Agrupación Señor Serrano - Una Isla
We need to find a new way of living together. It is hard not to agree with this statement. We must overcome the current phase of cultural conflict and seek a new coexistence where “me” gives way to “us”, where individual well-being cannot be conceived without common well-being.
These statements are irresistible. And yet, like any matter that appears unquestionable, these claims are riddled with problematic elements. Who fits into this “us” that’s so attractive? How do we go from “me” to “us”, from the individual to the community? Does this “us” include the people we don’t like? What percentage of the population does this “us” that we dream of comprise? Can there be “us” without “the others”? What do we do with things that bother us? Do mosquitoes fit into “us”? Do viruses? Plankton? And poisonous plants? What about artificial plants? And what about artificial intelligences? Since the 1950s, when studies on artificial intelligence as we understand it today began, fictions have portrayed artificial intelligences as a threat. As in any mythology, the creator’s fear of being overtaken and annihilated by his creation has fed the dilemma of coexistence between humans and artificial intelligences. Fear of the other, of the unknown. Does it really need to be this way? Who is to imagine the new myths? And our future? What if we invite artificial intelligences to imagine “us”? What if we invite them to imagine a place for this “us”? What if we ask them to help us imagine Una isla?New creation by this Catalan collective that has received the Silver Lion for innovation in performing arts at the Venice Biennale. Since we’ve failed so many times to create a “better world”, let’s ask Artificial Intelligence for help this time. Will the technology we created to improve our lives help us finally design an “utopian paradise”? Or will it decide that we ourselves are the obstacle preventing us from ever achieving it?