THE DEMIURGE
JADEN HASTINGS (Australia)
How would an artificial intelligence design future humans? And would you biohack yourself?
The Demiurge is a neural network that, once trained, suggests ways in which the human genome could be modified to create possible alternate versions of novel humanoids. This is the first application of AI-directed human evolution. While many notable and learned scholars in the field of artificial intelligence have shared dire, and legitimate, warnings as to the future of AI, it is the artist’s assertion, that our AI are the perfect mirror of who we are as a species and parent – replete with our ambitions and implicit biases. Much as a parent bears responsibility for the nature and upbringing their biological (carbon-based) children, we owe a similar duty to our silicon-based progeny. As the future of our mutual (carbon- and silicon-based life) survival is entangled, what ideals and aspirations shall we hold fast to as we co-evolve?
Alongside The Demiurge, Jaden presents a toolkit of speculative biohacking paraphernalia - a Pandora’s box of the future awaiting to be used to ‘perfect’ the self.
Jaden’s work centres on the intersection and interplay of art and science – from philosophy to praxis – melding together the fields of biology, informatics and art/design. An alumna of New York University, Harvard University, and the University of Oxford with advanced degrees in both Biology and Bioinformatics, her career in scientific research spans over a decade. Jaden has been an invited to be artist-in-residence for the Story of Light Festival in Goa, the Khoj Workshops in Delhi, SymbioticA in Perth, the Lumen Residency in Atina, Italy, and Ausstellingsraum Klingental in Basel. She Fois currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne in Interdisciplinary Arts Practice on an Endeavour IPRS/APA scholarship and is a member of the Board of Directors of Melbourne's biohackspace, BioQuisitive.