DIJ social scientist Celia Spoden will present her latest research on „Cybernetic avatars and the vision of an inclusive society“ at the Japanese-German conference Artificial Intelligence and the Human: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Science and Fiction (May 11-13). In her presentation, Celia focuses on the avatar technology OriHime which aims to counteract people’s loneliness and create new forms of social participation. Celia analyses how technologies such as the OriHime can make physical limitations less significant in cyber-physical spaces. In her paper she examines the cultural backgrounds as well as the social and ethical implications of this new technology. The conference takes place in Berlin and is jointly organised by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Japanese-German Center Berlin, and Waseda University.