Forum Peace

What does it take for peace? Why does its opposite, war, arise? Why is discord a constant in human history? Cannot man stand peace? Where does the war begin on a small scale? And what does it take to end major wars?

Together with the Chur cultural journalist and publicist Mathias Balzer, the Chur Theatre is organising this series of talks on questions relating to the topic of peace from January to December 2025.

The second guest is **Reto Vogt, expert for social media and AI at the MAZ Lucerne**. With him, we discuss the influence of social media and AI on peace and war, on cohesion or even the break-up of societies.

Why do these media often become hurlings of disinformation, fake news, extremism and hatred? Is this due to the users or is it intrinsic to the system? How do these tools actually work in the background? And is it a coincidence that the triumph of populism coincided with the rise of social media?

**Reto Vogt**
is full-time Director of Studies Digital Media and AI at the MAZ in Lucerne and works as a freelance journalist, author, copywriter and presenter. He has been writing on tech topics such as cybersecurity, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, e-voting, e-patient records, e-government and many more for almost 20 years.

His stations as an editor include Computerworld, PCtipp and Migros Magazine. He was and is working as a freelance journalist for media such as NZZ, Dnip, Schweizer Journalist:in, Edito, den Tages-Anzeiger" or Wir Eltern.

Between 2021 and 2024, he was editor-in-chief of "Inside IT", the leading Swiss magazine in the field of technology.