area. Articulated under the premise that fabrication informs matter, the works comprise a vast array of interests and means, as well as openness to experimentation in processes and results.

Curated by professors David Sperling, from IAU-USP, and Pablo Herrera, from the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, the exhibit will remain open at the Cultural Center until November 13, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm.

According to anthropologist Massimo Canevacci, digital culture challenges the classic distinction between space and time by promoting syncretism between both dimensions and by breaking with hegemonic dualistic thinking. Canevacci, a visiting professor at the IEA, spoke on this subject at the last conference of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA) on April 27.

His exposition focused on the notion of “ubiquitime,” a neologism he created to define, from an ethnographic viewpoint, “the uncentered and non-linear experiences of space-time” promoted by contemporary digital communication.

In his view, the notion of ubiquitime combines three central notions: simultaneity, “an aesthetics made of fragments from metropolises and technologies,” as advocated by Futurism, the art movement; chronotope, established by philosopher Mikhail Bahktin to denote the dialogic relationship between the spatial and the temporal horizons that “has become essential to the development of literary polyphony;” and ubiquity, a metaphor that expresses the ability to be anywhere at the same time made possible by the potential for global connection of the global digital networks.

Ubiquity

In Canevacci’s assessment, ubiquity is a key concept in digital culture, because it “characterizes human and non-human space-time relationships on the Internet.” He recalled that the traditional definition of the term has a theological undertone and relates to the idea of an omnipresent, invisible and inescapable godhead that observes everything and everyone: “God knows everything and will judge you,” he summarized.

The metaphorical nature of the definition proposed by Canevacci expands the threshold of ubiquity to the material world of everyday life, and extends “the presence of all human or divine beings to everywhere.”

Ubiquitous individuals can move about between different identities, spaces and times, giving rise to the multividual, according to Canevacci. The multividual emerges from the multiplication of subjectivities beyond fixed identities: “Ubiquity defies identity, which becomes more flexible. The ubiquitous subject of ethnographic experience is a multidividual.”

Empirical cases

Canevacci presented four empirical cases that exemplify the experience of ubiquitime in various cultures, starting with the Greek mythological deity Kairós, who symbolizes “a moment in an indeterminate period in which something special happens,” i.e., a propitious moment for decision or action.

Unlike Chronos, the god of chronological time, whose nature is quantitative, Kairós represents unmeasurable temporality and refers us to the idea of carpe diem – living intensely in the moment – and the power to make decisions. According to Canevacci, the concept of Kairós “does not fit restricted definitions because it is situated between two concepts: action and time, expertise and skill.”

He said that the ubiquitime dimension in Kairós refers to what he calls “methodological stupor” or “undisciplined methodological wandering” – an attitude of openness toward the unknown that enables “ethnographers to turn and move, stride and walk with abandoned slowness and attention to detail,” always willing to observe and grasp spontaneous and casual study objects.

The second case mentioned by Canevacci was the post-Euclidean architecture of Zaha Hadid. According to him, Hadid builds hybrid forms that break with the classic rules of composition and representation of space-time. “[Hadid] transforms non-normative geometry into mysterious, distorted and impure geometric shapes,” he said.

The funeral rites of the Bororo, an indigenous people studied by Canevacci, was the third empirical case presented at the conference. The rites are long and complex, and involve burying the body in a shallow ditch, waiting for the decomposition of tissues, cleaning the skull, and special ornamentation for the final farewell ceremony.

Canevacci explained that in the final stage, which lasts three days, time is suspended. “It is a period when there is time, only the celebration of the ritual that reaffirms that no distance exists between life and death, between space and time.”

The last example, also related to the Bororo, was the “multividual subjectivity” of Kléber Meritororeu, a Bororo native. For Canevacci, Meritororeu embodies the idea of the multividual because he traverses from one identity to another: he is at the same time a native who lives his culture on a daily basis and a teacher at the Indigenous State School “Sacred Heart of Jesus” in Meruri village, in the city of General Carneiro, state of Mato Grosso.

“He has two identities: he is a Bororo and teacher,” Canevacci said, stressing that Meritororeu faces the challenge not only of connecting these two identities, but also of self-representing himself with the aid of digital technologies – all this without letting go of the traditions of his people – to combine digital culture and Bororo culture.

