Shaping the future – between climate change, technology and social responsibility

Lecture series of the Research Center Normative Orders as part of the exhibition “FIXING FUTURES: Planetary Futures between Speculation and Control” at the Museum Giersch of Goethe University

Global warming is one of the greatest challenges of our time and poses urgent questions for societies. Continuously rising emissions and concerns about catastrophic climatic tipping points are raising fears of being powerless in the face of climate change on the one hand and hopes of a fundamental paradigm shift in business, technology, society and politics on the other.

In recent years, this has given rise to an increasing need to make future developments more tangible and easier to plan. Not only are different climate scenarios and alternative futures being intensively researched, but ways of influencing them and steering them in a certain direction are increasingly being sought.

From May to July 2025, experts from various scientific disciplines will be discussing key issues and challenges in dealing with our planetary future in the series “Shaping the future – between climate change, technology and social responsibility”. The focus is on topics such as the fair distribution of resources, the role of artificial intelligence and algorithms as well as alternative futures.

The lecture series offers the opportunity to question the complex interactions between social processes and social norms that climate change and advancing technologization entail. The ethical, political, legal and social implications of climate change and technological progress and its role in shaping a sustainable future will be discussed.

The interdisciplinary lecture series takes place as part of the exhibition “FIXING FUTURES: Planetary Futures between Speculation and Control” and is a cooperation between the MGGU – Museum Giersch of Goethe University and the research center “Normative Orders”.
The opening lecture “Sustainability and Justice” on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 6 p.m., will be given by the political philosopher and director of the research center Normative Orders Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst at the Museum Giersch of Goethe University.