An interesting workshop

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I promised to tell you about last week’s activities. I was hired as a steward at a workshop event which involved making clay vessels by hand using various techniques such as coiling, slab building or making pinch pots, with the option of trying your hand at throwing pots on a wheel as well. So far so ordinary (although many people don’t even get a chance to try their hand at this kind of craft activity very often). But what made this so unusual was that the conceptual artist behind it wanted to guide people into sharing their thoughts about artificial intelligence. So the idea was that they would discuss the potential benefits and problems of artificial intelligence, the ethics of its use and philosophical questions arising from this most artificial of developments, while at the same time getting back in touch with the real Earth, quite literally. The pots created will be fired and will be used to create an exhibit and later used to serve tea to those present at a ceremony to mark the opening of a new public building. The idea was quite interesting, and the people who attended were a fascinating mixture of tech bros, professors of philosophy and ethics, journalists and even a Buddhist monk. Later the workshop was made available to the general public to express their views as well. Would you go to an event like that? The picture shows a few of the pots that were created.