I was on the bus today reading an introduction to Barthes and Semiotics, in particular the idea that a sign, as a social construct, is so arbitrary as to be completely meaningless outside of the society’s context. How the tangible and intangible, all we hold to be true and real are actually hollow wireframes unintelligible to aliens.
My agents are to eventually create their own signs and in turn their own customs. But how would I measure success as an outsider, this alien, incapable by definition of being able to insinuate itself into their ranks? Cultivating a sign organically may yield a facile recognition, but this norm only means something to those who have lived through its creation.
I blundered into my supervisor’s office and it all tumbled out of my mouth in a disjointed zeal gradually building momentum. As the endorphins reached a crescendo words began to fall away to the elation of a paradigm shift; a moment of dazzling, bridging warmth.
I caught a far-off glimpse of a future.
H is a 25 y/o New Zealand born ex-pat, pursuing a PhD in Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College in London
