TH Augsburg Honors Seminar 2025: “Optimism”

The End Is Not Near: Pessimism Of The Intellect, Optimism Of the Will In The Age Of AI Doom Mongering.

Blog: June 3, 2025, Eleventh Week Honors Seminar by Prof. Dr. Alessandra Zarcone Authors: Malte Clas, Harshavardhan Patil “It is necessary to create sober, patient people who do not despair in the face of the worst horrors and who do not become exuberant with every silliness.” – Antonio Gramsci 1891-1937 In a world buzzing with…
🌍 Saving the World with Basil, Toilets, and Optimism

Speakers: Prof. Sabine Joeris & Prof. Elisabeth KrönAuthors: Franzi Merkl & Thomas SchleipferDate: May 31, 2025 A Not-So-Typical Sustainability Lecture Recap Last week at the Honors Course, we didn’t just get numbers and bullet points—we got basil, recycled toilet water, CO₂-neutral festivals, and a surprising dose of optimism. Two powerhouse professors—Sabine Joeris and Elisabeth Krön—guided us through 90…
Optimism Creatures: Make to Make Sense

Blog, May 20th Nineth Week Honors Seminar Prof. Andreas Muxel Pool noodles, boxes filled with pool noodles, and some more pool noodles. This was what we saw as we entered last week’s honors seminar. What at first looked like a beginner’s swimming course turned into a group cuddling session in the park next door. And…
Digital Transformation with Optimism: A Design Futuring Workshop on Positive Digital Visions

Blog, May 13, 2025, Eighth Week Honors Seminar Prof. Dr. Stephan Zimmermann “The future we want must be invented, otherwise we will get one that we don’t want.” — Joseph Beuys This quote opened our session and it set the tone for everything that followed. In this week’s Honors Seminar, we weren’t just asked to…
Is Low-Tech the New High-Tech for Creating a Sustainable Future?

Blog – May 6, 2025, Seventh Week Honors Seminar Prof. Dr. Florian Hörmann Utopia? Take a moment to go into yourself. Try and listen to your body, your mind — What are your needs? What makes you feel comfortable? What makes you feel at ease?Try to picture a world, taking in all those factors, actively…
Communication and Optimism & The Bright Side of Bias

Blog Joint Session Alisa Kasle-Henke & Prof. Dr. Svea Schauffler – April 29th, 2025, Sixth Week Honors Seminar By Maximilian Gehring & Brianna Murphy Feedback and its Relationship to Optimism What are you not good at? Yes—you. Think about it for a moment. It’s a jarring question, right? And yet, that’s exactly where we began…
Optimism Needs Trust: How to Build Brands with Trust

Blog – April 16, 2025, Fifth Week Honors Seminar Drinks, Brands & Brain Chemistry: A Masterclass in Optimism Before a single slide lit up the screen, Professor Manfred Uhl invited us to grab a drink from the kitchen. Not your typical academic start—but that’s exactly the point. This small, thoughtful gesture was more than hospitality;…
Could the Future of Teamwork Include Circuits and Code?

Blog – April 08, 2025, Fourth Week Honors Seminar What if your next teammate didn’t clock in—but booted up? This week in our honors seminar, hosted by Prof. Dr. Jana Görmer-Redding, we explored that very possibility—not as some distant sci-fi fantasy, but as a reality already taking shape around us. The idea? “Double Teaming”—humans and…
A Psychological Perspective on Optimism: Empowerment and Job Search

Blog April 01, 2025, Third Week Honors Seminar When you wake up in the morning: Do you get up happily, full of energy and optimism? Congratulations! You might have already found your IKIGAI – your purpose of life. If that doesn’t sound like you, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Our encouraging takeaway from this…
Designing a Mechatronic System to Spread Optimism

Blog March 27, 2025, Second Week Honors Seminar You wake up to a gentle vibration from your smartwatch, your blinds open automatically, and your coffee starts brewing—all before you’ve even left the bed. Sounds like luxury? It’s just everyday mechatronics at work. In this session, we explored a bold question: Can machines actually make us…