Can we design freedom? Premiere meeting #3 of Tomorrow's Quarterly

“Freedom is” not “opening the possibility of arranging the world differently”; “It is trivial, but it is worth remembering: freedom and solidarity are very closely linked”; freedom ends where “we stop asking questions, being inquisitive and questioning what seems obvious”. These passages of texts by Samuel Nowak, Tomasz Bąk and Tomek Pilch clearly outline the trajectory of the theme.

Is it possible that it is already “after freedom”, because we gave it away in exchange for convenience, the myth of success accessible to everyone and algorithmic support that frees us from everyday decisions? Or is true freedom still on the horizon, tempting from there with the promise of full automation and the liberation of humanity from gainful labor? Can we design this freedom?

We will try to answer these and other questions together during the premiere meeting, in which they will take part:

✶ Carolina Pietyra — director of KBF, initiator of the Tomorrow Quarterly,

✶ Maciej Kałuża — Doctor of Philosophy, researcher of French existentialism and the work of Albert Camus,

✶ Wojciech Górecki — manager in the IT, rescue and crisis management industries, expert at the AGH Cybersecurity Center, FORT Kraków DIANA NATO.

We will reflect on what freedom is in an age of (anti) social media and low social trust — and at the same time in times of increased participation in public life and a growing number of grassroots initiatives (from organisations helping refugees to local volunteers, community gardens or neighbourhood associations).

We will also talk about how social activism, cultural activities — and even simple city walks — can become temporary autonomous zones, and what the journey of a robot through the Andes can tell us about freedom.

✶ The meeting will be hosted by Katarzyna Janota.

The KUTRA Quarterly is a journal of ideas — available offline, published by KBF in a circulation of 3500 copies. It's a platform for thinking—a space where different perspectives can meet, collide, and be tested!

From the editor: “We don't publish the entire issue online because we care about the offline reading experience — no multitasking, no parallel notifications, no scrolling pressure. We want the reader to be able to focus on reading and qualitative thought processing.”