Image courtesy of the University of Trento – credits: artwork created using artificial intelligence (OpenAI DALL·E)

The second edition of the Human and Things conference emerges from an urgent need to rethink the paradigms through which we understand the world, in light of the ecological crisis and rapid technological transformation. Bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives, the conference questions the anthropocentric and deterministic assumptions of modernity, challenging the idea of a fully knowable and controllable reality.

As artificial intelligence, algorithmic systems, and digital infrastructures increasingly shape how we perceive, act, and decide, the boundary between human and things becomes more fluid. In this shifting landscape, the traditional divide subject/object begins to fade, opening space for a more nuanced and interconnected way of thinking about our shared world. Drawing on insights from quantum physics, law, and the humanities, the conference explores a different understanding of reality, where knowledge, control, and agency appear less stable and more open-ended.

The event is organized by FBK-SD, FBK-ISR and Faculty of Law (unitn).

PROGRAM

27 Maggio 2026 | 14.30 – 19.00
Fondazione Bruno Kessler | Aula Grande FBK
Via Santa Croce 77 | Trento

Welcome address

I Session | Reframing Modernity through Quantum, Legal and Anthropological Lenses  

Introduced and moderated by Davide Gianti – Faculty of Law UNITO

Massimo Leone – Center for Religious Studies FBK – Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, UNITO
(Key Note) The Rebellion of Things in the Digital and Quantum Age

Federico Laudisa – Department of Humanities and Philosophy UNITN
The Conceptual Challenges of Quantum Mechanics: Potentialities and Limits

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

Elena Ioriatti – Faculty of Law UNITN
Modern Physics and Comparative Law: Methodological Convergences in a Global Perspective

Coffee Break

Stefano Borgo – Laboratory of Applied Ontology CNR
Processes and Interactions with Limited Ontological Commitments

Andrea Pradi – Faculty of Law UNITN
Beyond Dominion: Rethinking Property in an Entangled World

Luca Pes – Faculty of Law UNITN
Human, Things, and African Law: Alternative Forms of Ownership

Gianmatteo Sabatino – Faculty of Law UNITN
Law, Governance, and Property in Contemporary China

Q&A

28 Maggio 2026 | 09.30 – 13.00
Facoltà di Giurisprudenza | Sala Conferenze “Fulvio Zuelli”
Via Verdi 53 | Trento

II Session | Virtual Identity, Data, and Agency in the Digital Age

Introduced and moderated by Andrea Pradi – Faculty of Law Unitn

Ugo Mattei – Faculty of Law UNITO
(Key Note) The Metaverse and the End of Law?

Sara Hejazi – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
From Love to Entanglement: AI and the Reconfiguration of Human–Thing Relations

Ugo Malvagna – Faculty of Law UNITN
From Subject to Asset: Blockchain and the Reversal of Property Relations

Coffee Break

Emanuele Ariano – Faculty of Law UNITO
Code Rewriting: Legal Discourse in the Age of Technocracy

Giorgia Bincoletto – Faculty of Law UNITN
The Human Being and Identity: When the Self Becomes Data

Q&A

28 Maggio 2026 | 14:00-16:00
Facoltà di Giurisprudenza | Sala Conferenze “Fulvio Zuelli”
Via Verdi 53 | Trento

III Session | Conclusional Section

Introduced and moderated by Sara Hejazi – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK)

Federica Mantegazzini – Center for Sensors and Devices FBK
The Boundary of Knowledge: A Classical Observer in the Quantum Realm

Andrea Rossato – Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science UNITN
Artificial Domains Reloaded: AI, Algorithms, Determinism and Unpredictability

Pier Giuseppe Monateri – Faculty of Law UNITO
(Concluding Reflections) Human, Things and the Limits of the Law

Q&A

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

Attendance is possible both in person and online.
For online attendance please fill in the form on the event webpage on www.giurisprudenza.unitn.it.

This event is co-funded by University of Trento (Dipartimento di Eccellenza fund and the Faculty project Piano Strategico della Facoltà Obiettivo Strategico 5 – Scientific Coordinator Elena Ioriatti) and by Fondazione Bruno Kessler.