About this Episode
This episode explores why the question of selfhood has become urgent in the context of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence and deepening political divisions. It examines how our implicit assumptions about what a self is—particularly the belief that true agency must be spontaneous and unscripted—can reinforce rigid, essentialist identities. These assumptions shape how we navigate questions of cultural appropriation, identity politics, and even mourning. By rethinking the self as something scripted, yet still agentic, the video proposes a shift in how we understand autonomy, belonging, and human values in an increasingly automated world.
About this Series
Scripting for Agency: An Artistic Enquiry into Selfhood, Character and Agency in the Age of AI is a video lecture series based on Dr Katarina Ranković’s practice-based PhD in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. Combining philosophy, performance, creative writing, and AI theory, the series explores how our understanding of the self shapes our personal lives, our politics, and our relationship to intelligent technologies.
Links
Series Playlist: https://bit.ly/sfa-series
PhD thesis (PDF format): https://bit.ly/sfa-pdf
Thesis artworks: https://bit.ly/sfa-art
References
- Fry, Hannah. Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine. London: Black Swan, 2019.
- Harari, Yuval Noah. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Vintage, 2018.
- Jonze, Spike. Her. United States: Warner Bros., 2013.
- Karras, Tero, Samuli Laine, and Timo Aila. “This Person Does Not Exist.” Nvidia. Updated December 2019. https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
- Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. London: Penguin, 2000.
- Luscombe, Richard. “Google Engineer Put on Leave after Saying AI Chatbot Has Become Sentient.” The Guardian, 12 June 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/technolog...
- McGraw, Kathleen M., and Thomas M. Dolan. “Personifying the State: Consequences for Attitude Formation.” Political Psychology 28, no. 3 (June 2007): 299–327.
- OpenAI. “GPT-3.” https://openai.com/blog/gpt-3-apps/
- OpenAI. “DALL-E 2.” https://openai.com/dall-e-2/
- Roberts, Tangela A., Sharon G. Horne, and William T. Hoyt. “Between a Gay and a Straight Place: Bisexual Individuals’ Experiences with Monosexism.” Journal of Bisexuality 15, no. 4 (2015): 554–569.
- Spielberg, Steven. A.I. Artificial Intelligence. United States: Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, 2001.
- The Britannica Dictionary. “Character.” https://www.britannica.com/dictionary...
- The Wachowskis. The Matrix. United States: Warner Bros., 1999.
- Unreal Engine. “Metahuman.” Released 2022. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/me...
- Watson, Sarah. The Bold Type. Canada: Freeform, 2017.