Can machines learn and have emotions? The question has been driving mankind since time immemorial. Carlo Collodi, too, has his daring wooden figure Pinocchio pursue only one dream: to finally become a boy of flesh and blood. After Gepetto has helped him to life from a log, the puppet runs away from the old man. He embarks on a fantastic journey and learns which rules in a society must be obeyed and where it can be good to break them. His adventures are episodes of self-reflection and rebellion against circumstances - driven by the longing to be a real human being.
Jan-Christoph Gockel and Michael Pietsch join the ensemble in the workshop of puppet-making to examine the relationship between man and machine/puppet. Our machines have become part of our personality: We communicate with them, store our memories on them, have outsourced a part of ourselves to them. Moreover, the realization of an "artificial human" seems to be within reach. Yet to this day we do not (yet) know what exactly constitutes artificial intelligence, let alone what it means to be human.
Text source and further information about the event:
http://www.staatstheater-mainz.com/web/events/schauspiel1617/pinocchio
