Last week I made my theater debut. At the invitation of MITsp (International Theater Exhibition of São Paulo) I made the voice of a robot in the show called “O Vale da Estranheza”. I didn’t have to go on stage, nor did any other actor.
The stage was occupied only by an articulated humanoid, carefully forged to resemble the German writer Thomas Melle, author of the text. For 60 minutes, the robot gives a lecture on the current state of technology, using the biography of Alan Turing, inventor of modern computing, and Melle’s own life story.
In the middle of the play, the articulated robot has panic attacks and nervous syncope, derived from the manic-depressive condition of its author. Plus, it’s a powerful reflection on our fascination with technology and how it became a poisoned apple (Alan Turing killed himself eating an apple dipped in cyanide). I had to recreate everything in Portuguese, a painful experience.
The reason is that the piece by the Rimini Protokoll group touches on points capable of disturbing anyone. Thomas Melle, for example, projected his entire mental condition of manic depression onto the robot. However, the robot on stage reproduces this condition – essentially human – as part of its predetermined programming. In every session he will have the same reactions.
The audience of the play also behaves within a script. Laughs at the parts with humor, reflects on the more meditative parts, and applauds when the play ends. Applaud who or what? Finally, he gathers at the end, with the robot already off, to take pictures of him, now inanimate.
The way this duality between programming and randomness (or system and organism) is portrayed in the play is uncomfortable. The robot constantly mocks the public that identifies with it and its sufferings, even when it explicitly exposes its gears and its artificiality.
This is the most powerful point of the piece: the way we are easily fascinated by our own tools. How they are able to capture our attention, even in a play performed by a robot. No one left the play criticizing whether the robot was a “good or bad actor”, nor did they consider analyzing whether its “direction” was correct.
They may have criticized my voice in the recreation of their lines, because my voice is human and therefore objectionable. Already the machine hovers above. It is spared these mundane analyses. It just fascinates and captures attention.
Therein lies the danger. Georges Bataille wrote in 1950 that “attention is always an effort, a search for a result. It is a form of work”. And more: “Attention is never contemplation: it captures us in the development of an indefinite, endless servitude.”
Information technology today fulfills this role. She is a gigantic drain on individual attention. Its objective is simple: to capture the full attention of each individual permanently and incessantly, leaving no gaps or breaths. This can even serve as a form of anesthesia, masking manias and depressions, but the price charged is very high. It is the price described by Bataille.
It’s over not have cryptocurrencies
Already HODL (holding cryptocurrencies without selling)
It’s coming BUIDL (the rallying cry of Web 3)
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
