The Princeton Neuroscience Institute, along with the Department of Psychology and Princeton University Library (PUL) are collaborating to present the conference “Neuroethics & the Future of Reality”(NFR) on June 15, 2023.

The conference is organized by Computational Memory Lab graduate student Rolando Masís-Obando, Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow Javier Masís-Obando, and Senior Lecturer Justin Jungé. 

“The lead organizer for the event, Rolando Masís-Obando, reached out to gauge interest across different departments and institutions within Princeton to learn more about campus resources and discussions around extended reality,” said Jen Grayburn, Assistant Director of Digital and Open Scholarship. “PUL came to mind immediately,” said Rolando, alluding to PUL and the Center for Information Technology Policy’s “Privacy and Autonomy in the Metaverse” panel in Fall 2022.  

“He introduced his idea to intentionally intersect industry and academia by inviting industry and academic leaders in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, neuroscience, neuroethics, and law to campus for a first-of-its-kind event.” 

The conference will feature eight speakers representing both academia and industry who will discuss the historical, sociological, neuroscientific, and legal issues within the evolving Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR), and ethics landscape. Slated to run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on June 15, the conference will also feature workshops and opportunities for attendees to network with thinkers from a variety of disciplines. 

“People talk about the consequences of technology all the time,” said Masís-Obando. “We discuss in fear and excitement about ‘Black Mirror’ episodes, we chat about Elon Musk’s startup on brain-computer interfaces, Neuralink, and we jest about how scary or amazing the future could be, but the conversations stop there.”

“That’s why we wanted to create this conference. To bridge a gap between academia and industry, but importantly, to provide the fertile ground under which ideas can cross-pollinate, conversations can go beyond the shallow surface of chats, and where purpose that sometimes feels foggy, can at least begin to resolve in some sort of blurry direction.”

Members of the Princeton University community, and the community at large, can register for the conference on the Future Realities website.

Related viewing: In early 2022, Masís-Obando produced the video “This is an Ethical Metaverse,” which covers some of the topics to be featured at the conference and is available to watch on YouTube.

The “Privacy in the Metaverse” panel discussion is available to watch on the PUL website.

PUL users also have access to VR services through both Stokes Library and the Makerspace.

Published on June 7, 2023 

Written by Brandon Johnson, Communications Strategist

Media Contact: Barbara Valenza, Director of Library Communications