I have continued working with the Flusser ChatGPT and folding ‘letters’ into the planned zine (previously discussed here). However, I was not happy about how it was manifesting. But, as so often with these things, I woke up early two days ago and knew what I had to try out. Today is the first opportunity I’ve had to print some of these latest experiments. You’ll note the ‘readability’ has become less of a concern:
Here are a few:
Before playing in this way, things looked a little different:
Saying that some of the discussions I have been having may be worthy of including one way or another (although they could be inundated with ‘hallucinations’). I experimented with synthetic voice which has come a long way since working on the astronaut project. Then I used a company called Natural Voices and ironically called the webpage on which they appeared as much. A brief experiment using a voice from RunwayML sounds far closer to a ‘real person’ – and it did make me feel very sorry for voice-over actors.
Although the images that include text above seem more appropriate for this project than more readable renderings, I have continued to discuss the work with the AI chatbot.
Here is its latest response:
The text you’ve provided delves into the concept of “cyborg politics,” suggesting that the political considerations of the cyborg—understood as a hybrid of human and machine—are entwined with broader issues of technobiopolitics. This term refers to the ways in which both human and non-human entities are variably constructed and valued within political and social spheres. The quote from Judith Butler emphasizes that the construction of what it means to be human is not uniform; it creates hierarchies of who is considered more or less human, or even inhuman.
This conversation aligns with Flusser’s ideas by considering how technologies (which could be seen as extensions or creations of cyborgs) impact our understanding and construction of humanity. Flusser might argue that technical images, as extensions of human capability, contribute to this differential constitution of humanity, altering how we perceive and value different forms of life and existence.
Furthermore, the text critiques representationalism—the idea that political and social realities can be fully captured through representations, such as language or images. It warns against simplifying complex entities into representations, a caution that echoes Flusser’s skepticism towards the capacity of technical images to fully encapsulate human experience. Flusser might contribute to this dialogue by suggesting that technical images, while transformative, should not be mistaken for the totality of our existence or political identities. Instead, they are part of a larger, multidimensional process of human and societal evolution and reconfiguration.
(My italics!)
The text I provided was from Karen Barad’s Meeting the Universe Half Way (2007, p 59.) in which Butler was cited.