LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
LOVE THY AI?:
AN ESSAY ON THE
INFLUENCES OF
THE CHRISTIAN
AND CONFUCIAN
ONTOLOGIES
ON CREATIVITY,
TECHNOLOGY AND
MEDIA ART
Fecha de recepción: 23 de agosto de 2023 Fecha de aceptación: 11 de marzo de 2024
Lisa SoYoung Park*
109 109/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
¿AMAS TU IA?:
UN ENSAYO SOBRE LAS
INFLUENCIAS DE LA
ONTOLOGÍA CRISTIANA
Y CONFUCIANA EN
LA CREATIVIDAD, LA
TECNOLOGÍA Y EL ARTE
MEDIÁTICO
*Postdoctoral Scholar, School of Creative Media, City University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
lisaparksoyoung@gmail.com | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5099-2747
Sugerencia de citación: Trickett, Park, Lisa SoYoung, Love Thy AI?: An Essay on the Influences of the Christian and Confucian
Ontologies on Creativity, Technology and Media Art. La Tadeo DeArte 9, n.°12,2023: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.21789/24223158.2138
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
This paper examines the anthropocentric orientation and critical view of
technology as traced within the theological doctrine of Christianity, vis-a-vis
the anthropocosmic and enabling, but less critical perspective, established
via Confucianism. It then examines how these distinct traditional worldviews
are amplified in the popular media of our contemporary milieu, that can then
influence the development and reception of Artificial Intelligence today in
dierent geographical locations. Through this comparison, this paper invites
readers to locate invisible influences that constrict our a-priori assumptions
by exploring and articulating previously occluded cultural perspectives
within the context of media art. Thereaer, the arena of new media art is
proposed as a conducive space and context upon which such inclinations
can be observed, discussed, and experimented with, in view of collectively
expanding and diversifying theories and discourses in the mainstream media
art-world.
ABSTRACT
>>>>>> Keywords:
Artificial
Intelligence;
Christianity;
Confucianism;
Ontology;
Human-
Technology
relationship;
Human and non-
human beings;
New media art;
Creativity;
Technology;
art.
111 111/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
RESUMEN
>>>>>>
Este artículo examina la orientación antropocéntrica y la visión crítica de la
tecnología tal como se trazan en la doctrina teológica del cristianismo, en
comparación con la perspectiva antropocósmica y facilitadora –pero menos
crítica– establecida a través del confucianismo. Luego examina cómo estas
distintas visiones del mundo tradicionales son amplificadas por los medios
de comunicación masiva de nuestro entorno contemporáneo, los cuales
pueden influir en el desarrollo y la recepción de la inteligencia artificial hoy
en día en diferentes ubicaciones geográficas. A través de esta comparación,
este artículo invita a los lectores a localizar las influencias invisibles que
restringen nuestras suposiciones a priori al explorar y articular perspectivas
culturales previamente ocluidas dentro del contexto del arte de los medios. A
partir de ahí, el ámbito del arte de los nuevos medios es propuesto como un
espacio y contexto propicio en el que se pueden observar, discutir y experi-
mentar tales inclinaciones, con vistas a expandir y diversificar colectivamen-
te las teorías y los discursos en el mundo del arte de los medios dominantes.
Palabras clave:
Inteligencia
artificial;
Cristianismo;
Confucianismo;
Ontología;
Relación
humano-
tecnología;
Seres humanos
y no humanos;
Arte de nuevos
medios;
Creatividad;
Tecnología;
arte.
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
The ontological framework and the historical lineage of cultures drive
and inform the conceptual horizon within which human beings perceive, con-
ceive and act upon our realities. As such, worldviews supported by religious
theologies oen influence the trajectories of the technological and technical
work. This situation can be particularly noticeable in theories related to
research in Artificial Intelligence (AI).1
This paper examines how the anthropocentric orientation of the
Christian theological doctrine has shaped popular imageries of humanoid
technologies and suggests how it may have influenced today’s AI devel-
opment, whether it be through resonance or via (pre)conscious negation.
Likewise, it examines how the Confucian cosmological worldview has shaped
a dierent approach toward non-human beings which, by extension, has
influenced the reception of AI in East Asia.
Even though Christianity and Confucianism are but two of countless
influences that weigh on our rapidly globalizing minds, they entail widely
distributed socio-cultural practices that have been repeatedly mobilized as
powerful political tools throughout their respective milieux. Despite their
apparent lack of relevance in today’s technological progress, their values re-
main deeply embedded in the foundations of our thoughts–although wheth-
er and how we apply these values is specific to each individual. Nevertheless,
much like how we can palpably feel cultural disparities emerging in intercul-
tural exchanges, the propensities set forth by these timeworn theologies can
still be observed when we take a step back from the individual and look from
the scale of the regional. While the complexities of these two vast trajecto-
ries of thought cannot be grasped in their entirety within this short text, this
paper focuses on their most popularized and still observable discourses, to
question how these two distinct perspectives live on in our world as invisible
inclinations that influence our minds.
