The metaverse will be a digital time machine powered by predictive algorithms, and it will influence the decisions of a humanity that, to calm its own yearning for certainty, runs the risk of conditioning a future that is not yet written, warns Helga Nowotny. Born in Vienna, this renowned academic has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University in New York and is Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology Studies at ETH Zurich. The 85-year-old is also a co-founder of the European Research Council and a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, among other honours. Nowotny recently traveled to Barcelona to present the Spanish edition of her book 2021 In AI We Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms.

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