© 山田胡瓜(秋田書店)/AIの遺電子製作委員会2023
One of the most vexing contradictions of modernity is why the technological leaps of the past century have not produced equivalent leaps in the human brain, neither individually nor collectively. If anything, the Internet, arguably the most important of these developments, seems to have spurred more regression than progress. Time and time again, its great power to spread information has been turned into a blunt instrument of disinformation and indoctrination. From an anthropological perspective, these results are hardly surprising, but they are a blow to technological optimists, who often fall victim to similar regressive impulses. In short, cults and their causes are still going nowhere, and that’s what Gene of AI explores this week.
Both halves evoke the Singularity, which while an interesting idea in a science fiction context, often has vaguely religious (especially Judeo-Christian) overtones when mentioned in “serious” conversation. This concept seems especially intoxicating to technology leaders, whose inflated view of the importance of themselves and their field makes them susceptible to the idea that they will be the ones to open the door. ushered in a new age of enlightenment. Gene reflects this by turning the suspect into a respected brain surgeon—the kind of person we would expect to be intelligent and logical. But nothing about the Singularity makes sense. That’s a bad thing. A complete fantasy. If you want a definitive smoking gun, Elon Musk believes in it. Need I say more? Currently, there is simply nothing in the field of computing that suggests such advanced AI would be possible. We can’t even code an algorithm that draws the right number of teeth in a person’s mouth, and people are having heated arguments about the inevitability of HAL 9000 taking over the world government. Let’s be honest.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t legitimate concerns about the rise of less sophisticated AI, and Gene delves into many of those concerns. There are also legitimate concerns about Michi, the superhuman AI that exists in their future world. Sudo says as much at the end of the paragraph; It takes a great deal of faith and belief to accept Michi’s leadership, as it takes any form of governance. Society can only be built on mutual trust. It is this erosion of trust that drives people to seek alternative support structures, which is the seedbed of cults and their ilk. And again, that erosion can come from legitimate complaints. The camera in this episode constantly reminds us of the constant surveillance in this future and the speed with which the police hunt down the surgeon and his predetermined call for justice as the Report Minority or Psychological Tag. These things will certainly and justifiably cause paranoia in people.
However, legitimate complaints may be met with illegitimate responses. Looking at the surgeon general’s descent into paranoia, conspiracy, and violence, it’s hard not to be reminded of the fervor surrounding QAnon lately. There, again, you have a collective that feels constrained by a system that has failed them, but instead of seriously interrogating the weaknesses and possible improvements to that system, They blame everything on a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophile cannibals. It is an irrational reaction based on a selfish desire to become the protagonist of the world. The surgeon killed an innocent woman because he wanted to be the hero who single-handedly took down Michi and helped humanity develop. It’s scary how quickly these things can snowball.
The second half examines the same irrational reaction to AI by drawing on the woo-woo spiritualism inherent to Singularity. The story, through reporters’ investigations and inquiries, criticized Utako’s exploitation of people’s quest for salvation, but it was also much better than I thought. As I said earlier, I think devotees may have good reasons for doing so, but these reasons would be better served by support structures that have a foundation in reality and action. more directly. I have no patience with those who take advantage of desperate people by pandering to them with comfortable lies. I understand Gene likes to go more nuanced, but the cult leaders are one group that I wouldn’t doubt. Utako becoming old friends with Sudo, then conveniently giving the reporter a hospital father, makes this segment feel more uncomfortable than it should have. However, I’m glad they gave the reporter those bushy eyebrows. I will always praise that look when I see it in anime.
With a few more episodes left in this season, it looks like AI Gene will finally return to the “main” story of Sudo and his mother next week. I just hope it still leaves room for digressions on various philosophical and social topics, because that’s what I like most about the series. This is a pretty mediocre anime when you consider the production and scriptwriting, both of which are best described as serviceable (or serviceable enough). But as a critic, each episode gives me something interesting to think about and write about, which makes the process of reviewing these episodes disproportionately fun when Compare with actual quality on screen. Therefore, I cannot speak for a more general audience and what they may or may not understand from Gene of AI. Personally, though, if the show allows me to criticize Elon Musk and QAnon in the same essay, on a website dedicated to anime, it’s not all bad.
Rating:
Gene of AI is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Steve is still on Twitter until the day it completely succumbs to t-shirt bots. You can also see him chatting about trash and treasure on This Week in Anime.