Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024)
One more possibility

Articles

Artificial Intelligence: Utopia and Subjectlessness

Published 2024-07-03

  • Ekaterina Alexeeva

Ekaterina Alexeeva
State Academic University of Humanities image/svg+xml

Abstract

The article proposes that some properties of artificial intelligence allow it to become a part of modern utopian thinking. Utopia is understood as accumulated collective desires that can guide the activity of communities in opposition to its classical literary and philosophical meaning. Utopia, on the one hand, is aimed at forming ideas about what does not exist yet. On the other hand, it is aimed at establishing some proper order of things, which is necessary beyond the will of individual subjects. Therefore, it is assumed that one of the key properties of the utopian order of things is subjectlessness – the absence of the properties of subjectivity (for example: consciousness and reflexivity, self-perception, experience, ability to purposeful action, etc.). The article considers various artificial intelligence projects, including AGI, which are divided by the degree of their anthropomorphism. It is shown that the most probable scenarios of AI development are related to the development of artificial systems that do not possess subjectivity, nevertheless being significant actors. This is considered as one of the reasons why contemporary utopian thinking assumes that the development of artificial intelligence can lead to the realization of utopian projects. Such projects are possible not only in the political sphere, but also in the field of epistemic practices. It is shown how artificial intelligence becomes a part of epistemic and political utopias. 

Keywords

Artificial intelligence, utopia, subject, actor, subjectlessness, epistemic practices, politics

PDF (Russian)

Author Biography

Ekaterina Alexeeva

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Epistemology and Logic, Faculty of Philosophy, State Academic University for the Humanities.

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