Automated Utopia – Reflections

Doomsday Book is a sci-fi film directed by Kim Jee Woon and Yim Pil-Sung. It tells three stories of human self-destruction in the futuristic high-tech era. The one presented by guest lecture Bin was the second story, Heavenly Creature, a story about how a robot claims to have achieve enlightenment while employed in a Buddhist Monastery, hence the term Robot Buddha.

What would be the role of humans in a future driven by AI technology?

This film challenges the idea of how humans think that only “humans” are capable of achieving enlightenment and when faced with contrary situation, they see it as a flaw/glitch and wants to destroy it.

I believe the relationship between AI and humans is a never-ending conversation where both sides continuously learn from each other, both ultimately aiming to achieve the highest level of intelligence.

How it relates to Interactive Design?

If we see interactive design as a form of AI, trying to mimic the human mind to provide meaningful interaction, it is like trying to re-design the last missing puzzle piece by examining the surrounding puzzle pieces. We might be able to learn how to formulate a design which is interactive in every aspect from the physical and sensory to the non-tangible and mental or psychological. A fully interactive design that can be seen as “human” which can result in a co-dependent relationship with human beings.  This relationship thus pushes the boundaries for exploration into many different disciplines like maths, science, philosophy, history, art and many others.

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