Artist Howard Melnyczuk will present how predictions generated by AI can have the ability to strengthen political beliefs.

Predicting the future has been a human pastime for as long as humanity has had a future. From Roman augury (which is the practice of observing the behaviour of birds, to receive omens) to the I Ching (which is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics), divinatory practices have been a mainstay of human culture and political cosmology.

As the practical applications of predictive AI models take hold in banking, policing, and climate policy, this talk presents prediction as a narrative process that strengthens political beliefs. Viewing AI this way reopens space to wrestle with our malleability as individuals and collectives; to reassert what Mark Fisher termed “the plasticity of reality”.

About Howard Melnyczuk

Howard is an artist, writer, and researcher investigating the way sociopolitical structures are maintained through technology and collective narratives. His practice uses software and film to explore technology as a set of cultural products that embody historical decisions and shape patterns of thought. His research centres on narratives around technology that intersect with capitalism and colonialism, often by looking at folk practices that account for alternative histories and open space for communal perspectives from the bottom up.

About the Pervasive Media Studio

The Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol. Lunchtime Talks are partly supported by MyWorld, a project led by the University of Bristol to support creative industries in the region.