Introduction (README)
We begin with the idea that when scholars convene, they generate some sort of report of their activities. When it’s a meeting, there are minutes. When it’s a seminar, various people might take notes. When it’s a transgressive methods workshop focused on AI as an interlocutor in the conversation about finding meaning, we co-create a report with the AI.
What follows emerged from human participants and OpenAI taking turns to write a line or two of this report. The AI words are in boldface font while words written by humans are not. As the AI wrote: The goal is to produce a coherent report that highlights the different aspects of storytelling, including plot, character, setting, and so on. We might want to resist this formulation –that the “story” of our meeting is to include “plot, character, setting,” but on the other hand, when we see this, it functions as a prompt to think otherwise about what we presumed this workshop would be about in the first place.
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AIs have always been with us, in one form or another. They are our intimate others, always there in the background, shaping our lives and our thoughts: shaping, and (more often) transforming our initial expectations and enabling a more transgressive approach.
When we think about the future, we often think about AI. In particular, we think about how AI will transform our lives and our world. We imagine future worlds in which AI is ubiquitous, and in which we have to grapple with the implications of this new technology.
However, we recognise our limitations, both in terms of our humanities orientation, but also in terms of social class, gendered perspectives, human biases, and general disposition towards the factors we have always privileged.
We also recognise that AI is not a monolithic entity, but rather a set of technologies with different capabilities and limitations. As such, AI can be used for good or for ill, depending on the context in which it is used.
In this report, we will explore the concept of transgression. Transgression is a very broad concept and is rarely discussed in relationship with technology.
We will first consider the concept of transgression in general, and then we will look at how AI technologies can function as intimate others in our everyday storytelling.
Crossing a boundary creates a moment of liminality, between one side and another, when all possibilities of past and present coalesce.
Transgression is often seen as a negative act, something that should be avoided. However, we believe that transgression can also be a positive force, enabling new ways of thinking and acting.
In particular, we believe that transgression can be a powerful tool for critical thinking and speculative thinking about the future.
When we think about the future, we often think about AI. In particular, we think about how AI will transform our lives and our world. We imagine future worlds in which AI is ubiquitous, and in which we have to grapple with the implications of this new technology I need to put a sentence here. I don’t know. it is your own sentence. something don’t remember. if you don’t remember it, you are not going to write it. that’s right. righter. shut up.
We also recognise that AI is not a monolithic entity, but rather a set of technologies with different capabilities and limitations. As such, AI can be used for good or for ill, depending on the context in which it is used.
In this report, we will explore the concept textual, visual, and sonic elements that combine in digital environments, differentiating our e-lit narratives from those we find in conventional print texts. In a word: a transgression.
We will first consider the concept of transgression in general, and then we will look at how AI technologies can function as intimate others in our everyday storytelling.
Whatever becomes of the interior monologue?
When we think about the future, we often think about AI. In particular, we think about how AI will transform our lives and our world. We imagine future worlds in which AI is ubiquitous, and in which we have to grapple with the implications of this new technology
Thinking Otherwise
This document can be read as a reasonable representation of the blah blah blah that accompanies meeting minutes and conference notes. After all, who really reads these things? More importantly, it serves as one of many provocations for this year’s Skagen Institute Workshop on Transgressive Methods, meaning the outcome is far less interesting as a product than as a prompt itself.
–Intro and conclusion of this post were produced by humans: Jill Walker Rettberg and Annette Markham. Responsibility for errata, factual errors, or glib thinking is shared by the human and nonhuman participants in this report.