Adam A. Stokes
Welcome to my personal webpage, where you’ll find a collection of essays on topics I’m actively trying to understand. These are not static publications but live documents that evolve over time as I think in public, refine my views, and respond to new ideas and conversations. If you wish to discuss anything I’ve written, or wish to engage with me on a project or a talk, then please contact me. My primary email address is a.a.stokes@ed.ac.uk.I am Full Professor and Head of the Institute for Bioengineering at the University of Edinburgh and a research-led advisor on robotics, AI, and bioinspired innovation. Outside of the academy I am an active entrepreneur and consultant. I work with organisations to stress-test assumptions about emerging technologies and chart practical paths from prototype to deployment. These essays capture the thinking behind that work—I offer them as a public resource and also as an invitation to collaborate.
My most recent post is shown below, see all essays here.
Techno-Crofting: Techno-Humanism and Living Well at the Edge of the System
From Systems to Societies In my previous post on techno‑crofting I began to write about systems: energy, food, materials, the flows that have to cross the boundary when you live at the edge. But systems aren’t the whole story. People have to want to live with them. This piece is about the culture and practices that make a techno‑croft a place to live well as part of a local and global community, not just a technical thought experiment. It is, as always, a work in progress and the essay will evolve over time as I continue to discuss with people and refine the ideas. I’ve previously written about Living Well with Robots in a panel discussion hosted by Prof Shannon Vallor. Shannon directs the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute and is far better placed than me to comment on living well with technology, but before I dive into the technical underpinning and infrastructure that’s required for the techno-croft I think it’s worth exploring, briefly, the...