Show summary
A Proof of Concept stream convened by the CRAFT Lab (Knowledge Integration and Blue Futures), UiT TheArctic University of Norway.
The provocation Imagine an extractive industry transformed by technologies pulled straight from the most advanced sectors – robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, autonomous systems. Fishing vessels that are put to sea with no one aboard. Mineral harvesters crawling the deep seabed. Machines reaching into space. The technology is arriving faster than the law, the ethics, and the social agreements that should shape it. And technology is never neutral: every system carries human values, assumptions, and power relations inside it.
Our research maps fisheries across phases we call “Fisheries 0.0 to 5.0,” tracing the journey from pre-industrial fishing to a near to medium-term future (Fisheries 4.0 in the 2030s, 5.0 in the 2050s) of AI-enabled systems, autonomous vessels, digital twins, and distributed, predictive governance. This stream will consider the human-technology relationships around these kinds of autonomous natural resource extraction, from minerals on the bottom of the sea to exploitation beyond Earth: not just what these systems can do, but what they should do, for whom, and under what values.
What we’ll do together Rather than presenting finished research, we set this as a starting point and build with you across the stream. We work through a mix of speculative and embodied techniques – artefacts from the future, future personas, co-design of principles, Embodied Transformation Theatre, and science-informed creative writing. The aim is to bring scholars, technology designers, legislators, and others into the same room to imagine future worlds – from future fisher profiles to broader socio-technical dynamics, future laws, and the future of current law – and to draw out the governance principles those worlds would demand.
What the stream produces is up to the group: it might be a set of co-designed principles or a draft charter for anticipatory governance, a collection of future artefacts and personas, speculative legal texts, a hybrid of all of these, or totally something else – to be shared in a closing presentation and reflection. Who we’re looking for We welcome people from law, design, anthropology, marine and environmental science, computer science, futures studies, media, and the art; and just as warmly, people from outside the university: fishers and other practitioners from the primary sector (forestry, mining etc), technologists, policymakers, artists, and activists. No prior expertise in fisheries (or other primary sector) is needed; curiosity and a willingness to imagine and build collaboratively are what matter.
How to apply Send a short expression of interest (around 200–300 words) telling us who you are, what you’d bring, and what draws you to the stream. You’re welcome to include a CV, a portfolio, prior work, or whatever best conveys your perspective. This is not a paper proposal. Apply directly to the convenors. Because the work builds across sessions, participants are encouraged to attend all of the stream’s sessions, but it is not a strict requirement for this stream. Sessions will be open to conference attendees who choose to attend on the day.
• Melania Borit — Professor of Knowledge Integration (Norwegian College of Fisheries Science, UiT)
