The Theatre Times: We know that what separates humans from other mammals is our superior brains. What separates humans from machines in the era of artificial intelligence? It’s increasingly up for grabs. You’d expect a panel of scientists, some Silicon Valley heavyweights and maybe a philosopher or two to examine the question. But what if the best argument was made by a literature Ph.D. and a few theatre nerds?
3 comments:
Now this sounds like an absolutely fascinating piece. Honestly, it seems like it is finally a digital piece made for digital performance, it is rather tragic but in the end unsurprising that this development of the art form should emerge right as theaters are opening back up and starting up their new seasons, returning to a pre pandemic style of theater. THough perhaps pieces like this will make enough of an impact that truly intentional digital theater sticks around in the public’s zeitgeist. Considering it now, I honestly wouldn’t be disappointed if it did, after all it makes theater much more accessible to people everywhere and it holds the opportunity to convey theater to many more people than could fit into a tiny blackbox for a weekend run. I think it could co-exist with regular theater, perhaps even merge together. It is going to be an exciting couple of years in the industry as we figure this out.
This show seems so incredibly interesting it’s so sad that the show is closing soon. The thought of one day artificial intelligence surpassing human beings is such an unreal and scary thought to have, and it’s great that they are exploring it through the art of theatre. Something that fascinated me the most was the fact that their show is all about technology and the creators refused to put the show on zoom. I think that honestly putting the audience on screens individually in the audience is far more jarring even than zoom. Also just on the general topic of AI intelligence levels and their human aspects, I recently listened to a podcast on how computers are for more humans than we think. We always think of computers as unbiased and perfect, but because people are biased and the ones who have to program them we can build imperfections into computers. Unfortunately computers and AI intelligence actually can contain all awful human things like racism and sexism. I would love to read O’Connell’s book to learn more.
I definitely understand people's desperation to return to the norms we knew before COVID, but I don't think that all of the creative and practical gains that we've been able to make over the pandemic should just be ignored or thrown to the wayside. Arguably, shows like this that have managed to fully embrace and use social distancing on digital media see an even greater level of creativity and skill than other shows of the same size might see. To take something that we collectively have come to hate, or at the very least dread using, and make it into something captivating and thought-provoking is truly an amazing feat. I truly believe that the theatre that emerged during the course of the pandemic should be able to continue and thrive, even as we start to peel away many of the restrictions that prompted its creation in the first place. Why can't both exist?
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