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John Symons to Present Annual Beck Lecture

Dr. John Symons, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas and director of The Center For Cyber Social Dynamics, will deliver the Beck Lecture at Southwestern College on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m. in Richardson Performing Arts Center. The public is invited to attend and there is no admission charge.  

The title of his lecture is “Reading, Writing, & Thinking in the Age of Large Language Models.”

Dr. John SymonsSymons is a professor of philosophy at KU and a member of The Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities. His current work is centered in philosophy of technology with ties to formal epistemology, philosophy of psychology, and metaphysics of emergence. As director of the Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics, Dr. Symons engages in the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the relationship between internet and data-driven technologies and society, politics, and culture in order to help our communities to mindfully and ethically shape technologies to promote human flourishing.

Jacob Goodson, associate professor of philosophy at Southwestern College, is looking forward to this lecture.

“A very popular and well-respected professor at KU, John Symons is one of the leading thinkers on the philosophy of technology and questions relating to artificial intelligence,” Goodson says.  “In his lecture at SC, he plans to talk about how artificial intelligence impacts our thinking and writing — both in positive and negative ways. It feels like such an honor to host him here in Winfield and on campus.”

The Beck lectureship, funded by Paul V. Beck to explore topics relating to science and religion, is an annual event on campus and brings in theologians, scientists, and philosophers from across the nation. 

For more information about the Beck Lecture, email Goodson at Jacob.Goodson@sckans.edu.

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