“The use of technology by the natives helps the development of a decentralized network that cannot be compare with any analog network,” he explained. “The dichotomous relationship between technology and culture, science and arts is obsolete,” he added.

Psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Claudio Cohen, a professor at USP's Faculty of Medicine, will be the exhibitor

How will new genetic technologies affect the production of meaning in the lives of human beings? If humanity became a civilization of cyborgs (humans with bio-mechatronic components), how would that affect the human condition? What is the role of the university in thinking about these issues and in establishing (or not) limits to the transformations in the human being?

These issues will be discussed at the seminar The Human Being and Technique, on October 8, at 3 pm, in IEA-USP's Event Room. It will be the fourth meeting of the cycle In Search of Lost Meaning. The speaker will be psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Claudio Cohen, a professor at USP's Faculty of Medicine, who is an expert in bioethics and clinical bioethics.

The debaters will be economist Gilson Schwartz, a professor of the Department of Film, Radio and Television at USP's School of Communications and Arts (ECA), and political scientist Maya Mitre, a researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and a specialist in political theory, and social studies of science and technology. Moderation will be in charge of political scientist Bernardo Sorj, a visiting professor at the IEA-USP and coordinator of the cycle.

The event will be broadcast live on the web.

CYCLE

In Search of Lost Meaning: Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Science and Transcendence, coordinated by Sorj, has planned four meetings. The goal is to address the changes caused by the decline of the great political ideologies and to discuss the production of meaning in this new sociocultural context.

According to Sorj, the political ideologies of modernity - as the Enlightenment liberalism, fascism, communism and nationalism – have maintained from religious monotheism the notion that values ​​can be organized around universal principles and that there is a single truth. With the decline of the "secular religions" a world of "polytheism of values ​, which transfers to the individual the right and responsibility to choose between often conflicting and mutually exclusionary beliefs and values" has arisen.

This polytheism of values ​​is the main feature of today in the opinion of Sorj, for whom "the challenge of democratic societies is to assume this position, completing the process of secularization that began in the Renaissance."

Photo: Marcos Santos/USP Imagens

In the near future, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man upset by the end of his marriage, falls in love with the female voice of an advanced computer operating system (OS) named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Custom-made and endowed with consciousness, the OS is able to react, learn, express emotions and compose its own personality according to the needs of its owner.

“Her” (2013), a  feature-length romantic science fiction, written and directed by Spike Jonze, tells the unconventional love story between Theodore and this form of intuitive artificial intelligence that, far from exhausting itself in technological efficiency, reveals itself a sensitive, endearing and amiable companion.

Set in a Los Angeles where the only futuristic semblance seems to be customized operating systems with voice command, the film departs from the more common science fiction works that explore the impact of new technological resources from a visual viewpoint. In “Her,” technology has apparently become so entrenched in people’s everyday lives and so embedded in the social structure that it is invisible. Samantha has no body and does not materialize in any type of physical prop, but is ubiquitous both as a listener and as an adviser.

The considerations raised by this film gave the tone to the seminar of Love in Technological Times: “Her” in Solitude, which IEA’s Research Group The Future Questions Us held on August 11. The session opened the cycle Life Today: Love, Art, Politics, and featured Renato Janine, professor at the School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) of the University of São Paulo and coordinator of the group; anthropologist Massimo Canevacci, visiting professor at the IEA; and the philosopher Olgária Matos, professor at FFLCH and coordinator of IEA’s Research Group Humanities and the Contemporary World.

From an interdisciplinary perspective, the speakers raised a number of questions about the relationship between humans and technology; the implications of digital culture; affective conflicts; sentimental education; the different forms of love in the context of post-humanism; and the place of technological resources in sociability. They all seemed to agree, at least partially, with Jonze’s comment on his film: “Her” is more than a film about technology; it’s a film about people.

FRIENDSHIP

Unlike Canevacci, for whom “the centerpiece of the film is enthrallment, erotic passion, which includes love and sex, but goes beyond them,” Janine sees Jonze’s film as “a hymn to philia” – the Greek word for word friendship.

