The rapid progress of technology and innovation, in terms of its volume, complexity, and exponential growth in computing power, have drastically changed how we socialize, communicate, access, share, distribute and view knowledge and information. Is AI inevitable, inescapable, a fait accompli for Indigenous peoples?
In a conversation with our editor, Elaine Treharne reflects on the synergy between Medieval studies and technological innovation, pathbreaking student research at CESTA, and the challenges digital humanists navigate at Stanford.
In a conversation with our editor, Nicole Coleman reflects on her career at Stanford's Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis and the promises and challenges of interdisciplinary teaching and research.
Does AI represent a radically new direction for humanity? Or is it simply the latest iteration of a myth structuring our world into a hierarchy that glorifies the divine at the expense of the mundane?
Primitive hunter-gatherers, given the broad range of tasks they had to carry out to survive, have a skill set more immune to the “cognitive” smarts of new AI technologies than a highly educated, highly specialized service worker! This reveals something about both the nature of AI and the nature of the division of labor in contemporary capitalism. It helps us understand that AI systems are best viewed as idiot savants, not Renaissance Men.
Stanford Humanities Center
