Hybrid Agencies: Interacting with Biological and Artificial Systems

Nothing is static, all transforms. The past decades have seen a significant increase in the development and implementation of artificial agents such as robots, virtual reality characters and artificial intelligence.  But what is an ‘agent’? The terms “agency” and “agent” are used widely across disciplines, from philosophy to cellular biology, neuroscience, life sciences and Artificial Intelligence. Yet, no common ground exists on defining what exactly an ‘agent’ is. It is important however to align definitions across disciplines because many discussions simply transfer insights from one field to another, with completely different meanings involved. This question is even more urgent in the light of recent developments of hybrid systems combining natural cells and artificial systems.  
 
The NIAS-Lorentz Theme Group is the ideal vehicle to explore these questions that require an interdisciplinary lens with an expert international panel, and which have not been addressed within this scheme yet. Our expert and enthusiastic team steps in to address this gap. Ultimately, we will demonstrate that the further we advance our goal or making, understanding and interacting with artificial and hybrid agents, the more we will learn about the essence of biological agents such as humans.  

Dr Anna Ciaunica, the Lead Coordinator is a philosopher and cognitive scientist, currently Principal Investigator at the Centre for Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon. Dr Ciaunica currently leads as PI 3 interdisciplinary projects looking at self-consciousness, embodiment, and agency in humans and artificial agents. In her work she combines conceptual and experimental methods such as psychophysiological tools (skin conductance, heart rate, respiration) and neural measures (fNIRS, fMRI hyper-scanning) to examine the effect of interacting with humans versus artificial others on the human sense of self and agency. 

Prof Ruud Hortensius, the co-Lead Coordinator is a social neuroscientist investigating human social cognition during interactions with artificial agents, including long-term human- robot interaction, using behavioural and brain measures.

This Theme Group is part of the NIAS-Lorentz Program, which promotes cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that brings together perspectives from the Humanities and/or Social Sciences on the one hand and the Natural sciences and/or Technological Sciences on the other. Read more about NIAS-Lorentz theme groups.