Wrocław Tech Debates: Does Technological Development Threaten Human Freedom?

The Wrocław University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with  Academia Europaea Wroclaw Hub, is proud to announce the inaugural session of Wrocław Tech Debates. This new series aims to foster high-level discourse on the societal implications of modern science.

Does technological development give people greater freedom, or does it, on the contrary, lead to increasing restrictions? Do artificial intelligence, digitalisation and the growing presence of technology in everyday life expand our possibilities, or do they make it easier to manage us, monitor our behaviour and influence our decisions?

These and other questions will be explored by Professor Włodzisław Duch (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland), a physicist, cognitive scientist, computer scientist and artificial intelligence researcher, and Professor Jan Zielonka, MAE (St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom), a legal scholar, political scientist and researcher in international relations. They will bring technological utopianism and technological pessimism into dialogue.

The discussion will begin by examining where the boundary lies between technological progress and human freedom, and whether the development of new technologies calls for new ways of protecting that freedom.

The debate, entitled “Does Technological Development Threaten Human Freedom? – Techno-utopia vs Techno- pessimism”, will be moderated by Bogusław Chrabota, journalist and columnist for the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, November 18, 2026

• Time: 16:00 CET

• Venue: Building H-14, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 40, Wrocław

• Language: Polish

• Admission: Participation is free of charge; however, prior registration is mandatory due to limited seating capacity: Registration

On-site participation is free of charge, but the prior registration is obligatory due to limited seating capacity:

Registration