ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 2017 – artificial intelligence
Also this year was the Ars Electronica festival, an event where art, music and technology blend, thus promoting an interactive scientific dissemination. It is certainly a pleasure to see how, even in a small city like Linz, one can still talk about the future, progress, art and science, especially today, where technology has such an influence on our lives. It is like a sort of alchemy that combines all these factors and allows man, through his ideas and dreams, to manipulate the laws of nature and overcome them.
The theme of the Electronic Electronica 2017 was artificial intelligence, a perfect scenario in this era invaded by digital. Artificial intelligence has different faces, and although it is seen as progress and development, it is still very scary, and it is this fear that this year’s event has tried to overcome, through the different ways and uses that the participants have done.Among the various works on display this year, it certainly has had a remarkable impact, Samantha‘s interactive artificial intelligence doll, fully customizable: face, body, color of eyes and skin, hair, nails, to the most intimate details, both in aesthetic terms and phrases. In fact, this robot has been thought and created in a sexual background of company and affection.
Although, for many, it may seem strange to interact with a doll, many men, in particular, have said they want to buy one. According to these statements, it is still difficult to imagine a life with a robot, however much this may be like us, it is in fact that we are rapidly approaching a world like the one described in the “Robot” movie with Will Smith.
Despite the various questions that may arise in this kind of relationship, one has to look at how man is actually looking for less and more face-to-face conversation with another person and increasingly a technology-driven distance. Is it right then to shock us so much to the idea of having a robot in the house and considering it as a friend or lover?
With the development of new technologies always; genetic engineering, synthetic biology, robots and drones, is increasingly luring the desire for new knowledge, new forms of art, new trends and new future perspectives.
Thanks to these kinds of demonstrations and works inspired by the collaboration of various artists, designers, engineers and scientists, we can acquire new languages to understand more deeply the reality, but above all the future, which is not so far.