The conference explores the intricate relationship between human and things, from different perspectives, examining the mutual influences they have had over time. Rooted on Cartesian thought, modernity’s view separated humans from the material world, treating it as a determinable “cosmic machine”. This perspective has permeated all areas of knowledge and endorsed human dominance over external things. However, the ecological crisis and the rapid tech advancements challenge this mindset.

The forefront of scientific thought, driven by the quantum turn in physics, offers a new paradigm of the world as a network where humans and things mutually influence each other. Through a dialogue among scholars from diverse fields the conference promotes an holistic consideration of this relationship, urging a shift from dominance to symbiotic coexistence.

Programme

27 September 2024 – 14:30-19:00
Fondazione Bruno Kessler FBK, Via Santa Croce 77 – Sala Grande

Welcome address

Paolo Carta – Dean of the Faculty of Law UNITN
Paolo Traverso – Director  of Strategic Planning FBK

I Session: Reality

Ugo Mattei – Faculty of Law UNITO
(Key Note) The Ecological Paradigm Shift in Law

Sara Hejazi – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
Human and Things: The End of a Love Story? An Anthropological Perspective

Andrea Pradi – Faculty of Law UNITN
Human, Things and the Law

Richard Hall-Wilton – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
Objects & Things?

Elena Ioriatti – Faculty of Law UNITN
Modern Physics and Comparative Law: Approximating through Abstract World Map

Coffee Break

Caroline Johnson – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
The Anthropocene: Evidence we are Human Doings not Human Beings. How a co-productionist Model can explain the Evolution of Humans and Science

Luca Pes – Faculty of Law UNITN
A Different Way to look at the Relationship between Human and Things: Land and Water Rights in the Inner Delta of the Niger River

Federica Mantegazzini – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
Manipulating Nature at a Quantum Level: the Superconducting Qubit

28 September 2024 – 9:00-13:30
Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, Via Verdi 53 – Sala Conferenze “Fulvio Zuelli”

II Session – Virtuality

Massimo Leone – Center for Religious Studies FBK
(Key Note) On Usurpation: The Rebellion of Objects in the Digital and Quantum Age

Ugo Malvagna – Faculty of Law UNITN
Property Rights and the Blockchain: Digital Assets as “Ownership”?

Andrea Rossato – Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science UNITN
Virtual Domains: Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and Computational Power. Between Ideology, Rhetoric and Paradoxes

Giorgia Bincoletto – Faculty of Law UNITN
The Human Being and Personal Data. A Reflection between Personalistic Value and Proprietary Perspective

Coffee Break

Emanuele Ariano – Faculty of Law UNITO
Property Logic, Law and AI in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism: Allies or Foes?

Vincenzo D’Andrea – Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science UNITN
Participatory Design and Artificial Intelligence

Fulvio Cortese – Faculty of Law UNITN
Redefine the Landscape and its Normative Value

Stefano Borgo – Laboratory of Applied Ontology CNR and Camilla Perrone – Department of Architecture UNIFI
Applied Ontology and the Notion of Interaction in the Agent/Thing Dichotomy

Conclusion:
Pier Giuseppe Monateri – Faculty of Law UNITO

Scientific Committee: Richard Hall-Wilton (FBK), Sara Hejazi (FBK, UNITO, UNITN), Elena Ioriatti (UNITN), Massimo Leone (FBK, UNITO), Ugo Malvagna (UNITN), Andrea Pradi (UNITN)

Attendance is possible both in person and online. For online attendance please send an e-mail to

This event is co-funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU, within the framework of the PRIN 2022 PNRR call, project “Human well-being in times of tech management of emergency (P20225FPNT) – CUP E53D23021160001 – Scientific Coordinator Ugo Malvagna; by the Faculty project “Diritto comparato quale strumento di indivisìduazione del diritto oggettivo in contesti complessi” n. 40650002, Scientific Coordinator Elena Ioriatti; and by Fondazione Bruno Kessler.

Flyer and program

Event published on UniTn website