“Strange Cognitions: SF and the Metanovum,” Brian’s Plenary Lecture for the Université de Montréal’s Science Fiction Colloquium, argued for a new understanding of SF’s relation to actually existing AIs. Throughout his talk, he compared fictional representations of artificial intelligence with actually existing AIs like “Rachel,” which (who?) was built by Carleton’s own Kate Dudzik and Dr. Robert West.
Together, Greenspan, Dudzik and West are exploring the areas of research that connect Cognitive Scientists and Digital Humanities. “Kate has really been driving this collaboration,” Brian notes. “She pointed out that in order to build an AI that people will use and trust, you first have to understand why we fear and resist intelligent machines so intensely. And science fiction provides a cultural record of our historical, intellectual, and affective responses to the promise of non-human consciousness.”
Kate and Rob workshopped their approach to building AIs with the Python ACT-R framework at DHSITE 2017.