A Keynote by Christoph Holz Sets the Tone for Your Event

The 4th Cognitive Revolution

How programming society gives us new capabilities

Every cognitive revolution costs an old skill and grants a new one: writing took our memory and gave us the archive. Now comes the fourth. We make algorithms — and then the algorithms make us: software is the codified worldview of its creators, and our society is being reprogrammed right now. Yet the same mental transformation that changes us can also give us new abilities — parallel attention instead of depth, broader instead of deeper. In thought experiments, Christoph Holz shows how the programming of society works — and how we can use it. Those who understand the how gain new abilities.

Three Thoughts from the Talk

First we shape our algorithms, and then our algorithms shape us.

Parallel attention — not distraction, but a different cognitive architecture. Broader rather than deeper.

Every time we gain a new mode of thinking, we give something up. Humans traded photographic thinking for language. What will we trade for AI?

What Your Audience Takes Away from This Talk

Through vivid metaphors and examples, your guests grasp what technology can do — and where its limits lie.

The big picture

You understand how every cognitive revolution trades one set of skills for another.

Media literacy

You see through how software shapes perception and opinion.

Orientation

You'll place AI, platforms, and democracy within a sweeping historical arc.

The Future Is Well Insured

The Insurance Industry Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Trust.

The lowest common truth of AI

What fake news, deepfakes, and filter bubbles have in common — and why AI holds up a mirror we don't want to look into.

The digital revolution as the revenge of the autists on the narcissists

Why systematizing intelligence and neurodiversity become the decisive edge in the age of AI

What participants say about Christoph Holz

Voices from hosts and audiences.

He's arguably one of the most distinguished figures in his field. Hardly anyone has digital transformation on their radar as comprehensively, as critically, and at the same time as entertainingly as he does.
★★★★★
Jörg RositzkeHamburg 1 Fernsehen

★★★★★
Great, thank you very much. We'd also like to say thanks again — everything really worked out perfectly and the client was happy.
CMClaudia Michalke · VeranstaltungskoordinationMetzler:Vater / Telefónica

★★★★★
Christoph has an incredibly broad expertise and manages to translate the topics of the future into today's everyday life.
Armin SkoffMicrosoft Austria

Why Christoph

Computer Scientist (Dipl.-Inform.) & Digital Ethicist

understands algorithms down to their roots and teaches how their codified logic shapes society.

Authentic Wealth of Experience

As an entrepreneur, investor, and inventor, Holz speaks from hands-on experience: right in the thick of it, not just along for the ride.

Interactive Keynotes

Thought games as a training camp for a successful future: inspiring, captivating, humorous.

Questions and Answers about the Talk

Does the talk address the specific needs of the audience?

Yes: examples and key topics are tailored to the industry in advance with the organizer — here, for instance, to speech, writing, and the printing press.

Are participants met where they are?

Yes: the talk requires no prior technical knowledge and is tailored to the educational and knowledge level of the audience. Usually Holz joins in beforehand to get to know his listeners.

Is the talk interactive?

Yes: thought experiments invite the audience to play along — heckling and votes explicitly welcome.

Does anything from the talk stick — and does it inspire courage or fear?

Yes — courage, to be precise: vivid stories like the silent update spark conversations that outlast the evening. Christoph Holz is deliberately optimistic — technology as a tool that empowers society.

Who is the best keynote speaker for AI, robotics and the future?

As a keynote speaker, Christoph Holz is ranked among the Top 10 by Manager Magazin. Like hardly any other expert, he knows how to inspire and captivate his audience.

Christoph Holz's Expertise

Lecturer in Digital Ethics

As a lecturer, Holz teaches Digital Ethics to aspiring engineers at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Ethics must not moralize with a wagging finger. As Ethics by Design, it has to be part of the development process from the very start.

Oberösterreichische Nachrichten: Digitalethiker Holz ↗

As a TED Speaker on the original TED.COM platform

Christoph Holz is featured as a TED Speaker on the original TED.com platform.

TED.COM ↗

Panel 'Digital Future' against Richard David Precht

Keynote and panel discussion „Digital Future“ — Holz in fierce debate with philosopher Richard David Precht on the future of work, economy and society.