As I’m sure many of you are aware, there are conversations happening today regarding the presence of artificial intelligence, the increasing connectedness between humans and technology, and what all of this means for the future of humanity. I think it’s a conversation that many people dismiss immediately because of its seemingly ridiculous assertions, but I think it’s a conversation that is worth having.
The 2013 Movie “Her” introduces the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system, which is basically assigned to someone depending on their response to a few questions. The lonely Theodore purchases his very own operating system, which he ends up falling in love with. “Her” recognizes its absurdity…it is a pretty absurd movie. But I don’t think it should be dismissed simply because of its absurdity. I think it actually contains a lot of arguments that are worth thinking about and I think it’s actually scary how relatable it is. The operating system that Theodore falls in love with is portrayed as extremely human, which may be one of the biggest issues that people have with the movie, but, nevertheless, his relationship with his operating system is indeed quite similar to the ways that people engage with technology today. I’ve included the trailer for the movie below if anyone wants to get a better picture of what the movie is like.
In one of her talks regarding the ‘Alone Together’ idea —which focuses on the increasing occurrence of technology co-existing with people within social situations; e.g. everyone being on their phones on the subway— Sherry Turkle makes some bold claims about the consequences of technology within our lives (specifically social situations). One of the situations Turkle comments on is the difference between the birthday parties of fifteen year olds today versus the birthday parties of fifteen year olds from a number of years ago. Turkle basically says that fifteen year old parties from the past were solely based off of human interaction. Today, however, less interaction between people is necessary because of the easy-to-access technology inside of our pockets, providing comfort and an escape from whatever social situation one wants to escape from. What are the consequences of having such a comforting and accessible way of exiting social situations? I’ve included the link of Turkle’s talk if anyone wants to get a better idea of her arguments here.
The ideas put forward in “Her” and Turkle’s talk both comment on the intrusion of technology in our lives, something that has happened incredibly fast and with very observable effects. In the conclusion of Moran’s Interdisciplinarity, Moran says “Interdisciplinary could therefore be seen as a way of living with the disciplines more critically and self-consciously” (181). Indeed, that is exactly the optimism presented and widely accepted with technology. We hope to live with it “critically and self-consciously.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV6mXIOVl4