(In response to “BIOTOPES”)
I think by the time we attempt to create artificial life, we have become a part of the ecology of that life, we have become part of the swarm. By creating artificial life, we are collaborating with the world we create. The AL has agency as we do. We are no gods to the life we create. We co-exist and continue to grow together.
This applies to art making of any kind to me. We gather materials, build an idea around them, collaborate with them throughout the whole process, and create a new meaning into the piece and let it out into the wild to take on its new life. We are no creators, we are collaborators.
I think as humans we tend to think that we are the center of everything, but we are just a part of our ecology. Of course, as humans, we have made a lot of footprints around the earth. Some might be more damaging to the other beings around us, and it’s important to be aware of these things. We’re not above any other beings around us, no other beings are worth suffering because of our footprints.
This human-centric beliefs tend to deter us from exploring new lives around us. Whether it’s artificial life, artificial intelligence, or intraterrestrial and extraterrestrial lives. Maybe the reason why we haven’t gotten in contact with the aliens that we dream of in science fiction is because we are so focused on finding a human-like life around us.
Maybe if we let go of our human ego for one second, we’d start seeing lives all around us.
Nilam Sari 