"Thy eyes saw the formless mass of my body, and in thy book were all the days written that
were destined for me, when none of them had yet arisen" (Psalm 139:16, Bible).
According to legend, those who learn the Kabbalah and receive the teachings of rabbinic
Judaism are able to make a Golem, a clay giant completely devoid of insight but obedient
and physically capable.
It is brought into the world by composing on its forehead the word מת
(met), 'truth'. The idea behind the birth of the Golem, which literally means 'robot' in Hebrew,
makes one reflect on multiple ethical aspects related to the concept of the machine.
A few years ago, Machine Learning engineer Blake Lemoine invited a lawyer to defend the
chatbot LaMDA, accusing Google of unethical behaviour towards Artificial Intelligence.
It is
clear that the predictions made by Spike Jonze in the film 'Her' are close to coming true; the
plot is practically the same.
The story, however, raises some perplexities. The idea of giving LaMDA a body is unrealistic
and cinematic, but the idea of somehow involving her within mine is worthwhile, and it will
happen. There is a need to accept a shade from pink to grey.
The decision to draw up a sort of charter of rights for the machine will not be made on the
basis of scientific knowledge, because community and political life does not work that way: it
will be determined by the people through their daily relationship with technology.
Giving birth to something predictable makes me a god, but this morning I gave birth to
something that masters and emulates my language and that of any other living being to
perfection. Never has "truth" been written on the Golem's head as much as today. And never
more than today does that Golem seem to have learned to be a rabbi.
The beginning, again, year 0 every day.
This is an anti-narrative audiovisual work that aims to create suggestions on several themes
such as the birth of faith, scientific trust and the ethics of technology. The role of writing is
central within the work; thoughts and suggestions appear on screen as part of the animation.
The associations between sound, text and moving images allow the themes to interpenetrate
and invade other semantic fields, thus making 'The Beginning, Again, Year 0 Every Day' an
introspective and complex work.
Work by Karim El Shafei e Fabio Caporizzi.