‘To engage in politics, one must dream’
Bernard Stiegler
Dreaming possesses a transformative power and can take on a collective dimension. Yet, we do not dream in the same way across different eras or from different locations on Earth. Our dreams are also significantly conditioned by the level of technological advancement in societies and depend on the political organisation of technology.
This provides ample reason to treat dreams seriously and recognise their political nature—especially at a time when the global, capitalist-style commercialisation of computational technologies is driving profound psychosocial change, fuelled by visions of a technological future detached from reality, and when political life is reduced to the management of algorithmically modulated emotions. Can dreaming today—paradoxically—serve as a way to regain a sense of realism? And if so, how can we dream of the future in terms other than those of accumulation and expansion?
‘The Politics of Dreaming’ is an open philosophical seminar organised by the Centre for Critical Technology Studies as part of the MSCA Horizon Europe grant The Makers: Mobilizing Arts, Knowledge and Education to Reclaim Human Agency. Strategies for the Age of Machine Thinking (No. 101299616). Central to this project is the concept of ‘dreamability’—understood as the capacity to translate dreams into action by transforming existing mental and institutional structures.
During the seminar, we aim to test the hypothesis that dreamability is an under-recognised component of human agency—encompassing both the objective capacity to influence the world and control actions in alignment with one’s desires, as well as the subjective feeling that accompanies this process. The goal of the seminar, as with the project as a whole, is to develop a theoretical and practical alternative to the dominant paradigm in which education, professional development, and so-called ‘competencies of the future’—including creative and critical thinking—are treated primarily as new arenas for adapting individuals to market demands and the pressures associated with the implementation of artificial intelligence across institutions, including universities.
The seminar is open to the public. Those interested in attending are asked to contact us in advance (michal.krzykawski@us.edu.pl). All meetings will take place in the teaching room at the Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library (CINiBA).
Part I. Nightmares of Computerised Capitalism
Meeting 1 (Tuesday, 27 October 2026, 5.00 p.m.). Distorting Reality
Ill-being
Michał Krzykawski
Meeting 2 (Tuesday, 10 November 2026, 5.00 p.m.). Introduction to the Technopolitical Thought of Bernard Stiegler (I)
Memory as Technique
Maciej Wlazło
What Is a Temporal Object?
Piotr F. Piasek
Meeting 3 (Tuesday, 8 December 2026, 5.00 p.m.). Introduction to the Technopolitical Thought of Bernard Stiegler (II)
The Political Nature of Organogenesis: Stiegler’s Ontology of Political Life and Its Implications
Mikołaj Dalek
Daydreams, Dreams, Algorithms
Karolina Lebek
Meeting 4 (Tuesday, 19 January 2027, 5.00 p.m.). Technological Derealisations
The Presence of Large Language Models in the Noosphere. Specters of the Loss of Realism
Mikołaj Dalek
The Impact of AI System Anthropomorphisation on Moral Decision-Making, Trust, and the Shifting of Responsibility
Natan Jędrzejczyk
Meeting 5 (Tuesday, 23 February 2027, 5.00 p.m.). Digital Utopias, Authoritarian Projects
‘Exocapitalism’ as an Extension of the Myth of Digital Technologies
Agnieszka Zgud
What Is Technofascism?
Karolina Lebek
Part II. Dream-orientedness. Grounding the Concept
Meeting 6 (Tuesday, 9 March 2027, 5.00 p.m.). The Bonds of Dreams
What Does It Mean for a Dream to Be Noetic?
Karolina Lebek
In What Sense Do We Lack the Ability to Influence the World, and What Can Be Done About This Politically?
Joanna Glinkowska
Meeting 7 (Tuesday, 6 April 2027, 5.00 p.m.). Dream-orientedness in Working with Local Communities
Sharing the Dream. Friendship as a Tool of Feminist Politics
Monika Glosowitz
Is It Possible to Dream Within Public Policies?
Anna Cieplak
Meeting 8 (Tuesday, 11 May 2027, 5.00 p.m.). Dream-orientedness from Perspectives Other Than the European/Western one (I)
Can the Subaltern Dream? On Speculation and Machines
Ewa Macura
Dreaming the World. Knowing Through Dreaming among the Yanomami and Warlpiri
Michał Krzykawski
Meeting 9 (Tuesday, 8 June 2027, 5.00 p.m.). Utopian Thinking from Perspectives Other Than the European/Western one (II)
The Chinese Cybernetic Dream and Its Contemporary Realisations
Piotr F. Piasek
Meeting 10 (October 2027) Can There Be a Non-capitalist University? A Grassroots Conference Inaugurating the 2027/2028 Academic Year. TBA
More about The Makers project: themakers.us.edu.pl.
Funded by the EU. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
