Artificial Intelligence and Animism: Explorations in Digital Humanities

ABSTRACT Humans have advanced immensely over the years by manipulating the natural environment to their advantage. An important signpost of humans’ conquest of their surroundings, including all the elemental facilitators, is animism. In many parts of the world, humanity infuses life forces into natural, nonhuman objects like plants, rivers, mountains, roads, and stones because they are believed to possess souls and spirits and can relate with their environments, sometimes carrying out spiritual, oracular undertakings. Similarly, humanity has harnessed technology by imbuing it with intelligence through the manipulation of machines referred to as Artificial Intelligence (AI). While animist objects can obey instructions and carry out diverse undertakings such as revealing the future and achieving retribution, machines and technical tools through Artificial Intelligence can follow commands and carry out instructions. Thus, an inexorable correlation exists between Artificial Intelligence and animism—both depend on transferred intelligence from human beings. However, while Artificial Intelligence has flourished, animism is still viewed as a cultural, sometimes fetishistic, spiritual practice. This study, utilizing the precepts of Digital Humanities (DH), argues that the idea of AI can be traced to animism. It further argues that through Digital Humanities, animist objects can be sophisticated to achieve maximum outputs, thereby advancing humanity.