Subject Areas

Digital spaces allow for new experiences, learning together, developing ideas, and opening up new horizons in life. And yet we must not ignore the dark sides of the digital world that can hardly be overlooked today. There is a rampant brutalization of language, which manifests itself in hatred, incitement, and calls for violence. In addition, there are enormous developments in the field of artificial intelligence, which in turn raise the question of how we can get a moral and legal grip on the digital world. How do we deal responsibly with our freedom in digital spaces and the use of artificial intelligence?

The internet is revolutionizing human life, most notably in the everyday life. One example is the extent to which we are offered ideologically driven attempts of explaining the world on social media. Conspiracy theories spread faster than before and reach more and more people. They might be entertaining for some. Yet they shape the world views of many people who are influenced by them on the political level or the way in which they view other people. Education today must therefore also mean providing knowledge and tools that allow us to identify conspiracy theories, understand their strategies, and to draw attention to their dangers in our social environment.

Many scientists are no longer afraid of the Internet. Some even use YouTube for their purposes, running their own chanel in the spirit of science communication. At the same time, other private providers exploit new scientific developments, sometimes sensationalistically. What consequences do these developments have for the public image of science? What opportunities and risks does the Internet hold for science communication? Particularly important for educational events is the question of what it means to deal critically with the new offerings.

There is a difference between being lonely and being alone. Not everyone who is lonely is alone. And not everyone who is alone is necessarily lonely. In this perspective, being alone is not a bad thing, whereas being lonely seems oppressive. Should we therefore not only cultivate being together, but also being alone? In the digital age, there is the danger that people lose themselves in initially exciting digital worlds, yet end up experiencing loneliness in the midst of lots of likes. How do we deal with the seductive power of media presence and self-presentation, then?

Being very German, the term Heimat stands for familiarity and cultural identity. It tells us that people find the reality of their lives in certain regions to which they feel connected. To critics, the need for Heimat is the emotional world of the provinces or even the basis for nationalist ideology. In the eyes of others, it is just the harmless desire to be at home somewhere – an attitude to life and cultural identity that allows people to be content and happy in one place. Still others believe that Heimat and cosmopolitanism are not mutually exclusive. So what is Heimat? Or do we not even need to talk about it given that it is only the word that seems problematic, not the subject matter?

People live on continents in countries, cities, and villages. But we also live in nature, although we may not agree on what this means. And what about culture? Does it make sense to talk about living in a culture? Or can we only live in countries, cities, villages or in nature? As is so often the case, language is of particular importance. We can defuse many of the politically charged debates about culture if we consider the various possible meanings of the term “culture” and understand that cultural identity can be of very different kinds and does not necessarily have to be accompanied by mechanisms of exclusion and judgment.

Hardly any other political topic is currently more under debate than migration. In its own way, migration is a symptom of globalization. People leave their countries of origin for a variety of reasons. Some seek a better life elsewhere, others flee to save their own lives. How do we deal with this challenge? Should moral attitudes guide our actions? Or should we respect limits? Whatever the answer to these questions, it is clear that we as citizens are all called upon to deal with the issue openly and fairly in public. For politics is basically a reaction to how people act and think on those questions.

Despite all the challenges and problems, globalization is still a promise. It stands for development and is a reality of modern societies that are economically intertwined. In a globalized world, however, there are also individuals who are provided new, sometimes unimagined possibilities for identification and movement. In this sense, a globalized world is also a space of possibilities in which we are not solely dependent on what is available locally. And yet the question arises as to whether such freedom can be overwhelming, finally leading to a retreat into the familiar. What does it mean, then, to live in a globalized world?