Personal Manifesto¶
How Big tech and AI will not change the Extractive Mindset¶
There is no surprise AI has been marketed as a servant. Contemporary cosmopolitan life is defined by a structure of interchangeable services. Which holds a sequence of value, a competitive social climb where each task is replaced with human labor. Nowadays, Artificial Labor.
The brutally silent hierarchy, determined by context, culture and legacy, will only be enhanced with the mindset we develop these algorithms. Tech is not communist, its late-stage capitalism lobbying data, jobs and authority.
This discourse is not about Artificial Intelligence. It is about legislation, regulation, power dynamics and authoritarianism. The history alongside tech is not pristine. And once we agree on that statement: What would be the stage of technology without the concept of war, expansion and surveillance?
Would radio exist without it? Would telephones?
What is the ultimate purpose of AI? Underlying casual meme culture of generated images and celebrity impersonations? — The lack of plagiarism ethics is already telling — What is beyond the submissive aptitude of the software? It still enforces a western knowledge perspective. It is still western-centric. I wonder if it will ever be aware of the human complexity and application of knowledge… or will it just enforce the narrative of a (not so) post-colonial civilization chapter.
What is intelligence without a point of view and agency? Will AI forever be hostage of biomimicking human peasantry? Artificial labor? And now that it exists, I’m fascinated how it shapes human-on-human interactions. Ways of writing, ways of communication and expression. It is standardizing personal behaviour, as it is intertwined with existential doubts. AI is not an external entity, it is a result of our insecurities and fragilities as a social being.
I don’t want to standardize my art or my narrative in this world. But this discourse does not start with AI, it starts with cultural discourse, educational discourse, digital discourse. It starts with skepticism and the intentional look for information. It started when I was first introduced to Portugal as a “kind colonizer”, it started when I first heard a homophobic or racist joke, it was when I was first condemned for playing with a doll, caucasian or not.
All of these actions were executed by humans before and after using the tech we have access today. One does not crave awareness if it is not in one’s favor. Which is the main reason why algorithms of today make an interface so addictive. AI is not the threat, but the developers behind it.
This text is a provocation to them.
Process¶
Nature¶
I once read “society” is a synonym of anti-nature. The nature of the human kind. This statement has been murmuring on my mind for a long time. Since then, I’ve been aware on how much I followed social norms in order to make the collective comfortable. At the cost of censoring myself.
Society is anti natural when it blocks you from doing, when bureaucracy freezes you from acting as an individual.
Nature is the art of being, the art of acting and the art of feeling. Am I’m embodying that. Allowing myself to that mindset is freeing the other from that same spectrum of expectations.
Progress¶
Empathy. Compreension. Intention. Consciousness. Lightness. Individualism and collectivism, They go hand in hand. Solarpunk. Borderless. Quantum. Biodesign. Regenerative Design. Non Binary design. Post binary Design. Cunt. Artpop. Art. Pop. Trans. Transhumanism. Heliocentrism. Real Heliocentrism. Partnership. Ego clash. Mental Health. Therapy. Ocio. Not Negocio. Vernacular. Site specific. Custom-Made. Visualisation of sound. Visualisation of smell. Sensory amplification. Sensory language and comprehension. Listening. Touch and Abolishment of religion. Africa is the progress.
Culture¶
Culture is a reflection of societal interaction. Only consistency constructs culture. Although, I am a fan of flexibility. Bending of concepts and the grey area of touch points within culture. Culture is something to hold onto, if it doesn’t lock you in when it sees you as unfit. In this very moment, we do not build culture from scratch. It is intertwined with education, parenting, small talk and love.
One cannot escape the concept of culture under a plural interaction. It is reactionary. It is a narrative, shaped after every single day and every decision taken. Culture is a consequence and result of habits. And those habits define the direction of culture.
Technology¶
Technology is the process of thinking and problem solving. It does not hold a shape or status. That shape is defined through culture. Culture is the motor definition of technological incorporation. Technology in itself is defined by trends. Trends in the sense of craving the modernity, craving the progress towards a competition state of production. Highly formulated for progress as productivity and efficiency.
Today, seen as the replacement of the human input. Physically. And the application of technology need clear guidelines and intentions. And culture creates its scenarios. Solar or Cyber-punk. I stand by the vision of seeing tech as a collaboration instead of a subordinate. Working for the enhancement of human capacity. I don’t need to be anything more. But I am enthusiastic on the possibility of collaborating with non-human matter. And technology allows it, permeating the layers of communication and behaviour.
Technology is nor biomimicry nor beyond bio. It gets intertwined with the organism and the intelectual sphere.