AUTOMATA
Definition: moving mechanical devices made in imitation of human beings
This piece was birthed directly from the sci-fi genre of films, television shows and books; most notably - Ex Machina, Westworld and Homo Deus: A Brief History of tomorrow. It represents Artificial Intelligence coming to terms with the Spirit of Consciousness.
“Finally, some scientists concede that consciousness is real and may actually have great moral and political value, but that it fulfills no biological function whatsoever. Consciousness is the biologically useless by-product of certain brain processes. Jet engines roar loudly, but the noise doesn’t propel the aeroplane forward. Humans don’t need carbon dioxide, but each and every breath fills the air with more of the stuff. Similarly, consciousness may be a kind of mental pollution produced by the firing of complex neural networks. It doesn’t do anything. It is just there. If this is true, it implies that all the pain and pleasure experienced by billions of creatures for millions of years is just mental pollution. This is certainly a thought worth thinking, even if it isn’t true. But it is quite amazing to realise that as of 2016, this is the best theory of consciousness that contemporary science has to offer us."
- Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
- Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
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