Lecture series 'Humanity in the Automated State' launches with opening by Professor Christine Moser
The lecture series 'Humanity in the Automated State' held its inaugural session on 20 November 2025, at Leiden Law School, featuring Professor Christine Moser from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The lecture series 'Humanity in the Automated State' held its inaugural session on 20 November 2025, at Leiden Law School, featuring Professor Christine Moser from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Professor Moser is Professor of Sustainable Organizing at VU Amsterdam and chair of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), with extensive research on the role of technology in social interaction and organizational life.
In her opening lecture, 'Algorithms as the Holy Grail?', Professor Moser challenged polarized thinking about artificial intelligence, arguing that AI is neither humanity's saviour nor its downfall – it simply is, and we must learn to engage with it constructively. The session offered valuable insights on several fronts: first, that our fundamental assumptions about what technology actually is need questioning; second, that AI possesses performative qualities and agency that shape organizational values and morality; and third, that moving beyond simplified narratives of good versus evil opens space for practical, sustainable approaches to organizing with algorithmic systems.
The lecture series, organized by Dr Melanie Fink (Europa Institute) and Dr Daria Morozova (Department of Business Studies) and funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Leiden Law School's research focus area 'Technology, law, and justice', brings together leading scholars from law, management, public administration, and computer science throughout the 2025/2026 academic year to examine how algorithmic governance reshapes human relationships with public authority.
Upcoming sessions feature distinguished speakers including Dr Aya Rizk (Linköping University, 12 January), Professor Sofia Ranchordás (Tilburg University/Luiss Guido Carli, 29 January), Professor Madalina Busuioc (VU Amsterdam, 12 February), Dr Mengchen Dong (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 19 March), Professor Ida Koivisto (University of Helsinki, 9 April), and Professor Natali Helberger (University of Amsterdam, 26 May).
More information and the registration forms can be found here.
