UL academic draws parallels between the Great Famine and the Age of AI

UL academic draws parallels between the Great Famine and the Age of AI. Cormac O’Malley; Assistant Dean Research, Professor Christina Morin, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; UL President Professor Shane Kilcommins; Executive Dean, Professor Sandra Joyce, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Peter Hession. Photo: Arthur Ellis

A UL academic draws parallels between the major technological advancements of The Great Famine in Ireland and the rise of AI in modern society

A University of Limerick academic has drawn parallels between the major technological advancements of The Great Famine in Ireland and the rise of AI in modern society.

Dr Peter Hession shared an insight into his research around the Famine and technology as he delivered the inaugural lecture of the O’Malley Fellowship: Advancing Irish Studies.

Dr Hession, the first appointee of the O’Malley Fellowship, presented ‘”From nowhere, going nowhere”? The famine road in context’ to a public audience on UL campus.

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The Fellowship is supported by the Irish American Cultural Institute and designed to support advanced research in Irish history, literature, and cultural studies at UL. It also honours the enduring cultural legacy of Helen Hooker O’Malley and Ernie O’Malley, whose lives and work made a significant contribution to the promotion of Irish artistic and scholarly engagement in Ireland and abroad. 

Ahead of the event, Dr Hession – who has been based at Glucksman Ireland House, New York University – shared why the research and conversation around Ireland’s famine roads are so pertinent.

“What I want to do with this is convey to the audience what we think we know about famine roads. We didn’t even know how much of them there really was – I eventually figure about 10,000 kilometres of new roads were built and about 10,000 kilometres of existing roads were improved. To put that into perspective, when you add those two figures together, that’s 20,000 kilometres – we only have 100,000 kilometres of road in Ireland. The local and regional roads that we use every day are actually rooted in this period of Irish history, which people are not aware of,” explained Dr Hession.

Dr Hession also drew parallels between the major technological advancements of the Famine and the rise of AI technology across all facets of life and work today.

“There are moments in history that can seem very far away, which come back and have new resonance at particular moments in time. I was drawn to the Famine because we’re living through a moment now … where we can see, before our very eyes, how technology is transforming how we relate to each other – even how we think about what it means to be human,” said Dr Hession.

“And believe it or not, the middle of the 19th century was also a similar kind of period. It was a time when massive technological change was totally changing people’s lives in a way that doesn’t have any parallel – except what we have lived through recently. It was a time where railways, the steam revolution, and the telegraph created this kind of compression of time and space that really transformed people’s lives.”

Executive Dean, Professor Sandra Joyce, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UL, spoke on the importance of the O’Malley Fellowship to international scholarship and engagement.

“The O’Malley Fellowship is a vital investment in advancing Irish Studies at an international level, enabling scholars to interrogate Ireland’s past and present, with rigour, depth, and global relevance. This inaugural lecture, examining the famine road in its wider historical context, powerfully demonstrates how the Fellowship fosters research that connects the Irish experience to broader global histories of migration, memory, and resilience, whilst enriching public discourse,” said Professor Joyce.

Assistant Dean Research, Professor Christina Morin, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UL, acknowledged the ‘new perspective’ brought by Dr Hession’s research and fellowship.

“The O’Malley Fellowship provides an invaluable platform for rigorous, original research in Irish Studies, enabling scholars to pursue sustained scholarly enquiry. Dr Peter Hession’s inaugural lecture highlights how careful research can bring new perspectives to Ireland’s famine landscapes, enriching both academic understanding and wider public engagement,” said Professor Morin.