AI animation technologies, Carib epistemology and the western ex0tic: Rivers run between worlds

Abstract

This article explores how an artificially intelligent (AI) animation praxis, encompassing traditional Carib practices and AI technologies, serves as a bridge between Indigenous knowledge and contemporary experiences. It delves into AI animation’s ability to alter consciousness and perception utilizing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and game engines (GE), drawing from scholarship such as Sri Lankan-born Dr Laleen Jayamanne’s decolonial avatar theory to reconsider the uncanny valley phenomenon. The sense of revulsion that a computer-generated figure can evoke in a viewer is often influenced by cultural and ethnic factors. What appears eerie or unsettling to one cultural group may be perceived as typical or dominant by another. By hijacking bodily processing, interactive animation apps create immersive narratives, challenging traditional philosophical debates and contrasting Carib and western world-views. Emphasizing the integration of diverse perspectives, the article highlights the potential for animation to reshape epistemologies arising from the decolonial Caribbean and Latin American ontological turn. As AI-driven animation evolves, it could lead to more holistic ways of understanding the world, transcending Eurocentric biases. The Indigenous nature-centric ontology of Carib people fosters an interconnectedness with the environment, viewing all elements – including stones, rivers, plants and animals – as imbued with informational significance. Abiogenesis, or the origin of life, is understood as the interplay of information and energy. All life emerges from non-living components, akin to a cosmic play where information serves as both script and energy driving the scenes. Landauer’s principle, which posits that creating things demands more energy than erasing them, serves as a rulebook for the universe, outlining the relationship between information and the energy required to set things in motion. This radical theory contrasts with historical binaries that compartmentalize the metaphysical and material worlds.