William Lockett, Holly Herndon, Antonio Torralba, Markus Buehler, Gary Tomlinson are the Deep Time & Intelligence panelists 

How has computation shaped the concept of intelligence? What models for the unfolding in time of thought does it provide? This panel takes up the question of intelligence by addressing time scales from that of the infant to that of evolution. In the lived time of thinking and doing, rhythm and reflection interweave with anticipation and forecasting. Temporal forms, like recursion, also structure training protocols used in computational models of thinking and sensing. From a composer musician who sees the training of AI as a novel ritual form to a musicologist of paleolithic sonic intelligence and a computer scientist’s account of multi-modal sensory training inputs, this panel resituates AI within the long durée of thinking and microbursts of ingenuity called training or learning.

Convened by William Lockett.

Deep Time & Intelligence https://unfoldingai.mit.edu/#deep-time 
Video Release: Friday, April 2, 2021 / 9:00am EDT
Live Q&A: Monday, April 5, 2021 / 11:00am–12:00pm EDT 

MEDIA HISTORY

William Lockett

MATERIAL SCIENCE

Markus J. Buehler

DIGITAL MUSIC AND COMPOSITION

Holly Herndon

MUSICOLOGY

Gary Tomlinson

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Antonio Torralba

“Unfolding Intelligence: The Art and Science of Contemporary Computation” gathers artists, scientists, and humanists to discuss aesthetic, technical, and critical issues pertaining to artificial intelligence (AI) and computation. The goal of this interdisciplinary conversation is to bridge popular and tech-world understandings of AI as well as domain-specific, academic, and artistic approaches. The panel discussions stage art-science encounters with the goal of mingling otherwise enclosed areas of research, allowing for new public scrutiny and creating an inclusive field of inquiry that encourages a socially engaged view of our machines.  

The four “Unfolding Intelligence” panels address the following questions: How do recent tools in computation shape the models that scientists, artists, and engineers make of the world and universe? Can artists and scientists create a world in which Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and artificial intelligence (AI) are meaningfully brought together? Can AI and software systems explain how historically recalcitrant forms of oppression persist, embedded in our technologies? Can these same agents possibly provide alternative ways of being and living together? How has computation shaped the concept of intelligence and what models for the unfolding or formation of ideas does it provide?

Full April 1-9 symposium info: https://unfoldingai.mit.edu