Thank you to the anonymous reviewers of my proposal, your feedback was thoughtful, relevant, and constructive for my thesis development.
All my reviewers came back with similar feedback, that my proposed concept was quite broad and not specific enough to make progress on or adequately critique. Which in retrospect is true 😅. With that feedback, I really spent time with my thoughts and references to specify exactly what I wanted to focus on in terms of AI, Spirit, Consciousness, and Spirituality. These are very broad ideas with plenty of rich overlap, but for the sake of my thesis, I need to narrow !!
After more reading and writing, I realized that in order to have discussions on non-human intelligence, consciousness, and spirituality, it would be helpful to answer the question: What is spirit?
Here’s what I think my updated (and more actionable) thesis concept should be:
- How can ideas and theories of spirit and spirituality help us develop empathy for non-human systems, and help us further develop a more positive, collective ecology with nature?
- How can I develop sculpture that challenges popular ideas of Anthropocentrism, and reorient the human’s relationship with nature?
Or put more plainly:
Can I develop interactive experiences that challenge ideas of human superiority and exceptionalism? Can I develop experiences that act as a mirror for reflection of human interaction and behavior?
I think this is what I originally tried to ask with my first proposal, but this feels more specific and actionable. I know I need to start making, but this reframe feels productive and tighter in scope. Will report back soon 🫡