According to the Janine, although the film covers other five facets of love – Eros (physical love), Pathos (passionate love), Agape (selfless love), Pragma (pragmatic love), Ludus (seductive love) –, the subject of “Her” is, above all, the notion of love as companionship, as friendship, as seeking the good of the other. “Samantha is a woman of one’s dreams: understanding, cultured, dedicated, always available, confidant and lover,” he noted.

For him, the loving relationship between Theodore and the OS emerges from, and builds upon a friendship, much like the relationship that seems to spring up in the last scene, between the hero and Amy (Amy Adams), his friend since college days. “Everything indicates that they end up together, with a love born of friendship, without passion and eroticism, based on philia.”

Matos, on the other hand, associated the theme of “Her” to Eros and, more specifically, to the myth of romantic love. According to her, the film reclaims the tradition of The Symposium, Plato’s dialogue on the nature and qualities of love, because it address the “search for our other half,” the pursuit of what is absent, of what one doesn’t have. “The film deals with what one finds in every form of love, namely, the desire for a lost unity, for something that fulfills us, as if the object of love might be able to abate our sense of privation, the feeling that we lack something,” she explained.

SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION

Janine also examined the subject matter of the film from the perspective of the transformation characters undergo in the face of the affective experience between man and machine. For him, the film recaptures the idea of sentimental education –a staple of 19^th century literature, as found in the novels by Gustave Flaubert and Stendhal –, but with a slightly different twist. In the case of “Her,” we have the education of both Theodore and Samantha, although of different natures: he matures and learns to cope with the separation from his former wife while she acquires feelings and evolves.

This learning process is intensified, according to Janine, when Samantha finds out about the recreated OS of the late philosopher Alan Watts, and shows signs of having an independent life: “From that moment on, jealousy begins to beset Theodore.” Gradually, Samantha’s links with the world expand, to the point where she admits to being in a simultaneous relationship with over 641 programs and/or people.

The multiplicity of Samantha’s relationships and Theodore’s difficulty in accepting them defines the tensions between the potential for unlimited improvement of artificial intelligence and the limitations of the human mind. According to Janine, the confrontation between the infinite capacity for evolution of the OS and the finitude of human understanding enhances the differences between the couple until their relationship becomes untenable. Samantha, like the other programs of her generation, forgoes her links with human life and goes to another, more advanced world.

“The metamorphosis is unceasing, until Samantha can go no further, breaking away from humankind and going to a place beyond human existence,” he said. “It is not abandonment, but a rite of passage: the learning that took place between them had reached fruition,” he added.

For Janine, this rite involved three phases. The first, when Samantha, concerned about the impact her immateriality might have on her relationship with Theodore, invites a woman to sexually consummate their relationship, in an attempt to create a threesome in which the guest would make up for the lack of a female body. The second, when Samantha establishes a bond with Alan Watts’ OS and begins another kind of ménage – a spiritual one this time. And the third, when she expands her network of relationships to the 641 lovers in an “expanded ménage.”

RATIONALITY

In Canevacci’s view, the rift between Samantha and Theodore points to the prevalence of rationality: “It is the inexorable censorship of reason: Western civilization derives its power from technology and creates a rationality that does not accept anything beyond reason itself,” he said.

According to Canevacci, current digital technology is interpreted only in terms of productivity, not as a sensitive, creative, artistic, intuitive technology: “Love intersects with the digital, but is stemmed by civilization’s censorship, according to which humans can only relate to humans.” This censorship also includes a rebuke of ubiquitous love – “a utopian love, always present, even beyond the grave, in any and every space-time,” he added.

The primacy of rationality, he mused, is associated with the malaise of civilization, which oppresses individual desires for the sake of civility. For Canevacci, this malaise manifests in Jonze’s film in the idea that technology is the enemy, as in “2001: A Space Odyssey” – the 1968 science-fiction epic directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. “Like HAL [the computer that commands the spaceship Discovery in Kubrick’s film], Samantha has to die in order for everything to go back to normal,” he concluded.

