CFP: Food, Technology & Society

Hi everyone -

Here at Cal Poly, we’re running a project on the ethical and social implications of AI kitchens and robot cooks, and we’re now soliciting abstracts for the edited book we plan to publish.  Here’s some basic information:

WHAT

We are putting together an edited book for our project, funded by the US National Science Foundation.  While we’re most interested in AI kitchens and robot cooks, we are happy to consider other food technologies in broadening the scope of the book.  We also expect this to be an open-access book (and can pay those fees) to help ensure the book can have the widest reach and impact possible.

WHO

We, the editors, are part of the interdisciplinary Cal Poly team that’s running the project; more info here: https://aikitchens.org/  While many of us on the team are philosophers, we are interested in interdisciplinary chapters, as food touches upon just about every discipline.  We also welcome contributions from industry and other organizations outside academia, such as government, food journalists, etc.

As for the publisher, we’ve been talking to Routledge who is interested in seeing a proposal, which we are preparing and want to include at least a starting list of contributors.  Routledge is among the leading publishers for philosophy, especially related to food—for instance, it has a new Food & Philosophy book series that would be an excellent home for our book.  (Again, the book will be interdisciplinary, not just about philosophy, which only happens to be the home discipline of many of us on the Cal Poly team.)

WHY

Automating the kitchen could be unlike automating anything else, given the primacy of food.  AI kitchens and robot cooks could possibly be very beneficial as well as disruptive to many things that people care about, from family dynamics to traditions/cultures to labor and environmental impacts and much more.  And we’re interested in exploring both benefits and risks.

Here’s our short overview article about the project in The Conversation, which discusses only some of the issues we’re tracking, and there are other issues not contained here (such as any new issues you might like to explore): https://theconversation.com/robots-are-coming-to-the-kitchen-what-that-could-mean-for-society-and-culture-237000

Several high-profile publications had republished our article above, such as Smithsonian Magazine, Discover, Salon, Fast Company, and many others.  So, there is already strong interest in this emerging subject, which we expect to grow as the general public becomes more aware of the trend.

WHERE

Most of this work will be done virtually at your own location, but we’re hoping to also convene a multi-day “writer’s retreat” with our contributors to cross-pollinate and workshop ideas, as well as to carve out dedicated time for writing.  This would be optional for you, but it should be fun (with free time built in) and at a nice location; we’re talking to a possible host in Italy.  We should be able to cover your travel expenses, even for international travelers.

WHEN

Since we appear to still be the first and only group seriously investigating this topic, we want to be first in publishing a book on the subject.  This means we’d like to fast-track this book if possible.  You may have seen some of our previous books, such as Robot Ethics (MIT Press, 2012) which benefitted from being the first of their kind in emerging domains.

A rough timeline, as of now, would be: your first draft should be finished by fall or winter 2025 (roughly 10-12 months from now); we would hold the writer’s retreat in winter 2025 or spring 2026; and your final draft would be due about a month or so after that retreat.

If you’re interested in being a contributor, please confirm your interest with us as soon as possible, and then submit a 1-page abstract by 1 February 2025 for maximum consideration.  (Please email both me and Dr. Daniel Story: [email protected])  We will aim to review all abstracts and make decisions within a month or so.

As for when the book would be published, that depends on whether we receive your chapters on time, how much editing we’ll need to do, as well as the publisher’s feedback and copyedits.  This usually takes a few months, and then the book enters the production process for a few more months.  So, early/mid 2027 seems to be a reasonable publication timeframe.  Since this is a nicely funded project, we should have the resources to push ahead as quickly as possible.

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We would be grateful if you could also share this call for abstracts with your networks or colleagues who might be interested, especially in other disciplines.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Patrick Lin, Ph.D.
[email protected]
https://philosophy.calpoly.edu/faculty/patrick-lin

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Professor, Philosophy Dept.
Director, Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
https://ethics.calpoly.edu/