ICON Lecture by Prof. Russell Belk, York University, Toronto

The Department of Marketing invites you to spend an exciting afternoon with one of the most distinguished marketing scholars.

Monday, October 31, 2016 - 16:00 to 17:30

Professor Russell Belk will be visiting CBS to present:

Seeking Transcendence and Blurring Boundaries:

Machines as Beings and Beings as Machines

We live in an age when robots are becoming increasingly human-like with artificial intelligence that mimics, and in some cases exceeds, our own. At the same time we humans are adopting cyborg-like modifications in an effort to improve ourselves through biological, mechanical, pharmacological, and computer technologies. These simultaneous transformations are not coincidental and both seek to transcend existing states of being. This convergence has implications for the ascendance of both the machine and the human to god-like super-intelligence in a trajectory that some see as leading to the end of the human species.

There is a critical need for consumer research regarding mutual acceptance and trust between humans and robots as well as regarding issues of safety, morality, identity, and interspecies intimacy. In this presentation I offer a conceptual, theoretical, and practical understanding of these issues and their consequences. I call for a program of vital consumer research in these areas.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Russell

Russell Belk is past president of the International Association of Marketing and Development and is a fellow and past president of the Association for Consumer Research. He co-initiated the Consumer Behavior Odyssey, the Association for Consumer Research Film Festival, and the Consumer Culture Theory Conference. His awards include the Paul D. Converse Award, two Fulbright awards, the Society for Marketing Advances Distinguished Scholar Award, and the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Consumer Research Award for Long Term Contribution to Consumer Research.

His research involves the meanings of possessions, extended self, collecting, gift-giving, materialism, sharing, and global consumer culture. His work is often cultural, qualitative, and visual. He has published approximately 550 articles, books, chapters, and videos. Most recently he co-wrote or co-edited the books: Qualitative Consumer and Marketing Research (2013), Research in Consumer Behavior (2012), The Routledge Companion to Digital Consumption (2013), and The Routledge Companion to Identity and Consumption (2012).

Register for the event via email to hmh.marktg@cbs.dk no later than 28 October 2016.

The page was last edited by: Department of Marketing // 01/25/2024