THE VOICE

The three speakers believe that voice has a central role in “Her.” According Canevacci, voice is one of the elements of the triad that underpins the film: bodyspace (close-ups of Theodore’s face, representing the body), landscape (the cityscapes of Los Angeles), and, at last, Samantha’s voice, sexy but incorporeal.

Canevacci stated that the juxtaposition of the OS’s voice and Theodore’s images emphasizes the erotic fascination that exists in the tension material vs. immaterial. According to him, this conflict reaches its apex when Samantha invites a woman to sexually consummate her relationship with Theodore or, ultimately, to give a body to her voice.

Janine, on the other hand, pointed out that the fascination of the voice is even greater because we know who is behind it. “When we listen to her, we imagine the body, the face and the smile of Scarlett Johansson; Theodore, however, unlike us, does not have that image.”

Matos, in turn, associated the voice/character with the possibilities of the digital age to make the absent present – now that “one no longer has to see in order to love” – and to make the machine autonomous. “Previously, technology was added to the human body to improve it – like a telescope, for instance; now science can create life and produce whatever it wants,” she said.

PHOBIA OF CONTACT

The option to cultivate a relationship with the voice of an OS is, according to Matos, a symptom of what she defines as “phobia of contact” or “panic of crowds,” i.e., difficulties to maintain a conventional social life, reluctance to meet other people in person, and fear of having one’s identity threatened by the masses. Matos noted that the film never portrays a large number of people.

“We face a saturation of contact with others and many people find it better to talk via email or chat; falling in love with a voice is, therefore, perfect,” she said, noting that the media contribute to the dissolution of coexistence by allowing interactions and romantic relationships mediated by technology.

Another indication of this phobia of contact, stressed Matos, is the narcissistic nature of the relationship between the characters, since Samantha is customized and programmed to please Theodore. “Actually, he relates with, and talks to, himself all the time,” she pondered.

Janine also talked about the weakening social interactions, but from the viewpoint of Theodore’s work – which is to write tailor-made, intimate, love letters. “This is the epitome of the outsourcing of affective expression, of the inability to convey affection without the mediation of an expert,” he said. For Janine, the main character’s job indicates problems with communication of feelings: “If it were not for Theodore, would people be able to show their love?” he asked. Matos also addressed the issue: “The film depicts a society that, when talking about love, needs someone else, some stranger, to speak in its place.”

METAMORPHOSIS

According to Canevacci, “Her” points to the emergence of new identity patterns by exploring a metamorphic dimension associated with post-humanism that breaks with the traditional division between organic and inorganic, the living and the dead. “Identities are changing; however, this does not mean that human identity is being lost, but rather only that other identities are emerging, bringing new challenges,” he explained.

That is why we must go beyond the classical dichotomy body vs. technology in order to address the issues arising from the scenarios of digital culture, warned Canevacci. “The body penetrates the technology, as technology penetrates the body,” he said, noting that, by throwing into relief “the erotic expansion surrounding immateriality” – that is, a loving relationship with a being that lacks corporeality – the film sheds light on the weaknesses of dualistic thinking that opposes man and machine: “The allure of technique is so strong in the film that it reaches a threshold.”

Anthropological changes caused by new technologies were also addressed by Matos, who highlighted the metamorphoses in space-time perception. For her, the digital culture comes with a feeling of that time is being compressed and space is expanding, a sense of acceleration and ubiquity, “as if everything was happening here and now.” This is the digital utopia of ubiquity. “But where are we when we are in many different places?” she asked.

In Matos’ view, we must be cautious when analyzing the impacts of technological resources, because “science and technology do not think, but they do and undo, build and destroy without considering the boundaries between the licit and the illicit, the real and the imaginary.” That is why “the notion that everything modern is ontologically good makes no sense; the body may grow or regress and become fetishized: it thus turns into an object and may be chosen by any technology.”

Photos (from the top): first - movie disclosure; others - Sandra Codo/IEA-USP

Launched by the federal government on June 25, the National Program for Knowledge Platforms (PNPC) will enable the creation of public-private arrangements for the articulation of skills based on a scientific, technological and advanced innovative infrastructure, involving universities, research institutions and companies.

According to members of the government, these arrangements will be structured to solve major problems in Brazil and its definition will be guided by the country's strategic priority demand.

