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November 19, 2024, 4.15 pm
Campus Westend, Casino 1.812

The vast amount of data that is readily uploaded through the internet and cloud computing and made accessible to the public has produced a substantial archive of information, which requires the excavation from artificial intelligence now to allow the biological memory to cope with overinformation that it is unable to accommodate by itself. Nevertheless, this emerging technology in the form of artificial intelligence is no longer innocuous. It is capable of not only supplementing human memory in the form of supporting it but also manipulating and even replacing it. This leaves us with more questions than answers concerning the nature of memory regarding human understanding and creativity when dealing with the electronic species capable of exerting influence largely independent of any human involvement.

The discussion here will focus on cinema, which could be considered a repository of human memory to address questions of this nature. Cinema has always sought to position itself as an “intellectual robot" (Jean Epstein) equipped with a “kino-eye" (Dziga Vertov) capable of revealing things that humans may never be able to discern on their own. Nevertheless, cinema has so far been subject to the controlled manipulation of humans. Nonetheless, AI has enabled the intellectual robot to become free, as can be seen in the work of AI Benjamin, a scriptwriter for a few films, whose vision was then interpreted by actors. When given the opportunity, AI Benjamin wrote, directed, and even “acted" in Zone Out, a film prepared from open-source data of online films. Is there anything creative about what AI Benjamin did with its algorithmic manipulation and what it means for human memory when interacting with an active “new memory?"

“Mental health matters” argue IEAS members Annika Janßen, Jan-Erik Leonhardt, Britta Viebrock and former IEAS member Viviane Lohe. The newest issue of “Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht English” contains a wealth of ideas for addressing the topics of health, including mental health, in a variety of ways while also fostering EFL competencies. 

Room IG 311

John McLeod is Professor of Postcolonial and Diaspora Literatures at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the author of Global Trespassers: Sanctioned Mobility in Contemporary Culture (LUP, 2024), Life Lines: Writing Transcultural Adoption (Bloomsbury, 2015), Postcolonial London: Rewriting the Metropolis (Routledge, 2004), and Beginning Postcolonialism (MUP, 2000), as well as co-editor of the Ohio State University Press book series, 'Formations: Adoption, Kinship, and Culture'.

More on the Forum of Global Anglophone Literatures and Cultures:

Goethe University’s “Kleine Genderprojekte” has funded a new project! In the coming year, Jules Bündgens-Kosten will interview trans stakeholders about their experiences with and perspectives on English language teaching.