Transatlantic Musings - Gegenüber

Special Edition
Kant Today

The philosopher Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg 300 years ago. Kant’s work is considered the pinnacle of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. What lessons can we learn from Kant? Where did Kant fall short? This is what our special edition on Kant is all about — and it is also about the philosopher himself: his companions, quirks, and surprising skills.

Illustrated Photo Detail of a crowd holding protest and strike signs during the 2024 WGA strikes in Hollywood

Writers Take on AI in Hollywood
Pen vs. Code

Charles Dewey

A robotic cowboy holding the scales of justice

Large Language Models and Democracy
A Way Forward or Artificial Insanity?

David Dao

AI in Mexico
Manuel Felguérez: AI Pioneer

Ricardo Roa

Pinar Yoldas : « Kitty AI : Artificial Intelligence for Governance (2016) »

AI Representations in Art
A Synthetic Voice, Between Authority and Truth

Virtual assistants, figures of governance, deities. The personification of artificial intelligence (AI) can take on any guise, including that of authority — with all that it entails in terms of deepfakes, fake news, and other related challenges.

Nathalie Bachand

Künstliche Intelligenz Mit Herz und Seele?

Artificial intelligence
With Heart and Soul?

Does artificial intelligence have the potential to develop a consciousness? What about religious concepts such as the soul? How human can machines actually become? Artificial intelligence expert Ralf Otte explores these questions.

Dr. Ralf Otte

Ethics
Social Machines and Human Values

In artificial intelligence, an alignment problem arises when a system’s behaviour doesn’t uphold the intended values of its designers, particularly when AI systems are used to solve sticky social problems.

Zeph Thibodeau

Two children on a hill looking down on a bombed city.

Philosophy
Truth as a Function

The question about truth is much more than mere sophistry — it has a fundamentally orientational function for humans. Leonhard Emmerling investigates a concept with multiple meanings.

Dr. Leonhard Emmerling

HAL 9000's Eye from "2000 - A Space Odyssey"

Deceitful Algorithms
Bad Machines

The fear of machines is nothing new. From early examples of murderous robots in popular culture to ChatGPT’s untruthfulness, Priscilla Jolly takes us on a journey through the dangerous world of deceitful machinery.

Priscilla Jolly

Democracy and AI
Artificial Discourses

Language is capable of enveloping the masses, and new technologies are creating persuasive masks. Are we ready to detect political manipulation?

Mariana González

Why do we still find Kafka so modern and current? — Issue 3

Being Kafka

Why does Franz Kafka’s spell remain unbroken a hundred years after his death? Why do we still perceive Kafka as so modern and contemporary? Because Kafka wrote such beautiful letters? Because we love drama queens? Because we feel that the world has never been more Kafkaesque than it is today? Join us as we step into Kafka’s world! Be Kafka!

A picture divided into two parts, on the left cloudy blue sky with green meadow and on the right a storm with dried ground, in the middle of the picture there is a green tree

The Club of Rome
The Prophets of Degrowth

The “Reports to the Club of Rome” are widely known. In light of the climate catastrophe, it has become clear how important the recommendations from this group of thinkers were — and still are. A tribute.

Michael Krell

Too Many, Enough, or Hardly Any
Women in Urban Art

In Mexico, more women are participating in urban art than ever before — but is it enough, too much, or still too little?

Enriqueta Arias

Statistics with the biggest cheating packages of the year

What’s in the box?!
The Impertinence of Shrinkflation

Surely it used to contain more? Same pack size, same price, less inside: misleading packaging is annoying. Why manufacturers resort to these unfair methods and what can be done to prevent it.

Niko Kappel

Stay Tuned

Gegenüber connects perspectives from across (German: gegenüber) the Atlantic, in Germany and North America, with contributions on societal issues, art, business, and science. Gegenüber dives into transatlantic topics, German-American quirks, and common denominators. We keep you in the loop in our dedicated newsletter.