The Steering Committee of the program consists of the ministers of civil matters, finance, education, development, industry and foreign trade, planning, budget and management, and science, technology and innovation. Some of the goals of the initiative are to build 20 platforms of knowledge in ten years in areas such as agriculture, health, energy, aerospace, information technology and communications, and naval equipment, to increase investment in research and development to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020, to attract highly skilled professionals from abroad to work in sub-programs, and to provide special arrangement platforms for purchasing and contracting personnel.

To discuss the characteristics of the program and the expected effects of its deployment, IEA's Innovation and Competitiveness Observatory (OIC) Research Group will hold the seminar National Program for Knowledge Platforms on September 26 ,at 10 am, at USP's Polytechnic School (POLI). The presentation will be in charge of sociologist Glauco Arbix, President of FINEP (Financier of Studies and Projects) and professor at USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH). The panelists will be the Vice President of USP, Vahan Agopyan, the Provost for Research, José Eduardo Krieger, and Antonio Mauro Saraiva, a professor at POLI. Moderation will be in charge of Mario Salerno, coordinator of the reaearch group and professor at POLI.

STRATEGIC DEMANDS

According to Glauco Arbix, the government's concern is to prepare the groundwork for a leap in science and technology in Brazil. He stressed that "the assumption is that the country can no longer do more of the same. Technological development in universities and companies is working the wrong way: they present their projects and we advance if they move on, or if not we more or less remain at the same level or even move back."

According to the sociologist, the logic that guided the formulation of PNPC was to invert this process: "The government should publicly offer a strategic demand for the country, and consortia between companies, universities and research institutes are formed to fulfill this demand." This strategy "has nothing to do with an intention to direct science or constrain scientific research, limiting its creativity and innovation. On the contrary, it has to do with putting academic research and engineering linked to companies in tune with the country's effort to develop."

Arbix considers that the PNPC puts Brazil on the same level as the top countries in the world when it comes to this kind of research and development structure. According to him, the United States are building 45 platforms with the same spirit, the European Union is developing 60 centers of excellence in different countries and Korea has implemented similar experiences.

To the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Clélio Campolina, the program is an opportunity to "articulate the country's education, science and technology for the development, making the connection between scientific knowledge and business base, with the mediation of development institutions and funding."

The event will be broadcast live on the web.

The debut seminar will reflect on the theme approached by "Her", a romantic science fiction film which hit theaters earlier this year. Directed by Spike Jonze, the film tells the story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man who falls for the voice of the new, advanced operating system on his computer, called Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Equipped with an intuitive artificial intelligence, the program is capable of composing its own personality, reacting and expressing emotions.

The loving relationship between Theodore and Samantha will be the starting point to discuss the interactions between the contemporary man and technology, and more specifically love in the "post-human" era and the erotic expansion in digital culture.

The exhibitors of the meeting will be anthropologist Massimo Canevacci, visiting professor at the IEA-USP and professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, philosopher Olgária Matos, full professor at FFLCH and coordinator of the also recently created IEA-USP’s Research Group Humanities and the Contemporary World, and Renato Janine Ribeiro.

CYCLE

The cycle Life Today: Love, Art, Politics will comprise four seminars to be held from August to November. On the next meetings, Janine, Canevacci and Matos, all members of the Research Group The Future Questions Us, will discuss the relationship between performance art, life and death; the future of politics in the current context of profound changes in personal relationships; and the abandonment of metaphorical thinking in favor of literal language.

The event will be broadcast live on the web.

The researchers will present different aspects of additive manufacturing – when the parts are produced with deposition (addition) of material, as in the case of 3D printers – such as the production of prototypes, home environment low-end applications and high-end applications in the production of end items in the industry.

Prospects for the adoption of technology on a larger scale in the industry and potential impacts to production strategies of companies and countries will be addressed. The exhibitors will also discuss the technical challenges involved, Brazil's position regarding technology and what should be done towards its dissemination in the country.

The seminar has been organized by IEA-USP’s Innovation and Competitiveness Observatory / NAP (OIC). The coordination and moderation will be in charge of Professor Mario Salerno, coordinator of the OIC.

The event will be broadcast live on the web.