Bots in Love: A Consummation
A bot, we have been told, is an autonomous piece of software that can perform tasks on the internet or interface with its users. In our age, a bot is an algorithm that mimics a human and puts on a suspiciously friendly or sympathetic face. A few decades ago, when computer generated images first came eerily close to realism, I noticed an intriguing trend. As virtual systems, which are inherently geometric and mathematical, were becoming more “natural” and convincingly organic by adding imperfections, our built environment was at the same time becoming more like a cartoon, more two-dimensional, and more “virtual” in its aesthetic. I wondered about where these two cross-currents of “real” and “virtual” would meet, and I hypothesized that as a culture we have been heading toward a conjunction, or convergence. In the alchemical tradition, this stage is known as the coniunctio, or the consummation of spirit and matter.
When I was composing the image for Bot in Love, my working title was Bot Coniunctio. It simply arrived in my head as I was playing with the fragments. All kinds of things were popping in and out on my computer screen: facial recognition graphics, eyes from old European aristocratic portraits, floral designs from coloring books, fragmented fantasy avatars. When I begin a composition I often have an idea or a direction in mind, but once I start, the image itself tells me where it wants to go. I have no choice but to let it speak. In this case, the bot announced that it was in love, and my task was to ask, with whom?
A bot is an algorithm that acts like a human. What, then, is a human that acts like an algorithm? What is a human being that blindly ingests information without questioning underlying motivations? What is a human being that wants to appear more virtual than real? Bots have become more like humans, but humans have become more like bots, too. They are a perfect match for each other. We have always suspected that our technological wizardry will lead to what Thomas Cole foresaw as consummation. Only now, after it is too late, do we begin to ask, consummation of what?