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Accepted Paper:
"Your job is not safe": AI, the Apocalypse, and What it Means to be Human
Alia Shaddad
(The American University in Cairo)
Critically unpacking the discourse on AI in Egypt by looking at multiple Egyptian news and media outlets' material that approach AI with apocalyptic and immanent-crisis undertones. This paper problematizes the human/machine dualism in an attempt to rethink what it means to be in the world.
Paper long abstract:
The journey of questioning who we are and what it means to be in the world is shared and heavily politicized. In 2022, we cannot ponder upon these questions without considering how they exist in a world with different forms of AI. With the numerous mechanical and technological advancements of our age being more perpetual and profound, our relationships and ideas of being have become more dynamic. The dynamic entanglement of human and machine is necessary to consider if we are to adopt a post-human stance aiming to decentralize the category of the human, and instead to rethink the multiple potentialities of doing so. This paper stems from a burning desire to bring these discussions home, and to consider these questions beyond the confines of western academia/media. I explore the dualism of machine/human in Egypt using a discourse analysis of multiple Egyptian news and media outlets' material that approach AI with apocalyptic and immanent-crisis undertones. The discourse used in the material explored is one of othering, and one that deems different forms of AI a threat to human existence. I assert that current discourse in Egyptian news and media outlets continues to push forth an anthropocentric reading of the world. I attempt to unpack the discourse and think about what it entails using a post-human theoretical stance, specifically Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto. This paper is hence meant to critically unravel and discuss such discourse, within an Egyptian context, in order to rethink what it means to be in the world.