The School featured two prominent lecturers: Dr. Pietro Perconti, author of The Future of the Artificial Mind, Professor of Philosophy and Theory of Languages at the University of Messina. and Dr. Eric Olson, a professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield, one of the most highly cited philosophers specializing in metaphysics and philosophy of mind.
The discussion revolved around the potential of artificial computational systems to possess characteristics humans consider essential features: consciousness, thinking, and personality.
In addition to the philosophical debates, the Summer School witnessed the presentation of the art project "GAIA", created by renowned artists Sharon Bloom and Yaroslav Kravtsov. GAIA combines modern AI technologies and digital art to explore the possibilities of consciousness transfer. School participants uploaded their digital avatars into the simulation and watched how they engaged in thought experiments discussed during the School's seminars.
World-known philosophers and thinkers gathered in Palermo to debate the possibility of uploading the human mind to a computer system.