MCTS Seminar Days 2018

Last week, master’s students and members of the MCTS came together at the Benedictine monastery “Kloster Plankstetten” to discuss and reflect on the topic Techno-scientific Visions of the Future.

This three-day extracurricular event is held once a year and is always organised by students for students. This year, Prof. em. Dr. Klaus Mainzer (TUM), Dr. Sabine Thürmel (TUM), Dr. Christoph Schneider (TUM) and Philipp Frey (ITAS) were invited to give talks on issues such as artificial intelligence, smart cities and automation which sparked off many lively discussions on technologized societies and how we can shape the future. The author Thomas von Steinaecker was invited to read excerpts from his science fiction novel “Die Verteidigung des Paradieses”, giving food for thought on the role narratives play in technoscience.

In addition to the talks and discussions, participants had the opportunity to enjoy the monastery’s organic cuisine and surrounding landscape, and take part in fun teambuilding activities including a scavenger hunt. Furthermore, they collectively worked on various ideas for future student projects and were able to establish deeper ties between the different degree programs.