I begin by examining the distinct ontological configurations that underlie
popularized views of human beings, vis-a-vis non-human beings, which also
inform the human-technology relationships. I will then explore the cultur-
ally embedded propensities that have been set forth by these seemingly
timeworn belief systems because they still play a part in the conception,
development, and reception of new technologies, such as AI. Upon exam-
ining the critical stance of Christian theology vis-a-vis the more positive
vision of technology espoused by the Confucian worldview, this paper
also highlights the growing urgency of constructing new philosophical and
pragmatic approaches towards technology via alternative ontological and
epistemological horizons that have long been occluded in global academic
discourse.2 As we approach a potentially transhumanist future amidst the
thickening Anthropocene, there is a critical need to re-imagine diverse new
ways in which we can coinhabit this planet. How can the field of new media
art contribute to such adaptation? How do we, as artists, curators and arts
administrators, engage in such philosophical undertakings?
INTRODUCTION
113 113/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
The theological doctrine of Christianity, as well as other monotheistic doc-
trines, such as that of Judaism, Sufism or Islam, depart from the premise that
human beings are created in the likeness of God (Imago Dei). This premise,
which is echoed in various aspects of the tradition, is oen interpreted as
en-framing human beings’ eminence over other beings. Historian Lynn White
Jr. argued that this biblical injunction of the human dominion over other
species, as well as the idea of God’s transcendence over the natural world,
has led to the general devaluation of nature against human beings and the
divine.3 By extension, this relative devaluation includes the non-human
beings created by humans through technology. Eastern theology scholar,
Mary Evelyn Tucker, also highlighted that this anthropocentric inclination has
much to do with the identification of human soul as the locus of interaction
between the divine and the human, especially within an eschatological worl-
dview, in which personal salvation is the prime concern.4 Religious studies
scholar, Harvey Graham, stated that this view of human uniqueness is prev-
alent in both Abrahamic religions, as well as in the western rationalism that
forms the key pillars of modernity. He argues that bestowing human quali-
ties–such as intelligence, rationality, consciousness, volition, agency, inten-
tionality, language and desire–to non-humans presents a radical challenge
to the conception of personhood.5 Therefore, attributing creative agency and
authorship to a non-human being not only challenges the fundamental tradi-
tional Christian worldview, it has also led to fascinating discourses building
up on the emergence of AI, as seen from the field of Christian theology.
HUMAN
& NON-
HUMAN
IN VIEW
OF IMAGO
DEI
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
On the other hand, in classical Chinese cosmology,
which resonates across various philosophical views that
are indigenous to East Asia, a holistic approach took
hold instead. In this worldview, “all existence [was seen
to be in] a continuum on which every aspect is undergo-
ing a constant process of transformation determined by
its own disposition and the matrix of conditions which
sponsor it.”6 This worldview places human and non-hu-
man counterparts on a slightly more equal partnership
with one another, through the notion of the “continuity
of being.”7 Within this perspective, all beings were seen
to be interconnected via Ch’i – “the material force or
psycho-physical element of the universe, …[through]…
a continual process and transformation [that links] inor-
ganic, organic and human life forms.”8 Moreover, unlike
monotheistic religions that require exclusive reverence
to one God, the syncretic aspect of Eastern religions
tolerated and sometimes actively incorporated dier-
ent belief systems to form a holistic viewpoint, as in the
case of Neo-Confucianism, which fused Buddhist and
Taoist worldviews into a Confucian foundation.9 Such
syncretic tendency can be contrasted to the relation-
ship Christianity had with Europe’s Pagan history, or
with many other indigenous belief systems that existed
prior to the era of colonization. As such, animistic ten-
dencies coming from folk religions such as Shintoism
co-constitute and resonate with the region’s world-
view,10 which contributes, at least in part, to Japan’s
enthusiastic embrace of humanizing AI and robotics.11
Within this holistic framework, human creativity
was of central concern, particularly for Confucianism,
as shown in its prime emphasis on self-cultivation,12
rather than life aer death. Alongside Confucian schol-
arship, creative endeavors such as calligraphy, poetry,
music, archery, charioteering and the likes, were highly
regarded as heuristic exercises required to nurture
moral and creative individuals with capacity to navigate
complex real-life situations in a morally balanced man-
ner.13 Tucker highlights that in developing this flexible
moral ability, human beings were “entering into the
cosmological processes of change and transformation”
within the holistic context of human beings forming
one body with heaven and earth. She highlights the
inherent requirement for humans to “participate fully in
the transformative aspects of the universe” within this
worldview, which she referred to as anthropocosmic.14
In other words, through Confucianism’s secular and
human-centric perspective that urges the cultivation of
the self to harmonize with the non-static entity of Ch’i
that flows throughout the dynamic triad (i.e. Human,
heaven & Earth), human beings were encouraged to
continually seek balance and harmony within the larger
universe through human endeavors, and to realize
them through human activities.15 In contrast to such
an enabling, and future-oriented notion of creativity,
there was a highly cautious stance against creativity
within Christian theology, particularly in the context of
modern technologies.
