In his lecture, Kornelius will consider how the world order is changing in light of digitalization and with the help of the media: »The state order of the past is dissolving and new power structures are emerging. The USA is withdrawing from international business and becoming a disruptive superpower. China is growing at a breakneck speed and setting new rules. The struggle for supremacy is an age-old subject, but this time the means by which it is taking place are new: there are no tanks and hardly any shots are being fired. Power is instead won in subtle ways: through technological superiority, in the race for semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computers. The digital revolution is also revolutionizing foreign policy and state affairs. Cyber-conflicts are replacing classic wars, information is manipulated, the truth is called into question, societies are destabilised by lies. Are democratic societies able to withstand this pressure?«

About Stefan Kornelius
Stefan Kornelius is a German journalist and publicist. He has been Head of the International Section at the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper since 2000. Prior to this, he was the paper’s political correspondent in Bonn and reported on the Federal Chancellery, CDU/CSU parliamentary group, and German defence and security policy. From 1996 to 1999 he served as the US correspondent based in Washington, then as a correspondent in Berlin. Stefan Kornelius has been conferred numerous awards for his journalistic work, including the Axel Springer Prize for Young Journalists, the Arthur F. Burns Commentary Prize, and the Karl Klasen Journalist Prize. He is the author of »Angela Merkel: The Chancellor and Her World« (2013), »Der unerklärte Krieg – Deutschlands Selbstbetrug in Afghanistan« [»The Undeclared War - Germany’s Self-Deception in Afghanistan«] (2009) and »Al Gore – Mission Klima« [»Al Gore – Mission Climate«] (2007).

Background: »Mensch Macht Moderne« panel discussion series
During the Presidium’s panel discussion series entitled »Mensch Macht Moderne«, members of the University Council at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar as well as representatives from the fields of politics, culture, and media will consider questions central to the Bauhaus from a present-day perspective and discuss these with students. The events are open to the public; interested parties are warmly invited to attend.

The series will take place on Wednesday evenings during the Bauhaus.Semester and look at the subjects of »autonomy« and »responsibility« in modern society. The focus will be on current developments relating to the Bauhaus: what responsibility do people and media bear with regard to questions of digitalisation and automation? What power does science have in the age of modernity? How political was the Bauhaus or how political should the Bauhaus anniversary be? In the exchange with internal and external discussion partners, topics are to be examined from different perspectives and critically reflected upon in order to discuss what consequences and opportunities for action exist and how current developments can be used but also abused.

»Mensch Macht Moderneֿ« with Stefan Kornelius
16 January 2019, 7 pm
Oberlichtsaal, Main Building at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8, 99423 Weimar

More information:
www.uni-weimar.de/bauhaussemester