Workshop on the Neural Basis of Democracy
Date
Location
Description
OIST-Keio Showcase Talk Series Vol. 12
Workshop on the Neural Basis of Democracy
Democracy is in crisis in the face of fake news and sensational escalations facilitated by generative AIs and social media. This workshop aims to clarify the brain mechanisms that enabled democracies in human societies and how they can be compromised or facilitated by information technologies, through interdisciplinary dialogues by researchers in cognitive science, neural computation, multi-agent systems, social science, law and humanities.
Date: Friday 26th, June 2026
Place: OIST Land neXus
Tentative Program
| 9:00-9:20 | Registration |
| 9:20-9:40 | Opening |
| 9:40-11:00 | Session 1: What is Democracy: Core Principles |
| 11:00-11:20 | break |
| 11:20-12:40 | Session 2: What Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms underlie Democracy |
| 12:40-14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00-15:20 | Session 3: How Democracies Emerged, Evolved, and Collapsed |
| 15:20-15:40 | break |
| 15:40-17:00 | Session 4: How AI and Internet can Facilitate Democracy |
| 17:00-17:20 | break |
| 17:20-18:00 | Discussions |
| 18:00-18:20 | Wrap-up |
| 18:30-20:30 | Networking Dinner |
Each session will start with short talks by the panelists and continue into round table discussion.
Toward the end of the workshop, participants will discuss plans of collaboratory research and next activities.
Panelists
- Kenji Doya (OIST Neural Computation Unit)
- Wolfgang Ertl (Keio University Faculty of Letters)
- Masahiko Haruno (CiNet Computational Social Neuroscience Group)
- Yusuke Hayashi (AI Alignment Network)
- Masatoshi Kokubo (Keio University Law School)
- Yohsuke Murase (RIKEN iTHEMS)
- Ekaterina Sangati (RIKEN Center for Brain Science)
- Shinsuke Suzuki (Hitotsubashi University Social Data Science)
- Wataru Toyokawa (RIKEN Center for Brain Science)
- Tatsuhiko Yamamoto (Keio University Law School)
- more to be announced
Participants
This is a small in-person event by invitation of about 20 people. If you would like to be invited, please contact the organizer.
Organizers
- Kenji Doya (OIST Neural Computation Unit)
- Tatsuhiko Yamamoto (Keio University Law School)
- Wataru Toyokawa (RIKEN Center for Brain Science)
Co-Sponsors
- OIST Neural Computation Unit
- Keio University X Dignity Center
- OIST J-PEAKS
- Keio University J-PEAKS
- RIKEN Computational Group Dynamics Collaboration Unit
Contact
For general information about the event series, please email academic-partnerships@oist.jp .
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