Ex Machina | The death of God, Art, and Humanity (video essay)

CHAPTERS:
0:00 God is dead
1:40 "Art is dead, dude"
2:54 What "human" really means
7:10 Do we "believe" in Star Wars?
13:50 Our Nietzschean Coffin
15:50 If we aren't "human," what are we?
18:09 We are dead
OVERVIEW:
This video essay is about "humanity" -- both the word itself and its philosophical ramifications. Modern humans widely proclaim themselves to be areligious, but is this really true? The argument I aim to make in this video is as follows: we humans never stopped being "religious." One simple way to tell this is by looking at the word: "human." Not by looking at its dictionary definition, but by looking at how we wield that word in our everyday lives. I argue that one of the primary components of the category of "human" is art. Art has always been a gift that only humans possess; it's always been our claim to divinity. That is, until recently. If art was our claim to divinity, or rather, if art was the manifestation of our yearning towards divinity, what does it mean that A.I. can create art just like ours? Maybe we aren't as divine as we think. Maybe we aren't as special as we think. Maybe "god," the anchor of our transcendence, really is dead. The "death of god" is chronicled beautifully in Alex Garland's 2015 film "Ex Machine," as is a cautionary tale of sorts; when we kill god, and when we replace him with ourselves, perhaps the cycle will only continue, and we too will be killed by our own creation. Maybe our own creation, such as A.I. art, will only kill us spiritually -- kill us conceptually. This, although preferable to death, is a catastrophe in itself. But maybe it's one we can overcome.
Disclaimer about Nietzsche:
Trying to decipher Nietzsche's true feelings and intentions about "the death of god" has proven a challenge for students of philosophy. On one hand, he spins a tale of our coming doom now that we've killed god and now that the foundation of our civilization has effectively crumbled, but on the other, he celebrates this doom, standing triumphant over the corpse of god as if he's defeated an enemy (in this case, Christianity) in battle. In this video, I frame his take on the matter as if he's sickened by the death of god, but -- of course -- this isn't the whole story.
JARED BAUER'S VIDEO:
• STAR WARS: Do We Belie...

[@CassidyListon]

Man. This is the start of a great channel.

[@earthtohannah.]

as a writer the phrase "art is dead" confuses me. if art has no rules and it means more than just paintings and drawings(it expands further to writing, music, and acting/theater) than how can a.i. creating an image kill it? despite a.i. seemingly being better at art, which we invented the standards for, i think its just showing us that we lack creativity. we are told that we will never be able to make something that someone hasn't done better so we refuse to even try. art is not dead its lacking creativity. lastly a.i. is making beautiful but lifeless art, there's no human or emotional element to it which makes art so much more beautiful. that element helps connect the viewer with a piece of art rather than it being lifeless.

[@real_katagiri]

As a composer, I couldn't agree more

[@willing1043]

I disagree slightly, but not on the level you’re thinking on. I just think that process is dying slightly. Art feels like it can be… manufactured? An ai just does the work for us right? So I just wish there was a way to incentivize people to learn the processes. In all of their imperfect glory.

[@earthtohannah.]

@@willing1043 well i'm not sure art can just be "manufactured" per say. let me explain something quick: i used to be really obsessed with vfx and everything connected to it, and as a beginner one of the quotes i memorized from someone who had been doing vfx for years was "imperfection is the digital perfection". the same thing applies to art. an a.i. can't add the imperfections and emotions of a painting or for song lyrics. it may look like a da vinci painting but it doesn't have the mysterious smile and eyes that made the mona lisa one of the most famous paintings ever. so i think a.i., much like vfx, is a tool that can be useful but when over used you loose creativity which is the life of art......sorry for the long rant.

[@elemental7726]

the answer “I think, therefore I am” completely contradicts the whole premise of Humans being Divine if AI can do it too.

[@lincolnsmith6303]

Cracking mate, Great work you're doing!

[@Proctor_Conley]

I value this highly, Thank You.

[@SplatterInker]

I'd be careful assuming a hierachy between man and animal is innate. There are world cultures (usually those with less hierarchical structures of human organisation) which very much see us as animals. And as having a duty to play a role in community with other animals, not as its leader/dominator/master. Would be interesting to see you explore more of that.

[@joshuacollins6821]

Always a great day when you post a video. Thank you so much 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@Feefa99]

All human made art is essentially extension of artist, you could say a form of communication. If you are making an art as business especially this way with AI, it will be soulless and valueless because people value skill, experience and effort. Artist makes art not for sake of profit only, artists want to say something, people want to be moved by poetry, music, painting or with photos. I think AI has place for usage especially in science, but it should be only tool for some creative work or in really time-consuming repetitive labor, definitely not as replacement for whole artist. That's why this insecurity is very understandable, when AI is not sentient and can't have feelings. It's form of expression of individual or group, not something devine in us.

[@marsOrBust7816]

I know this video was really about what it means to be human but I argue we really aren't at that crisis of faith with AI art yet. It is astonishingly good but it is still completely dependent on human creativity in its training sets. It can create novelty but it is not creative per se and therefore not truly generative. As of now, I consider AI art to be an extremely unique digital tool for human artists. As we approach AGI I will start to worry. I don't think Nietzsche was wrong though, science has completely failed to fill the void of divinity, revealing only axiomatic particles in place of divine intellect.