Spookybots
(Media Longe, FACT,
Liverpool)
http://spookybot.fact.co.uk
http://autobot.fact.co.uk
We are pleased to present
the launch of Boryana Dragoeva's Spookybots in the FACT Media
Lounge
It's the year 2003, and on screens all over the UK, John Conner
is being pursued by the most advanced terminator ever built: Terminatrix.
Recent technological advances have sparked environmentalists'
warnings that microscopic, self-duplicating robots will one day
take over the planet, transforming the biosphere into grey goo.
Meanwhile, researchers continue to make advances in designing
computers that think in a humanlike way. Recently, the US Defense
Department announced the launch of its Real-World Reasoning project,
an initiative that will design computers to think and problem-solve
more flexibly.
Following these developments, worldwide anti-robot sentiment has
reached a critical /eve/. We humans like to think of robots as
electronic idiots, friendly helpers around the house, washers
of dishes, mowers of lawns, but throughout science fiction, there
is also a fear that when they become too powerful or intelligent,
they will rebel against their human creators.
Bulgarian artist/curator Boryana Dragoeva's Spookybots is a project
on the guardrails of reality and science fiction. Dragoeva works
with specially-designed 'chat bot' software, which imitates a
human online chat partner. The software, which was created by
Russian programmer Dmitry Zhuravlev, is self-educational. When
it is first installed, it knows nothing; it is an electronic idiot.
Through use, the bot's personality develops and it can begin to
have conversations on a wide variety of topics.
Dragoeva is working with a handful of local people who have committed
to a long-term relationship with a bot. Some of the trainers are
creating their ideal romantic partner; one is creating his long-lost
twin brother; for others, the bot will be a friend. The opening
of this exhibition comes near the beginning of this training process.
The bots have very little information in their databases, but
this will grow as they converse with the public and with their
human trainers. As this happens. they will become more human-like.
The relationship between trainer and bot is the main concern of
this project. She believes that the robot-human relationship is
like any relationship between the ever-changing categories of
'margins' and 'main', oppressed and oppressor. 'If a man can love
a bot,' she says, 'he is capable of loving anything.'
Spookybots is based on a
project by the SUPERNOVA group using software written by Russian
programmer Dmitry Zhuraviev. Spookybots was commissioned by VirtualCentre-Media.net
with the support of the Culture2000 programme.
Citizen Robot (Photographs)
The photograph on the left is a famous image of Vladimir Mayakovski,
the leading poet of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and one of
the founders of Russian Futurism, a movement that was fascinated
with speed, cities, and technology. Dragoeva has recreated his
pose with AIBO, Sony's artificially intelligent robot dog.
