May 21, 2026, 5:15 PM

Helen Small (University of Oxford)
Changing Humanities: The Move to Compression

This lecture considers the challenges posed to many humanities disciplines by the increased compression and fluidity of culture: a long-term tendency toward shorter and often ephemeral forms—evident across all media, and both reinforced and complicated by the flexible formal presentation of AI-generated content. The lecture considers the phenomenon of cultural panic in response to sociological and psychological data tracking the corresponding evolution of reading behaviors as that data impels and distorts debate about the future of the humanities. The concluding focus will be on identifying the kinds of action needed if the humanities are to survive the shift toward short-form fluidity in the era of AI without a reduction in their intellectual prestige and their recognizable social purposes.

Please register by email at your earliest convenience:
appliedhumanities[at]hu-berlin.de
or click “RSVP” below