Title:

DECISION-MAKING IN THE VOID: Phronesis, Embodied Experience and the Future of Autonomous Systems

Keynote speaker:

ADAM USTYNOWICZ, Director, Producer & Engineer | Founder of Quantum Leap Society

Abstract

The greatest challenge of the AI age is not building autonomous systems that compute efficiently in data-rich environments, but preserving human agency and ethical orientation within the VOID — the space of missing information, extreme uncertainty, and unprecedented edge cases.

Drawing on Stanisław Lem’s philosophical legacy, the testimony of the Storm Generation, and critical events from Second World War naval command to spacewalk emergencies, this lecture develops the distinction between Intelligence — recognizing patterns and optimizing toward a known objective — and Judgment: the embodied, phronetic capacity to act well once precedent and data both run out.

Approaches to epistemic AI — including credal and open-world models — are beginning to formalize uncertainty computationally. Yet computational representation of uncertainty is not equivalent to embodied judgment about what to do when the available model itself may be incomplete. This gap can be understood through the distinction between homeostasis — maintaining a state — and homeorhesis, a concept introduced by C. H. Waddington to describe the maintenance of a developmental trajectory through perturbation. In this lecture, I extend the concept toward open-ended autonomous systems, asking what happens when not only the environment, but also the objectives and knowledge defining a viable trajectory, are themselves evolving.

Cases drawn from naval command under fire illustrate Command Ethics: judgment exercised not for the self but for those under one’s responsibility. The lecture concludes with the Space Lykeion framework — an educational and technological programme for cultivating dependable human judgment where data ends.

Keywords: Phronesis, Embodied Experience, Decision-Making in Uncertainty (VOID), Large Autonomous Systems, Human-Centric AI, Command Ethics, Space Lykeion, Homeorhesis.

Short CV

ADAM USTYNOWICZ

Director, Producer & Engineer | Founder of Quantum Leap Society

Adam Ustynowicz is a film director, producer, and engineer who bridges the gap between complex technological acceleration in the AI age and human understanding through the power of narrative and storytelling.

Holding an M.Sc. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology (where he pursued doctoral research in thermodynamics and energy systems), he subsequently graduated in Film Directing from the National Film School in Łódź. This rare dual foundation — combining hard engineering systems with visual cinematic art — enables him to master the art of scientific storytelling. Throughout his career, he has focused on translating civilizational shifts, frontier space exploration, and cybernetic philosophy (most notably the legacy of Stanisław Lem) into compelling narratives that help society, researchers, and decision-makers navigate rapid technological transformation.

Key Civilizational & Technological Initiatives:

• Founder, Quantum Leap Society (Geneva, 2025): Established an international platform dedicated to building a new paradigm of civilizational growth centered on Technologies for Life, bridging engineering, ethics, and narrative strategy to guide society through the non-equilibrium dynamics of the AI revolution.
• Co-Developer, Atlantic Freedom Network & Space Lykeion Framework (2026): Leading the development of the Atlantic Freedom Network digital infrastructure and advancing the Space Lykeion concept — an educational and narrative framework designed to cultivate human wisdom, phronesis, and dependable judgment (Command Ethics) in environments where data ends and algorithmic models fail.
• National Coordinator, UN Space Week (Poland): Serving for over two decades as the national coordinator for World Space Week, creating large-scale public narratives around space exploration, astronautics, and humanity’s shared future.

Storytelling, Space Exploration & Cultural Legacy:

• Science Communication & Media: Producer and director of over 200 educational films, television series, and international documentaries for the BBC and TVP.
• Stanisław Lem’s Legacy: Renowned documentary filmmaker and exponent of Stanisław Lem’s cybernetic foresight (Summa Technologiae).
• International Space-Culture Milestones: Creator and producer of global space-art initiatives, including Chopin. The Space Concert — a landmark cultural project produced in collaboration with NASA astronauts and showcased at the United Nations (Vienna), the Kennedy Space Center, and NASA Headquarters.

Honors & Public Leadership:

• NASA Honorary Diplomas (2008, 2011): Awarded for distinguished contributions to international space communication and space exploration heritage.
• International Aeronautical Federation (FAI / CASI): Former Vice-President and Statute Commission Member of the International Air Sport Control Commission.
• Aviation & Space Community: Member of the National Aviation Council of Poland and the Polish Aviators Association.