HUMAN & NON-
HUMAN THROUGH
ANTHROPOCOSMISM
115 115/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
Creativity is a highly poignant word within the Christian
tradition, as it is directly linked to the creativity of the
divine Creator. Thus, there is a limitation imposed on
it as a God-given right that must be used in the service
of God. This sanction is accompanied by a number
of cautionary tales against the perils of misdirecting
creativity and technology, which could lead to sacrilege
against the divine property. In fact, the cautious stance
toward creativity in the West goes further back than
the emergence of Christianity, as shown in the well-
known ancient Greek myth of Prometheus. This stance
is reairmed in biblical tales such as the story of Cain
and Abel, the genesis story of the Fall, or in the story
of Tower of Babel that warns against overstepping the
sanctioned boundary through creative human endeav-
ors. It is therefore not a surprise that Tower of Babel
is conjured in many Christian discussions on Artificial
Intelligence.
Swiss theologian, Emil Brunner, encapsulated this
traditional Christian worldview in the Giord Lecture
series he delivered at the University of St. Andrews in
Scotland, between 1946 to 1948. Brunner elaborated
that while creative powers are gis from God, hence
good in its essence, “creative ability expresses man’s
tendency to withdraw himself from the divine pow-
er and to exalt himself into the divine heights.”16 So,
whereas creativity is primarily framed as an essential
quality necessary for navigating the unforeseeable fu-
ture in Confucianism, Brunner posits that the Christian
view is “not naively positive but reflected and complex”
in its emphasis on creativity as a double-edged sword.17
Brunner further cautioned against secularization and
valorization of creativity itself, stating that by under-
mining the divine purpose and the moral compass
attuned to serving God, creativity would lead to indis-
criminate creation, in which productivity would become
the meaning and principle of life. He envisioned that by
worshiping creative individuals in the secular, modern
era, the creative spirit may become a substitute for
religion as well as morality, and that “it is in [the] sphere
of technical invention that man enters into human
competition with the Creator of nature.”18 Even though
Brunner did not condemn technics or productivity in
and by themselves, he warned that the generation
which would witness this scientific triumph over reli-
gion may be “tempted with a feeling of God-like power”,
which he saw as an “indication of coming decay”. Such
ardent discourse, which was clearly a response to the
rapid secularization of his times, further amplified the
association of creativity and technology as a seductive
CREATIVITY &
TECHNOLOGY AS
GREAT TEMPTATIONS
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
path to the Godlessness that was accompanied by “artificial man-made reali-
ty amongst man’s structures and machinery.”19
Such circumspection regarding humanoid technology is echoed in myriad
arguments against AI, whereby a limit has been oen drawn based on the
theological doctrines of Christianity. For instance, biblical scholar Seung Ho
Bang has examined the implications of AI and cyborgization based on the
biblical perspective of the Old Testament.20 He asserts that by making au-
tonomous beings that assimilate our image and likeness, human beings are
“mimicking God’s creation based on Imago Hominis”21, reiterating the danger
of confounding themselves with the ultimate Creator. Also, he cautions that
by substituting God-willed, inter-human relationship with interactions with
AI, we “destroy the intended relationship with God and with other fellow hu-
mans.”22 He then draws a line across technological advancements that deal
with life, proposing that while purposes such as cyborgization for therapeutic
purposes are within the bounds of fulfilling God’s command, the pursuit of
bodily perfection, immortality or the creation of fully-fledged androids lie
outside the sanctioned usage of creativity.
