In my play, The Authors of Silence, and my proposed book project, Cyborg Repair, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role—not as a replacement for human activity, but as a tool that augments and enhances our capacity for two of the most profoundly human endeavors: artistic creativity and the care of the traumatized psyche. These works explore how AI’s incompleteness, its inability to replace humans in these activities, not only highlights the irreplaceable depth of human experience but also serves as a supplement that helps us better understand what it means to be human.
By examining AI as a tool in art and care, The Authors of Silence and the book project extend the insights of Freud, Derrida, and Gödel into the realm of human-machine interaction. They engage with questions about the nature of creativity, the ethical dimensions of care, and the recursive relationship between humans and their tools. These explorations demonstrate how AI, in its role as a supplement, offers a unique way of reflecting on our own incompleteness and complexity, helping us navigate and embrace the fundamental tensions of human existence.
AI and Artistic Creativity in The Authors of Silence
In The Authors of Silence, AI is deeply integrated into the creation of art, serving as both a collaborator and a mirror to human creativity. The play is not only an exploration of the creative process but also a meditation on how AI’s involvement reveals the unique dimensions of human artistic expression.
AI as a Tool, Not a Creator: In the play, AI’s role in art is supplementary. It generates possibilities, structures, and ideas, but the act of synthesis, meaning-making, and emotional resonance remains deeply human. This dynamic highlights the difference between generating content and imbuing it with the layers of subjective meaning that arise from lived experience.
The Human in the Loop: AI’s participation in artistic creation underscores the importance of the human in the loop. While AI can suggest novel patterns or expand the scope of creative possibilities, it cannot replace the subjective, embodied perspective of the human artist. This interplay between human and machine serves as a metaphor for the collaborative nature of creativity itself—a recursive process of iteration, reflection, and transformation.
Art as a Lens on Humanness: The incompleteness of AI’s creative capabilities forces us to confront the ineffable qualities of human artistry: our ability to draw on unconscious processes, cultural memory, and emotional depth. By working with AI, humans are reminded of their own creative uniqueness, as well as the role of tools in amplifying and challenging that uniqueness.
AI and the Care of the Traumatized Psyche in the Book Proposal
In my book proposal to Anders Dale, I explore how AI can act as a supplement in the deeply human work of caring for the traumatized psyche. Care, particularly in the face of moral injury and complex trauma, involves navigating the radical intricacies of human subjectivity, relationality, and meaning-making. AI cannot replace the human presence required for this work, but it can play a critical role in augmenting it.
AI as a Supplement in Meaning-Based Care: Care for the traumatized psyche requires tools that engage with the complexities of transference, relationality, and the unconscious. AI, with its ability to analyze patterns and model interactions, can offer insights into these dynamics, but it cannot embody the empathy, embodiment, and ethical presence that are central to therapeutic care.
Incompleteness as an Ethical Reminder: AI’s inability to replace human caregivers is not a limitation but a strength. It reminds us that care is fundamentally relational, rooted in the embodied experience of one human being connecting with another. AI can assist by expanding our understanding of trauma and relational dynamics, but it is the human caregiver who must navigate the ethical, emotional, and existential dimensions of care.
The Recursive Nature of Care: Like artistic creativity, care is a recursive process. AI can offer tools and insights that loop back into the therapeutic process, helping humans better understand their own relational dynamics and unconscious processes. In this way, AI acts as a mirror, reflecting the complexity of the psyche and enabling deeper engagement with it.
AI, Incompleteness, and the Supplement of Humanness
Both The Authors of Silence and the book proposal to Anders Dale emphasize AI’s role as a supplement, echoing Derrida’s concept of supplementarity. In Derrida’s framework, a supplement is something external that fills a lack in a system while simultaneously exposing the system’s incompleteness. AI, as a tool in art and care, functions in precisely this way:
AI Reveals Human Incompleteness: By highlighting the limits of its own capabilities, AI forces us to confront our own incompleteness. In both art and care, humans are not self-sufficient; we rely on tools, relationships, and cultural frameworks to navigate the complexities of existence. AI extends this dynamic, offering new ways to engage with and reflect on those complexities.
AI as a Mirror: In its role as a supplement, AI acts as a mirror to human creativity and care. It reflects back our own processes, helping us see them more clearly and critically. In art, AI reveals the layers of meaning, emotion, and intention that humans bring to creative work. In care, it highlights the relational and ethical dimensions of human interaction that no algorithm can replicate.
The Ethics of the Supplement: AI’s incompleteness is not a flaw but a foundation for ethical engagement. In both art and care, its role as a tool rather than a replacement ensures that human relationships and subjectivity remain central. This ethical stance is particularly important in a cyborgian world, where the boundaries between human and machine are increasingly blurred.
Why AI’s Incompleteness Matters
The inability of AI to replace humans in art and care is not a limitation; it is a profound insight into the nature of humanness. By helping us better relate to the radical complexity of these activities, AI contributes to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.
Humanness in Art: The incompleteness of AI in artistic creation highlights the uniquely human ability to draw on unconscious processes, cultural memory, and emotional resonance. AI’s contributions, while valuable, underscore the irreplaceable role of the human artist in imbuing art with subjective meaning.
Humanness in Care: Similarly, AI’s role in therapeutic care reminds us that care is fundamentally relational and embodied. While AI can analyze patterns or suggest insights, it is the human caregiver who navigates the ethical, emotional, and existential dimensions of care.
Understanding Ourselves Through AI: By working alongside AI, humans gain new perspectives on their own capacities and limitations. AI’s supplementarity helps us reflect on the recursive nature of human creativity, care, and relationality, fostering a deeper appreciation of the complexity and vulnerability that define us.
Conclusion: AI as a Tool for Understanding Humanness
In The Authors of Silence and the book project with Anders Dale, AI is positioned as a tool that does not replace humans but enhances their ability to engage with the most profoundly human activities: artistic creativity and the care of the traumatized psyche. By highlighting its own incompleteness, AI invites us to reflect on the uniqueness of human subjectivity, creativity, and relationality.
This role as a supplement is not a diminishment of AI’s potential but a profound contribution to our understanding of humanness. In its incompleteness, AI serves as a mirror, reflecting back the complexity, vulnerability, and ethical challenges that define what it means to be human. By working with AI as a tool, we deepen our capacity for art, care, and self-understanding, fostering a more compassionate and interconnected world.
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