Aujik

The video trilogy Impermanence Trajectory (2013–2018) has two main themes: animism and artificial intelligence (AI). The trilogy in influenced by the ideas of AI expert Jürgen Schmidhuber and scientist, futurist Ray Kurzweil according to whom artificial general intelligence, AGI, will one day have the intelligence and the emotive capacity of humans and will eventually evolve into a distinct entity whose capabilities are beyond human understanding. Machine intelligence and the exponential development of technology will lead to the greatest transformation since the Cambrian Explosion. The resulting entity will be a universal Turing machine, a computational universe in which all atoms and the tiniest particles have the potential of being used as conscious machines. Such changes would inevitably lead to fundamental, existential questions: What is consciousness and emotions? How does a synthetic awareness feel and perceive? The title of the trilogy, Impermanence Trajectory, refers to the Buddhist idea of an ever-present state of change and impermanence. Nothing is unchanging, even though we paradoxically try to grasp at things and see them as permanent.

The last part of the trilogy follows Mana, a member of the third incarnation of AUJIK. Mana lives in the Ainu colony on the Kamchatka peninsula between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. She begins her winter day by using various KIIA artefacts, symbiotic entities that combine synthetic and organic nature. Over time they have developed distinctive qualities and character, and they are said to embody an intelligence far beyond the combined intelligence of all people who have ever lived. Instead of putting their abilities to use, the KIIA live in a state of total resignation. As Mana transcends with an artefact, she receives an unexpected visit by the trio who govern the colony. They have come to give Mana a mission: to visit Thalamus.