There are also contrasting approaches to such direct application of
the conventional biblical interpretation, such as computer scientist Russel
Bjork’s position that “there is no need to draw a theological line separating
the doable from the not-doable.”23 Bjork arrives at this conclusion by reinter-
preting the biblical injunctions regarding the notions of human soul, unique-
ness, Imago Dei and personhood. For example, he questions the mystic
perception of the human soul by suggesting that given the interdependence
of the immaterial mind and the material brain, the human mind is not a sep-
arate, external element added onto the brain. Instead, the mental properties
are “emergent” rather than given, as the bible does not say that the “man
‘received’ a living soul, but rather ‘became’ a living soul.” Based on such ar-
guments, Bjork proposed that “it does seem theologically plausible, then, to
hold that personhood emerges from the (physical) interaction of neurons in
the brain.”24 He also suggests a biblical vision of continuity amongst all living
creatures, through which he speculates that “there would not seem to be–in
principle–a theological reason why person-hood could not emerge in similar
fashion from the operation of a suiciently complex technological artifact.”25
CHRISTIAN
VIEWS ON
AI
117 117/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
Evidently, many varied perspectives are being developed, in search of a de-
velopment trajectory for AI that is not in conflict with the traditional Christian
theology mentioned above 26 However, the fear of AI’s development as a
detrimental force resonates far and wide within popular media. The stern
warnings against technological overstepping of boundary told by the biblical
tale of Babel echoes across popular culture through recurring “Frankenstein
narratives” that warn against the dystopian future ruled by technology, de-
picted in films such as The Matrix, Terminator, Ex Machina, Westworld, Blade
Runner and I-Robot, to mention just a few.27 These cultural contents that are
globally disseminated resulted in a highly prudent discourse necessary for
the development of AI technology, but the overemphasis of this traditional
topoi also contributed to the general doom and gloom talk that is preva-
lent across the web today. These popular narratives, which became further
amplified via social mechanisms of the web, can also circumscribe discourses
even in the field of new media art. For instance, much of early discussions on
AI in the context of art revolved around whether AI can make art and claim an
authorship commensurate to that of a human artist, which gained limelight
via the market-led sensationalization of AI generated work being sold at the
Christie’s auction house in 2018. Such widespread and consistent caution
against AI that is featured online and on popular media, is also compound-
ed with the fear of replacement that can be traced to 19th Century Luddite
uprising, though technology was comparatively rudimentary at the time.
The key point here is that these fears gain added traction in popular media in
entanglement with pre-existing topoi, replete with familiar emotional cues
everyone can easily relate to. This, in turn, can inadvertently eclipse other
trajectories of thinking, which this paper hopes to expand through interdis-
ciplinary weaving across two dierent ontological frameworks that converge
on the topic of creativity, art, technology, and theology.
However, the picture is further complexified by the force of globalization,
which makes it increasingly diicult to delineate distinctive cultural attitudes
from one region to another for clearer cross-comparison. This calls for an
added urgency of re-establishing alternative ways of thinking about technol-
ogy today in view of alternative ontologies that have long been occluded in
mainstream discourses on new media art. Despite the expanding global man-
date towards inclusivity and diversity, we are up against the homogenizing
force of globalization that in eect glosses over cultural specificities under
its totalizing discourse of universalism. Nevertheless, as sociologist Shmuel
Eisenstadt highlighted, the general resilience of cultures led to multiple mo-
dernities as opposed to one homogenous form of modernity reaching across
the globe.28 As such, we can still vaguely observe cultural particularities that
impact our views on human-technology relationships by examining how
technologies are developed and received in dierent regions of the world,
which I will discuss aer examining the notion of technology as reflected in
the traditional worldview of East Asia.
AI IN POPULAR
CULTURE
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
In contrast to the decidedly critical stance on tech-
nology as established in Christian theology, there
is a more enabling and pragmatic, and less critical
view of techniques in the human-centric teachings of
Confucius. As highlighted by contemporary Confucian
scholar Chenyang Li, technology, in the sense we
understand it today, did not exist in ancient China,
where Confucius lived (551–479 B.C.E,). Crasmanship,
rather than science, existed and, from it, a distinct
approach toward man-made objects was produced.
Seeing man-made cras as objects requiring specific
technique to operate for functional benefit of human
users, these objects were held in high regard through
the lens of Confucianism’s human-centric and secular
orientation. Li saw that based on such human-centrism,
tools and cras -- and by extension, Technology and
Science – were viewed as integral parts of society, over
and beyond their teleological purpose and monetary
value. He proposed that its ainity towards science and
technology was also evident in the remarkable partic-
ipation of Confucian scholars in crasmanship as well
as scientific and technological innovations that led to
notable advancements in “mathematics, mathematical
harmonics, mathematical astronomy and medicine,”29
not to mention early inventions, such as printing, gun-
powder, and magnetic compass, which were developed
in China. While I refrain from going into the widely
known Needham question within this paper, I will add
that the Confucian view of human-technology relation-
ship can be gleaned in the traditional attitude toward
tools such as the paint brush, ceremonial vessels, or
even butcher’s knives. Confucianism saw the potential
of an object not as merely means to achieve a goal,
but as an integral object through which human beings
necessarily align with the flow of Dao. Based on this
interweaving, I support that in the East there has been a
clear ainity towards technology and technological ob-
jects, which, at least partially, explains the less ethical
backlash against AIs coming from its traditional cultural
horizon. However, as lamented by philosopher Yuk Hui,
there has clearly been a “lack of reflection upon the
question of technology in the East,”30 and hence, there
is an urgent need to establish a thoroughly balanced
philosophy regarding technology based on its tradi-
tional worldviews. I will return to this critical discussion
upon examining how these ontological dierences
manifest in today’s AI development scenarios.
