Colloqium #38
Description
In co-operation with the discussion circle “Peace and security politics”, run by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Berlin, we are pleased to invite you to discuss propaganda with us.
On the 17th of July25, this talk was given in the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung, in the discussion circle “Peace and security politics”. Now we will take our time to think about it and discuss.
This is both an English recap of the RLS session, with a slightly different spotlight and an extension on the Gotham software, by Palantir, as well as its possible implementation by the German police forces.
The talk is about cognitive warfare and it´s crooked dialectics.
On the bases of Jonas Tögels characterisations of NATO´s program on cognitive warfare and Jessica Aro´s descriptions on systematic desinformation strategies in Russia, this talk touches on
- historical facts on the deveolpment of early public relation techniques, developed from war propaganda
- some current developments of wide ranged, massively politically funded, influencing methods and endeavours in both Russia and America: the fight for the souvereignity of narrations
- insights into the severity of individual losses due to internationally effective desinformation campaings
- the importance of data collection to make nudging possible- how nudging works and who developed it
- the all encompassing data collection and crossreferencing culture established in the past, and its continuous expansion into the smallest of matters, aiming at the identity concepts of every sinlge person in this world
- the specific case of introducing Gotham, by Palantir (for the longest part dependent on USA government contacts), into German security infrastructures, like the police
We are looking forward to a thorough discussion, fuelled by further thoughts, founded opinions and background knowledge from the auditorium.
Possible discussion questions:
Do nouances necessarily undo the borders between peace and war?
Are there any categorically valid distinction left between peace and war, if every piece of information we get is intentionally strongly coloured?
Is surveillance helpful for security, considering centralised instances and the use of information in criminal proceedings, which were given for different reasons (e.g. to rent a car or a flat).
When should data cross referencing be allowed?
How do (what is called) “artificial intelligence” systems and cross referencing of datasets from different data banks differ, regarding their use in cognitive warfare?
Speakers
Auris–E. Lipinski: Auris-E. Lipinski is a studied philosophy teacher with experience in the tech industry, providing one-on-one lessons and tech-communication for companies and entrepeneurs, as well as language trainings and simultaneous translations. While studying Philosophy & English at Humboldt University, Berlin, she became a scientific assistant at VIOM GmbH. She founded PhenCoCo in the aftermath of university seminars like “Konstruktion und Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung”, Phänomenologie und Kognition" (M. Thiering) and “Computation und Geist” (J. Bach). She has been involved in different research and development projects, guiding her academic interests towards way finding and cognitive preconditions for navigation, both computational and phenomenological. This includes working on spacial concepts found in philosophy, psychology and robotics, subsuming Gestalt theory, embodiment theories, language/ concept importance, association and intuition. Her personal interests lie in current issues in philosophy, technology and science, specifically navigation, optimisation, and telematics. The last years have added attention to so called ‘AI’ versions and their impact on society, as well as propaganda methods and discrimination topics.
Moderation
Rosalie Rothe: Rosalie Rothe is a physicist and project leader with experience in IT security and the governance of critical infrastructures. After studying Physics and Energy Science at the Technical University of Dortmund and the University of Duisburg‑Essen, she worked in material research at Siemens Energy before moving into international IT management and cybersecurity consulting. She has led transition and rollout projects in regulated industries such as insurance, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and public transport, focusing on compliance, system reliability, and organizational resilience.
Her interests connect technical infrastructures with the phenomenological and cognitive aspects of safety and orientation in complex socio‑technical systems. At PhenCoCo, she contributes insights from digital transformation, standardization, and the societal reflections of emerging technologies.