Thinking Ex Machina
Using AI doesn’t mean we have to give up our humanity
“How do you say to your child in the night?
Nothing’s all black, but then nothing’s all white
How do you say it will all be all right
When you know that it might not be true?
What do you do?”
— Stephen Sondheim, 1986
In the annals of ancient Greek drama, we find the concept of deus ex machina (from the Greek: ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός), or “god from the machine,” for when an unsolvable dilemma quickly resolved via an unexpected or unlikely occurrence.
It was introduced by Aeschylus in Eumenides, where the actors playing the gods were lowered onto the stage with a crane (the machine) and became a staple in many of Euripides’ plays.
More modern examples include a naval officer suddenly arriving to save the boys in Lord of the Flies, the aliens succumbing to bacteria in War of the Worlds, or Batman pulling out a can of “Bat Shark-Repellent” from his utility belt to escape from a s…