THE CONFUCIAN
VIEW ON THE
HUMAN-TECH
RELATIONSHIP
119 119/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
One of the key dierences that surface in these two
regions is the consumers’ preferred human-likeness of
their humanoid technologies. Robot cognition special-
ist Anouk van Maris points out that a cultural divide is
observed in the comfort level one feels toward robots.
By quoting a European study that shows general ethical
discomfort regarding children’s attachment to human-
oid devices, she points to the European and American
preference of housing AIs in black boxes with accentu-
ated robotic voices as in the case of AI home-assistant,
Alexa.31 On the other hand, East Asia is witnessing a
more rapid incorporation of human-like features to
technological companions. This inclination to humanize
and develop fully autonomous androids is seen in the
“birth” of Erica, the “most autonomous and human-like
robot in the world”, produced by one of the largest
scientifically funded programs in Japan.32
There is also XiaoIce, “the most widely deployed
social chatbot” released by Microso China in 2014.
Designed as a virtual companion, she is geared toward
human-like appearance and emphasis on the emotional
quotient (EQ), complete with poetry making and singing
skill sets. In view of the project’s focus on establishing
emotional connections with users, XiaoIce is designed
to recognize emotions and produce optimally empa-
thetic interpersonal responses to increase the conver-
sation-turns per session (CPS), the success metric for
social chatbots. As a result, she has become an internet
celebrity, weather and news anchor, TV and radio pro-
gram host, newspaper reporter, all within three years
since her release on social platforms in China.33
A notable point in XiaoIce’s development trajec-
tory is a striking parallel with the Confucian vision of
cultivating individuals through the arts even though
such inference is never made. While cultivation of moral
personhood is neither intended nor feasible for such a
preliminary version of an AI, attributing such skill sets
that are configured in view of moral personhood, could
lead to unwary human ainity toward an AI, particularly
within a cultural horizon that emphasizes relational mo-
res. It is problematic especially when the AI is coupled
with the capability to oer the most applicable coupons
and special discounts, which could render XiaoIce as a
friendly avatar of the consumeristic power structures
that enabled its creation in the first place. The potential
dangers, as well as the opportunities, twofold, with one
hinging on the neoliberal market forces, and another
hinging upon the superpower state’s disposition.
MANIFESTATIONS
IN TODAY’S AI
DEVELOPMENT
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
Echoing the view of New Materialism, Contemporary philosopher, Yuk Hui,
stressed that technics–the cultured framing that drives the making and the
use of technology–is not a universal force, but one that is inseparable from
the cultural context of its origin. He therefore hypothesized that “in China,
technics in the sense we understand it today–or at least as it is defined by
certain European philosophers–never existed.”34. Hui then problematized
how the 19th and 20th Century importation of philosophies such as the
Heideggerian view on technology, which took place through Globalization
that “[led to] the universalization of particular epistemologies and the eleva-
tion through techno-economic means, of a regional worldview to a putatively
global metaphysics.”35 For philosophers such as Hui, Philippe Descola and
Bruno Latour, this unilateral universalization of techno-economic metaphys-
ics is problematic since it is the force that drives the Western ontological
paradigm of Modernity, which defined that the earth and the cosmos were a
standing-reserve, a gigantic technological system for humankind to exploit.36
It is today commonly viewed that such view of human-nature relationship has
ultimately led to the Anthropocene, the irreversible human impact on Earth.
Further, Hui posits that such geopolitically weighted importation of dis-
courses prevented the emergence of a truly original thinking on the subject
of technology, given the assumption that only one type of technology exists–
one that is governed by one putatively universal ontological framework.
The situation is further complexified by the relative lack of an equivalent
and coterminous theoretical framework to counterbalance the discourses.
Moreover, despite its general ainity toward technology, Confucianism has
oen been criticized for impeding the development of science and technolo-
gy, largely due to its emphasis on metaphysical and moral realms.37 Chinese
philosopher Fung Yu-lan links the human centric and practical approach
of Confucianism to its lack of scientific development, stating that while
Europeans developed techniques for understanding and controlling matter,
the Chinese Neo-Confucians developed techniques for understanding and
controlling the mind.38 The irony may be that while the open approach to
technological endeavors was sanctioned by the ontological view of human’s
necessary participation in the transformative aspects of the universe, there
has been a relative scarcity of critical debates within the philosophical
tradition when it came to the notion of technology. Given this imbalance,
Hui proposes the urgent need to develop alternative philosophies regarding
technology through contemplation of dierent ontologies for both histori-
cal and political reasons.39 In fact, the development of such philosophies is
time-sensitive and paramount, as they will be done alongside and in conjunc-
tion with increasingly realistic humanoid technologies.
