Coffee bar — Meet-and-greet

Manhattan Center Lounge

Dispatches from Dystopia: Literary Lessons on Surveillance, Consciousness, & Existence

• Angel Garcia, Vassar College, “Condemned to Consciousness: The Moral Irresponsibility of Irreducible Suffering in AI.”
• Emily Mandracchia, Stony Brook University “Upending the Archetype of the Innocent Pawn: What we can learn from Kazuo Ishiguro’s vision of technocracy”
• Isabel Jolton, Montclair State University, “Code Red: We are in an Educational Crisis.”

Gen(d)erative AI: The Challenges of Reading Gender in the Age of LLMs

• Elizabeth Gonzalez Portieles, Adelphi University, “Human vs Machine: Comparing an AI-Generated Literary Interpretation With a Human-Written Analysis.”
• Elizabeth Manzon, Adelphi University, “Behind the Speculum: Slavery, Power, and the Birth of Modern Gynecology”
• Wesley Bias-Saunders, Bard College, “Provisional Notes on Feminism.”

Creativity & Moral Outrage: Productive Disagreement on AI’s Impact on Art

Moderator: Victoria Muñoz

• Arpan Josan, Adelphi University, “How the Creative Writing Process is Being Threatened by the Increased Usage of ChatGPT.”
• Anthony LaFalce, Adelphi University, “AI: Artificial Incompetence.”
• Rylan Yichun, Vassar College, “Demystifying Creativity in the Age of Mimetic Machines: Against Sentimental Humanism.”
• Tori Globus, Hofstra University, “Art Without Fear: Why We Cannot Exclude AI From Creative Spaces.”

Bodies, Surveillance, & Psychoanalysis in a Cyborg Age

• Elizabeth de Furia, Hunter College, “Desire Into Distress: Psychiatric Social Technologies and the Foiling of the Future.”
• Jennie Fan, University of Pennsylvania, “Racialization, Rejection, and Internet Realities: Incel Ideology and Literary Form.”
• Evan Li, Brown University, “Go(o)ner: The Gooner as Cyborg and Masochist in a Technosexual Age.”
• Jacob Le, Boston University, “Sexual Surveillance, Censorship, and Complications in Regulating AI.”

Sailing the High Seas of Algorithms: Predictive Analytics, Branding, & the Creative Resistance of Human Subjects

• Samina Radia, Adelphi University, “Man is Born Free, and Everywhere He is in Digital Chains: A Rousseauian Critique of AI.”
• Mackenzie Rutkowski, Adelphi University, “Making Death Humane: Technology of Execution through Race and Justice”
• Walker Harris, Fordham College, “Rebel Technologies: Indigenous Canoe-Making Against Empire.”
• Karoline Ruhdorfer, Morgan State University, “Lost and Found in Translation: Human Nuance vs. Algorithmic Processing in Māori-to-English-to-German Translation.”

Manhattan Center Lounge

Captured Pasts, Fractured Futures: Shifting Technologies & Their Social Consequences

• Leia Immanuel, Swarthmore College, “Maria Sibylla Merian’s Narratives of Nature: Visualizing Domestic and Foreign Insects in Early Modern Print.”
• Lola Page, The New School, “The Knights of New York: John Woodman Higgins and the Chivalric Imagination of the American Machine Age.”
• Hannah Nisimov, Adelphi University, “Two Agendas: Decoding Media in the Mexican Revolution.”
• Sekna Bazzi, Barnard College, “Unequal Landscapes: Environmental Hazards and Puerto Rican Immigrants in 1910 New York City.”

Upset Relations: Transforming Understandings of Parenthood, Consciousness, and Narrative

• Ritka Singh, Hofstra University, “Who is Thinking Today?”
• Benjamin Warner, Ursinus College, “Old Artificer, Stand Me Now: Irish Artistry, Artifice, and National Identity In the Technological Age.”
• Kayla Schaaff, Adelphi University, “What the Lilies Hide: Feminist Readings in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
• Christopher Halstead, Montclair State University, “Artificial Life Before Intelligence: Eurocentric Humanism in Pre-20th Century Narratives, and Lessons in the Ethics of Creation.”

Manhattan Center Lounge

Pavé – a little Brazilian café with a sunroof, great pour overs, and sweet snacks. (Two blocks away, on 46th St).

Church of Sweden – literally a church, but with food. The place was built in 1921 and housed the Bible Society that created the NIV (New International Version) of the Bible. In 1978, the international Church of Sweden bought the place, and today it has a café on the ground floor that sells the best crepes (“Swedish pancakes”) and cardamom buns in town. (four blocks north, 48th st).

Ground Central – this place is a chain, but it has a cool book selection and they pull a good espresso. There is also a nice plaza outside, giving you a view of some eye-catching pop art. (one block away, on 45th St).

Sozai – best Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood. Amazing Tonkatsu Ramen & solid lunch specials. (one block away, on 45th St).

MáLà Project – Chinese restaurant with incredible dry pot. Make your own. Consider adding lotus root and cilantro. Add the Shanghai-style rice cakes (Nian Gao) or the glass noodles to fill up! (two blocks away, 46th St).

Jumieka Grand – hungry for curry goat or oxtail? Or just want a cool upstairs casual lounge for a drink? Take a 12 minute walk SE and check out the best Jamaican joint in Manhattan. (6 blocks away, Lexington Ave just south of 40th St).

New York Public Library, Stephen Schwarzman Building – this is the famous one with the lions out front. Take a selfie, then head inside, push straight back and climb the stairs. Bring a book to show the guard and tell them you are “here to study” – that is the secret passcode that allows you to go into the grand reading room (even if you really just want to take a picture and bask in the glory).

NYPL, Niarchos Library – across the street (diagonally) from the Schwarzman building is the Niarchos, which is some seven stories tall and has plenty of study space. Go with a friend and complete a puzzle with the first floor, or take the elevator to the penthouse and grab a coffee from their shop while you enjoy the view.