Since the start of the academic year 2022/23 Alex has been a visiting scholar to the philosophy department of New York University. He will be starting in the fall term 2023 to also teach democratic theory at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
After the Taiwanese government opened up the country for visitors again, Alex took the chance to travel to Taipei in order to promote the translation of his latest book “Alarmstufe Rot”. On his tour he will visit newsrooms, give lectures at Taiwanese universities, and meet up with public figures on the island, to discuss the thesis’ of his book. The photos below show Alex in conversation with Freddy Lim of the Progressive Party, and former prime minister Yi-huan Jiang of the conservative party.
Alex’ new book on China’s belligerent policies in the Western Pacific, especially against Taiwan, hit the shelves on May 3rd. In this timely book Alex examines the disastrous consequences of the ideology embraced by Xi Jinping for world peace. You can purchase the book (in German) here.
From January 2022 on Alex will be teaching an advanced seminar at IE University Madrid, titled “Visions For Democracy in the 21st Century”. From the description of the seminar: “This Advanced Seminar looks into the current fight for the future of democracy. Their opponents claim they were in favour of an “illiberal” form of democracy while despising what they label negatively as a “liberal democracy”. The seminar will look into this controversy, laying out the strategy of illiberal populists and the strength and achievements of liberal democracy. In doing so it will make a case for public sphere, secularism and empathy. It will debate citizenship as key component of liberal democracy and the international order.”
Alex published an introduction into democracy with the renowned German educational publisher Reclam. The day of publication the Federal Agency for Civic Education ordered 2.000 copies of the book, to be distributed in public libraries and schools. “Democracy” tells the history of democracy in layperson’s terms as a story of freedom. You can order the book (in German) here:
Starting January 1st 2021 Alex serves as a research associate at the Oxford University Internet Institute. At Oxford he will continue his work on AI and its implications on democratic societies.
Am 2. September kommt Alexander Görlachs neues Buch in den Handel: “Brennpunkt Hongkong — warum sich in China die Zukunft der freien Welt entscheidet” (Hoffmann & Campe). Darin zeichnet der Autor die Entwicklungen nach, die zum Ende von “Ein Land, zwei Systeme” geführt haben und beschreibt, was der Untergang Hongkongs für den Rest der freien Welt, besonders das demokratische Taiwan, bedeuten wird.
Hier geht’s zum Buch auf der Verlagsseite und hier bei Amazon.
Und hier ist ein Interview zum Systemkonflikt zwischen der Volksrepublik China und der freien Welt mit dem 3Sat-Magazin Kulturzeit, geführt am 21. August.
Alex will be delivering a lecture on the topic of his latest book “Homo Empathicus. On Scapegoats, Populists and How to Save Democracy” in Tokyo
Alexander was invited to become a member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Alex presented his new book in Berlin on May 22nd, together with Minister of State for Digital Innovation Dorothee Bär, CEO of German Broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg, and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the Head of the German Lutheran Church. The book was well received in German media and is now set to be published in English in September or October.
Alex will be the first “Freedom Fellow” ever of Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Germany. The project he will researching on and publishing about is entitled with “Ethics of Cosmopolitanism” (Ethik des Weltbürgers).
Alex got interviewed by “Religion and Diplomacy”, a journal by the Institute on Religion and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he is a senior research associate. Topics where AI and ethics and the role of religion in tomorrow’s world. Tune in here for the interview.
Alex is a honorary professor for ethics and theology at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, in the North of Germany, where he teaches theories of secularism. He was interviewed for the university’s website, thereby indicating that he would like to offer a course on critical thinking.
In times where the debate is all about algorithms, automatisation, and the future of work it becomes clearer by the day that humans will have a far larger capacity of assessing the world holistically, drawing a big picture than machines for much longer. Give the interview a read!
www.conditiohumana.io is the new magazine on “Technology, AI and Ethics”, Alex is the founding editor in chief of this new media outlet. In its mission statement he says he wishes the magazine to become
“…the leading voice that engages in the debate about the future of humankind in the light of digitization – who we want to be, how we want to live, and how technology will help us live up to these ideals and concepts.
Therefore, we are gathering voices from computer scientists, AI pundits, machine learning prodigies, and experts in the humanities, philosophy, history, and ethics alike. It can only be helpful to look into the change at hand from various backgrounds.”
Alex is the founder of the debate magazine The European that he also ran as its founding editor in chief from 2009-2015. He is therefore experienced in leading a media outlet aiming at fostering discourse and spark discussions on relevant, hot topics. His academic work at Harvard and Cambridge University let him to reflect on the narrative of work in the age of AI. He published this paper with the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications, in Mai 2018.
Please tune in and give it a read!
the design of the new magazine
Alex will be hosting the next salon on the implications of AI on society in late September in Berlin. Following his paper on the future of work that Alex published in April 2018 with the Vodafone Institute for Communications and Society, the Institute started a series of events around this topic. Here are impressions and soundbites from the first AI Salon.
Alex commented on the latest developments in the Vatican for German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. His op-ed piece is available in English, Spanish and German. He also was interviewed on that subject matter by Readmetro, a gratis newspaper that is distributed in many Latin-American countries and the United States of America (photo).
Alex has contributed an article to this book, based on his academic work in the field of politics and religion, secularism, pluralism and cosmopolitanism, at Harvard University. As many societies nowadays, also in Germany there are plenty of debates about the role religion may and may not play in liberal, plural societies. Writing with a particular angle on Islam in Europe, Alex could also make use of the experience he gathered during the research for his PhD in comparative religion where he focused on Christianity and Islam.
While being a visiting scholar to the University of the Basque Country in 2017, Alex held a lecture on this topic that later became this article. Being back to San Sebastian in July 2018, Alex is utterly delighted to receive the book with his essay.