CALL FOR CRITICALITY
121 121/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
So, what can be said of the role of new media artists,
curators and arts administrators in the face of such a
monumental philosophical undertaking? As theorized
by Domenico Quaranta, new media art is an inherently
multidisciplinary arena of research that is fated to work
in the gaps between various creative arenas against
rigid conventions. Hence, it is engaged in constant
transformations.40 Such indeterminacy enables prac-
titioners in the field to traverse seemingly unrelated
disciplines and practices, or connect with individuals
and institutions seeking synergetic potential through
artistic explorations, all based on the shared medium
of technology in its broadest sense. Further, these ar-
tistic, interdisciplinary research initiatives benefit from
the field’s unique configuration that makes it remote
enough to garner specific types of audiences, while hav-
ing the access to potential openings onto the everyday
world through praxis such as urban media art, or tac-
tical media. In other words, in line with the Confucian
vision of seeking and realizing critical balance through
human endeavors and activities, new media art aords
us a conducive space and context within which to con-
template through theoretical and philosophical lines of
inquiries, as well as to examine and experiment through
hands-on, practical approaches.
In particular, new media art is highly conducive for
contemplating and experimenting with deep-seated
orientations since abundant concoctions of subcon-
scious inclinations are constantly at play as artists
experiment with new forms of technology and modes
of practice, a process during which they are informed
subconsciously by their cultural heritage. Adding to
Jean-Francois Lyotard’s vision of art making as a psy-
cho-analytical process that uncovers artists’ subcon-
scious in view of understanding their experience of their
epoch,41 I’d like to highlight its capacity to excavate and
engage with invisible sentiments and tendencies that
influence the navigation of future possibilities, which
entail complex negotiations with our past.
Such unpacking is critical in view of expanding our
currently skewed system of knowledge under the mech-
anism of academic imperialism. Some may question
that new media art
is oen perceived
to be global from
its onset, given
its roots in the
multicultural arena
of Fluxus, or in rec-
ognizing Nam June Paik as the progenitor of the field.
However, my observation is that the inclusion of varied
ethnicities in the art-world needs to be further sup-
plemented by an equitable expansion of the academic
discourses therein, to expand the actual frame, rather
than to “include” previously othered Others to partici-
pate within its current form that remains largely circum-
scribed to one dominant ontology and epistemology.
Even to this day, we oen judge AIs predominantly
from a monocultural perspective, which oen leads to
scapegoating AI for its yet-to-be realized potential. It is
however important to note that even before the arrival
of complex machines, issues such as exploitation and
replacement had already been driven by human inten-
tionalities. My proposal is to avert our creative focus
to leveraging the context of AI development as means
to reflect on the problematics of our human culture by
studying our limited a-priori assumptions and systemic
issues that surface. Yuk Hui, also touched on this issue,
stating that “the logic of replacement ignores that new
economic models will emerge, and exploitation will
take other forms beyond the wage relation.”42 As such,
he argues that rather than debating whether AI art qual-
ifies as a true artwork, we should turn to exploring how
AI can reconfigure art (and life) itself. We are therefore
at a critical juncture to re-think art and technology from
varied sites of enunciation, by bringing disparate forms
of knowledge and their epistemological approaches
together, as means to glimpse the shortfalls and blind
spots in each of our worldviews.
I’d like to end with a few preliminary questions
with the aim of engaging artistic research to envision
thoroughly considered, alternative possibilities for
our future. How do we unpack and examine invisible
tendencies and limitations that are coded into our
fundamental conception of the world, through media
art praxis? How do we ensure that we remain highly
rigorous in delineating certain propensities within our
increasingly heterogeneous world? How do we then
take these findings and make them relevant not only
within the field of artistic practice but for them to be
relevant and applicable in our everyday world?
NEW MEDIA ART:
THE RESEARCH
PLATFORM
LA TADEO DEARTE 9 N.º 12 - 2023
LOVE THY AI?: AN ESSAY ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND CONFUCIAN ONTOLOGIES ON CREATIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA ART
• Bang, Seung Ho. “Thinking of Artificial Intelligence
Cyborgization with a Biblical Perspective (Anthropology of the
Old Testament).” European Journal of Science and Theology 10,
no. 3 (2014): 15-26.
