Colloqium #38
27 September 2025
Description
In cooperation with the discussion circle “Peace and Security Politics” of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Berlin, we invite you to a discussion on propaganda.
The talk was originally given on 17 July 2025 within the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung’s discussion circle:
https://www.rosalux.de/stiftung/gespraechskreise/friedens-und-sicherheitspolitik
We now take time to reflect on and discuss its themes in greater depth.
The session includes an English recap of the RLS talk, with a shifted focus and an extended analysis of Palantir’s Gotham software and its potential implementation within German police infrastructures.
The talk addresses cognitive warfare and its dialectics, drawing on Jonas Tögel’s analysis of NATO’s cognitive warfare programs and Jessica Aro’s research on systematic disinformation strategies in Russia. Key topics include:
- the historical development of public relations from wartime propaganda
- contemporary, large-scale politically funded influence operations in Russia and the United States (“the battle for hearts and minds”)
- the concrete personal impacts of transnational disinformation campaigns
- the role of comprehensive data collection in enabling nudging
- the origins and mechanisms of nudging
A central focus is the expanding culture of data collection and cross-referencing, aimed at shaping individual identity concepts. This will be examined through the case of Palantir’s Gotham software and its integration into German security institutions, particularly the police.
We look forward to a thorough discussion informed by participants’ perspectives and expertise. The cooperation with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung is especially valuable given its political focus.
Guiding questions include:
- What distinguishes public relations from propaganda?
- Do cognitive warfare strategies blur the boundary between peace and war?
- Can meaningful distinctions between peace and war persist if information is systematically shaped?
- Does surveillance enhance security?
- How should data cross-referencing (interoperability of databases) be regulated?
- Who should authorize and oversee such practices, given concerns raised by data protection advocates?
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.