Member-only story

LEIPZIG SHUTDOWN

Goethe didn’t predict the shutdown. He supplied the characters.

ArtXploder

2 min read20 hours ago

Leipzig University, one of Germany’s oldest universities, with over 30,000 students, was dreaming of KIRZL , an artificial intelligence computing centre. I was dreaming of adding an E. Ethical AI [KI in German]. Then reality struck. In German, we say it has “zugeschlagen.” It sounds like a door slamming shut. This time, it was the network.

After a cyberattack, the university took its IT services offline. In our lecture, we found a workaround: a private phone. The future of computing was briefly dependent on somebody’s mobile data allowance.

Goethe would have enjoyed this. Or charged us for the rights. Faust negotiates the contract. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice calls technical support. Gretchen asks the awkward question: “So, how do you feel about responsibility?” Three roles for the digital age.…