Dual IAS 'Failure' Seminar: Professor Antulio J. Echevarria II & Associate Professor Wyke Stommel

As part of the IAS Festival of Failure, IAS Visiting Fellows Professor Antulio J. Echevarria II & Associate Professor Wyke Stommel deliver seminars on their area of research - 

Professor Antulio J. Echevarria II - Conflict & strategic policy failure

This presentation draws from a monograph (under development) that contributes to debates concerning the West's failure to deter Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the implications for Integrated Deterrence. First, it describes the deterrence policy and supporting strategy the US and NATO implemented vis-à-vis Ukraine. If the West had no deterrence strategy in place, there's no point critiquing it. Second, it offers an alternative to the West's risk-averse approach to deterrence. This alternative uses a risk-consequence decision-calculus rather than a traditional cost-benefit one, since authoritarian regimes may not have cost ceilings that democracies can threaten given moral and material constraints. Finally, it offers some initial recommendations for NATO/EU militaries.

Associate Professor Wyke Stommel - (Resolving) failure in interaction with a robot

In this presentation, I will argue that failure is an endogenous phenomenon, something participants establish locally and collaboratively in social interaction. Failure in social interaction may consist of misunderstandings, disagreement or some other social problem, reaching the interactional level in retro-sequences (Schegloff, 2007) of ostensibly noticings, either overtly or indirectly (e.g., laughter, initiation of repair). I will examine fragments of interaction between a robot, a nurse and an elderly person, in which the participants notice some environmental prompt (talk or other perceptual feature) as problematic with respect to the progressivity of the interaction and/or socially. Finding a way out of the trouble sometimes includes questionable solutions. This type of analysis provides insights in how technologies may involve failure on the microlevel of their use.

Arrivals from 9:45 am for a 10:00 am start. For those joining in-person, lunch will be served after the seminar from 1:00pm.

This event is hybrid format, please use the required booking button at the bottom of the page to choose either in-person or online attendance.
(Please note that in-person spaces are limited and booking is required, so we can manage numbers for catering and also the space inside International House)

By booking a place at this event, attendees agree to behave in a respectful manner such that everyone feels comfortable contributing as they wish. The IAS reserves the right to eject anyone who does not abide by this policy.

IAS seminars are typically recorded, minus any Q&A sessions at the end, again to encourage contributions. The recordings are then uploaded to our website on a Fellows bio page and/or Programme page, along with our IAS YouTube Channel. If you are not able to attend a seminar live, please do still register as we will email everyone who registered to let them know once the recordings are made available.