In the first of our QUT Global Law, Science and Technology Seminar Series for 2023, Professor Joseph David discussed the influence of technological advancements on legal theory.
Abstract: As society continues to advance technologically, our legal frameworks are faced with an array of multifaceted challenges spanning various dimensions and levels. While advancements in technology require adherence to existing legal structures, they also offer innovations and effective alternatives to traditional law practices, such as the use of legal tech. Simultaneously, these technological advancements demand a comprehensive reassessment of the very foundations upon which our legal systems are built (including notions of equality before the law and territorial jurisdiction, etc.), as well as a reevaluation of the conventional theoretical framework of the law.In this discussion, our focus will be on the revision of jurisprudential thinking in response to the information revolution and the ongoing evolution of technology. Additionally, we will delve into the impact of the theory of technology on the theoretical understanding of the law, as put forth by the ‘law is technology’ thesis.We aim to uncover the conceptual similarities between the theory of technology and legal theory and draw reasonable conclusions from these parallels.
Presentation
Guest presenter
Professor Joseph David is Distinguished Full Professor of Law, Sapir Academic College, Israel. His research interests include Comparative Jurisprudence, Legal History, Law and Religion, Law and Technology, and Human Rights Law.
His published books include:
- The State Rabbinate: Election, Separation and Freedom of Expression (2000)
- The State of Israel: Between Judaism and Democracy (2003)
- Questioning Dignity: Human Dignity as Supreme Modern Value (2006)
- The Family and the Political: On Belonging and Responsibility in a Liberal Society (2012)
- Nomos and Narrative: Robert Cover for the Hebrew Reader (2012)
- Toleration within Judaism (2013)
- The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites in Jewish Thought (2014)
- Jurisprudence and Theology in Late Ancient and Medieval Jewish Thought (2014)
- Kinship, Law and Politics: An Anatomy of Belonging (2020)
- Against the Wind: Strengthening Human Rights Protections in the 2020s (2021).
About the series
The QUT Global Law, Science and Technology Seminar Series aims to bring together national and international speakers who will explore the personal, societal and governance dimensions of solving real world problems which are influenced by, and through the interactions of science, technology and the law.
The series will host speakers who think about ‘technology’ and ‘science’ as broadly construed to refer to methods of framing or interacting with the world, and that enable the critical and imaginative questioning of the technical, science, environmental and health dimensions of law and life.
Previous Seminars
- Gendered impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Driving Transformation – A Governance Frame for Critical Corporate Actors
- The Law and Science of Technology of Human Milk
- Our Intelligent Futures: A meditation and some complications
- Health Technology and Big Data: Is ethical debt inevitable?
- The Blockchain Conundrum: Humans, Community, Regulation and Chains
- Runaway Technology: Can Law Keep Up?
- Litigating Science: Climate Change and the Rocky Hill Mine case
- AI in the Wild: Sustainability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
- Help: The Digital Transformation of Humanitarianism and the Governance of Populations
- Patient Rights and Healthcare Decision-making after COVID-19: Transformations and Future Directions
- Past, or coming, or to come. Rights, interests and posthumous parenthood
- Autonomy, Vulnerability, and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)
- A Scholar’s Journey – or how someone who struggles with his iPhone is the world’s most read and cited FinTech scholar
- Wills formalities in the 21st century – Promoting testamentary intention in the face of societal change and advancements in technology
