Existential Hope and Existential Despair in Ai Apocalypticism and Transhumanism

Abstract

Drawing on observations from on‐ and offline fieldwork among transhumanists and artificial superintelligence/singularity‐focused groups, this article will explore an anthropology of anxiety around the hoped for, or feared, posthuman future. It will lay out some of the varieties of existential hope and existential despair found in these discussions about predicted events such as the “end of the world” and place them within an anthropological theoretical framework. Two examples will be considered. First, the optimism observed at a transhumanist event will be examined to emphasize the positive affective aspects of certain apocalypse scenarios, especially those with an implicit eschatological direction. Second, an online location where examples of existential despair can be noted will be explored further to demonstrate the kinds of negative responses to certain superintelligence/singularity ideas. These examples of existential hope and despair will demonstrate the intrinsic role of anxiety in ideas about a future artificial intelligence apocalypse.

Good Robots, Bad Robots: Morally Valenced Behavior Effects on Perceived Mind, Morality, and Trust

“…The care/harm foundation is grounded in humans' propensity for social attachment and linked to virtues of kindness, gentleness, and compassion. The potential for robots to harm or care for humans is perhaps the most widely studied moral foundation, potentially driven by imagined posthumanism and transhumanism futures (as a feared or hoped-for existential shift [32]). Harm by robots is linked to apprehension of machine agents in myriad populations (e.g., factory workers [33]) while other populations see value in the potential for robots to offer social and functional care (e.g., in the care of older adults [34]).…”

The AI Creation Meme: A Case Study of the New Visibility of Religion in Artificial Intelligence Discourse

“…We need to recognize where existing anthropological frameworks give us insights into the behaviors and products inspired by AI. Elsewhere, I have used the work of anthropologists Victor Turner and Mary Douglas and the philosopher Julia Kristeva to think of AI as a liminal object in our conception of the minds of others and highlighted how apocalypticism emerges from abject fears of 'Mind out of Place' (Singler 2019). The AI Creation Meme represents a playful but thematically powerful remixing of existing supernatural concepts which plays with the liminal space of creation, as well as the inherent liminal space created by the 20th-century technology and participatory culture of the 'meme' format itself.…”

“…This is much as Ornella described the New Visibility of Religion, using the example of the film Children of Men in the eponymous 2008 volume by Ward and Hoezl. My previous research into the religious expressions, motifs, and behaviors of transhumanist and post-humanist groups has demonstrated continuities of thought even in aggressively secular, or New Atheist, spaces (see Singler 2018bSingler , 2019. We can also see how popular discourse is also informed by both religious motifs and symbolism when engaging with new technology, as in the case of the 'Blessed by the Algorithm' tweets I have explored in a forthcoming article (Singler 2020).…”

A comprehensive survey on humanoid robot development

“…As an example, this is shown on the released video 2 of the latest version of an Atlas 1 http://en.robotis.com 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LikxFZZO2sk humanoid robot by Boston Dynamics. With this actuator technology, Atlas is able to leap over obstacles nimbly and spring up higher levels set out in a warehouse-like space (Singler, 2019). Thus, using hydraulic actuators can be an excellent choice to be free from insufficient joint torque problems if we ignore their high cost.…”