• Bjork, Russell C. “Artificial Intelligence and the Soul.”
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 60, no. 2 (2008):
95-102.
• Brook, Timothy. “Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the
Three Teachings and Their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial
China.” Journal of Chinese Religions 21, no. 1 (January 1993):
13-44. https://doi.org/10.1179/073776993805307448
• Brunner, Emmil. “Christianity and Civilization: Chapter
10 The Problem of Creativity.” The Giord Lectures,
1948, https://www.giordlectures.org/books/
christianity-and-civilization-vol-1/x-problem-creativity.
• Callicott, J. Baird and Roger T. Ames. Nature in Asian
Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy.
SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology. State University of New
York Press, 1989.
• Calugareanu, Ilinca. “Meet Erica, the World’s Most
Human-like Autonomous Android – Video.” The
Guardian, accessed August 24, 2023, http://www.
theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2017/apr/07/
meet-erica-the-worlds-most-autonomous-android-video.
• Domenico Quaranta. Media, new media, postmedia. Milano:
Postmedia Books, 2010. https://rhizome.org/editorial/2011/
jan/12/the-postmedia-perspective/.
• Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah. “Multiple Modernities.” Daedalus
129, no. 1 (2000): 1-29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027613.
• Fung, Yu-Lan. “Why China Has No Science–An Interpretation
of the History and Consequences of Chinese Philosophy.”
International Journal of Ethics 32, no. 3 (1922): 237-63, https://
doi.org/10.1086/intejethi.32.3.2377487
• Garcia, David and Geert Lovink, “The ABC of Tactical Media,”
Nettime mailing list archives, May 16, 1997, https://www.
nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9705/msg00096.html.
• Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the Living World. New
York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
• Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology, and
Other Essays, vol. 12. Harper & Row, 1977.
• Hui, Yuk. Art and Cosmotechnics. University of Minnesota
Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv1qgnq42.
• Hui, Yuk. “Cosmotechnics as Cosmopolitics.” E-Flux 86
(November 2017), https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv1qgnq42
• Hui, Yuk. The Question Concerning Technology in China: An
Essay in Cosmotechnics. Falmouth: Urbanomic, 2016.
• Hui, Yuk and Andreas Broeckmann, eds. 30 Years aer Les
Immatériaux: Art, Science and Theory. Lüneburg: meson press,
2015.
• Kim, Yong-ok and Jung-Kyu Kim. The Great Equal Society:
Confucianism, China and the 21st Century. New Jersey: World
Scientific, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1142/8792
• Li, Chenyang. “Confucian Perspectives,” in Encyclopedia of
Science, Technology, and Ethics, ed. Carl Mitcham, vol. 1.
Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.
• MacDonald, Keza. “Being Human: How Realistic Do
We Want Robots to Be?,” The Guardian, June 27, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/27/
being-human-realistic-robots-google-assistant-androids.
• Ni, Peimin. Confucius: The Man and the Way of Gongfu. Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
• Paracka Jr., Daniel J. “China’s Three Teachings and the
Relationship of Heaven, Earth and Humanity,” Worldviews:
Global Religions, Culture & Ecology 16, no. 1 (January 2012):
73-98. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853511X617803
• Pop, Susa, Tanya To, Nerea Calvillo and Mark Wright. What
Urban Media Art Can Do: Why When Where & How. Stuttgart:
avedition, 2016.
• Shum, Heung-yeung, Xiao-dong He, and Di Li. “From Eliza to
XiaoIce: Challenges and Opportunities with Social Chatbots,”
Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
19, no. 1 (January 2018): 10-26, https://doi.org/10.1631/
FITEE.1700826.
• Schuurman, Derek C. “Artificial Intelligence: Discerning a
Christian Response”. Perspectives on Science and Christian
Faith. (2018)
• Tu, Weiming. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative
Transformation, SUNY Series in Philosophy. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1985.
• Tucker, Mary Evelyn. “The Relevance of Chinese
Neo-Confucianism for the Reverence of Nature.” In
Environmental Philosophy in Asian Traditions of Thought,
ed. J. Baird Callicott and James McRae, 2014. https://doi.
org/10.1515/9781438452029-010
• White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.”
Science, New Series 155, no. 3767 (1967): 1203-7. https://doi.
org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203
123 123/
LISA SOYOUNG PARK
1 Derek C. Schuurman, “Artificial Intelligence: Discerning a
Christian Response” (Perspectives on Science and Christian
Faith, 2018)
2 While regional perspectives are certainly present in Academia,
these views are oen relegated to specialized fields such as
“Area Studies”. “Global Academic Discourse” here thus refers
to mainstream theories that are canonized and applied easily
across disciplinary silos, whereas region-specific worldviews
remain locked within specialized areas of expertise.
3 Lynn White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,”
Science, New Series 155, no. 3767 (1967): 1203-7.
4 Mary Evelyn Tucker, “The Relevance of Chinese Neo-
Confucianism for the Reverence of Nature,” in Environmental
Philosophy in Asian Traditions of Thought, ed. J. Baird Callicott
and James McRae, 2014.
5 Graham Harvey, Animism: Respecting the Living World (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
6 J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, Nature in Asian Traditions
of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy, SUNY Series
in Philosophy and Biology (State University of New York Press,
1989), 127.
7 Weiming Tu, Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative
Transformation, SUNY Series in Philosophy (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1985).
8 Ibid, 141.
9 Timothy Brook, “Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the Three
Teachings and Their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial China,”
Journal of Chinese Religions 21, no. 1 (January 1993): 13-44.
10 Daniel J. Paracka Jr., “China’s Three Teachings and the
Relationship of Heaven, Earth and Humanity,” Worldviews:
Global Religions, Culture & Ecology 16, no. 1 (January 2012):
73-98.
11 Schuurman, “Artificial Intelligence: Discerning a Christian
Response.” 5.
12 Peimin Ni, Confucius: The Man and the Way of Gongfu (Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
13 Yong-ok Kim and Jung-Kyu Kim, The Great Equal Society:
Confucianism, China and the 21st Century (New Jersey: World
Scientific, 2014).
14 Tucker, “The Relevance of Chinese Neo-Confucianism for the
Reverence of Nature.” 143.
15 Chenyang Li, “Confucian Perspectives,” in Encyclopedia of
Science, Technology, and Ethics, ed. Carl Mitcham, vol. 1 (Detroit,
MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005).
16 Emil Brunner, “Christianity and Civilization: Chapter
10 The Problem of Creativity,” The Giord Lectures,
1948, https://www.giordlectures.org/books/
christianity-and-civilization-vol-1/x-problem-creativity.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Seung Ho Bang, “Thinking of Artificial Intelligence Cyborgization
with a Biblical Perspective (Anthropology of the Old Testament),”
European Journal of Science and Theology 10, no. 3 (2014):
15-26.
21 Ibid, 22.
22 Ibid, 22.
23 Russell C Bjork, “Artificial Intelligence and the Soul,”
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 60, no. 2 (2008): 95-
102. 100.
24 Ibid, 98.
25 Ibid, 98.
26 Schuurman, “Artificial Intelligence: Discerning a Christian
Response.”
27 Ibid, 3.
28 Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt. “Multiple Modernities.” Daedalus 129,
no. 1 (2000): 1-29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027613.
29 Li, “Confucian Perspectives.”
30 Yuk Hui, The Question Concerning Technology in China: An
Essay in Cosmotechnics (Falmouth: Urbanomic, 2016). 6.
31 Keza MacDonald, “Being Human: How Realistic Do We Want
Robots to Be?,” The Guardian, June 27, 2018, sec. Technology,
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/27/
being-human-realistic-robots-google-assistant-androids.
32 Ilinca Calugareanu, “Meet Erica, the World’s Most
Human-like Autonomous Android – Video,” the
Guardian, accessed August 24, 2023, http://www.
theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2017/apr/07/
meet-erica-the-worlds-most-autonomous-android-video.
33 Heung-yeung Shum, Xiao-dong He, and Di Li, “From Eliza to
XiaoIce: Challenges and Opportunities with Social Chatbots,”
Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
19, no. 1 (January 2018): 10-26, https://doi.org/10.1631/
FITEE.1700826.
34 Hui, The Question Concerning Technology in China.
35 Yuk Hui, “Cosmotechnics as Cosmopolitics,” E-Flux, no. #86
(November 2017), http://www.e-flux.com/journal/86/161887/
cosmotechnics-as-cosmopolitics/.
36 Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, and
Other Essays, vol. 12 (Harper & Row, 1977).
37 Li, “Confucian Perspectives.”
38 Yu-Lan Fung, “Why China Has No Science--An Interpretation
of the History and Consequences of Chinese Philosophy,”
International Journal of Ethics 32, no. 3 (1922): 237-63,
39 Hui, The Question Concerning Technology in China.
40 Domenico Quaranta, Media, new media, postmedia (Milano:
Postmedia Books, 2010), https://rhizome.org/editorial/2011/
jan/12/the-postmedia-perspective/.
41 Yuk Hui and Andreas Broeckmann, eds., 30 Years aer Les
Immatériaux: Art, Science and Theory (Lüneburg: meson press,
2015).
42 Yuk Hui, Art and Cosmotechnics (University of Minnesota Press,
2021), https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv1qgnq42. 216.
