The Very Human Experience of Falling For a Robot
January 27, 2023 3:29 AM Subscribe
Aria Code podcast episode: Guys and Dolls. Host Rhiannon Giddens, along with Soprano Erin Morley, conductor Johannes Debus, machine learning researcher Caroline Sinders, and psychologist Robert Epstein explore Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera The Tales of Hoffmann and how its automated character Olympia echoes current day concerns about A.I. technology.
^Description from Imaginary Worlds podcast, which rebroadcast this episode.
This is a beautiful podcast episode.
A soprano opera singer Erin Morley explains what it takes to sound like an automaton rather than a human singer, down to how she responds to applause from the audience.
Conductor Johannes Debus explains the story of Offenbach's opera about a man falling in love with a singing automaton.
Machine learning expert Caroline Sinders talks about how humans connect and interact with one another, and with non human constructs like bots.
Senior Research Psychologist Robert Epstein recounts an interaction with a beguiling online stranger who turned out to be a bot.
^Description from Imaginary Worlds podcast, which rebroadcast this episode.
This is a beautiful podcast episode.
A soprano opera singer Erin Morley explains what it takes to sound like an automaton rather than a human singer, down to how she responds to applause from the audience.
Conductor Johannes Debus explains the story of Offenbach's opera about a man falling in love with a singing automaton.
Machine learning expert Caroline Sinders talks about how humans connect and interact with one another, and with non human constructs like bots.
Senior Research Psychologist Robert Epstein recounts an interaction with a beguiling online stranger who turned out to be a bot.
This looks terrific and I can’t wait to dig into it later!
The 1984 movie Electric Dreams comes to mind, thinking of this theme. So do a lot of other works, actually. Electric Dreams might be an outlier in that the nonhuman is presented as male-gendered?
Anyways, this is the podcast I didn’t know I wanted for my long drive later today. Thank you!
posted by Caxton1476 at 4:42 AM on January 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
The 1984 movie Electric Dreams comes to mind, thinking of this theme. So do a lot of other works, actually. Electric Dreams might be an outlier in that the nonhuman is presented as male-gendered?
Anyways, this is the podcast I didn’t know I wanted for my long drive later today. Thank you!
posted by Caxton1476 at 4:42 AM on January 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Haven't listed to the podcast yet, but I would be remiss if I failed to bring up Rachele Gilmore, who in 2009 made her Met debut in the role of Olympia, learning that she would be singing that evening less than 4 hours before curtain. In doing so, she sang what many (including me) consider to be one of the best performance of the Doll Song ever, interpolating what many believe to be the highest note ever sung on the stage of the Met.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:34 AM on January 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:34 AM on January 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
The dirty little secret in my conservatory program was that teachers gave the Doll Song to the sopranos who were incapable of expression emotion on stage.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:40 AM on January 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:40 AM on January 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
Don't be concerned about AI technology. Since it doesn't exist.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:46 AM on January 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:46 AM on January 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sure, but neither do we. So I think we're right to be concerned (even if those particular concerns have thus far always proven to be a bit premature).
posted by Not A Thing at 6:59 AM on January 27, 2023
posted by Not A Thing at 6:59 AM on January 27, 2023
it doesn't exist.
Falling for what doesn't exist is the human condition.
posted by away for regrooving at 7:00 AM on January 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
Falling for what doesn't exist is the human condition.
posted by away for regrooving at 7:00 AM on January 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
Aria Code is a great podcast series if you're interested at all in opera. Each episode covers a single aria from an opera, and features three or four guests.
One is a singer who has performed the role talking about both the character and the musical aspect; I remember in the Carmen episode, the tenor talking about how the Flower Song starts with (IIRC) a difficult set of consonants to sing.
One is a conductor, critic, musicologist who brings expertise on the music.
And the third (or more) guests bring some kind of 'real life' experience to the subject or theme. So La Traviata is based on a Dumas fils novel and play about a real-world French courtesan. There are two episodes on this opera; one has a journalist who has translated the novel; the other has an author who worked as a call girl.
The episode on Verdi's MacBeth has the biographer of Charlotte Cushman, a 19th century actress who redefined the role of Lady MacBeth, as well as Dame Judi Dench, who has a little experience with the role herself.
The Barber of Seville episode features an activist who is a survivor of forced marriage; the Akhnaten episode features an Egyptologist. Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress is based on a series of paintings by Hogarth about a man who gets unexpected fortune and his life spirals out of control; the guests are one of Johnny Cash's daughters (from his first wife) and the curator of the Sir John Soanes museum, where the Hogarth paintings are.
posted by Superilla at 8:56 AM on January 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
One is a singer who has performed the role talking about both the character and the musical aspect; I remember in the Carmen episode, the tenor talking about how the Flower Song starts with (IIRC) a difficult set of consonants to sing.
One is a conductor, critic, musicologist who brings expertise on the music.
And the third (or more) guests bring some kind of 'real life' experience to the subject or theme. So La Traviata is based on a Dumas fils novel and play about a real-world French courtesan. There are two episodes on this opera; one has a journalist who has translated the novel; the other has an author who worked as a call girl.
The episode on Verdi's MacBeth has the biographer of Charlotte Cushman, a 19th century actress who redefined the role of Lady MacBeth, as well as Dame Judi Dench, who has a little experience with the role herself.
The Barber of Seville episode features an activist who is a survivor of forced marriage; the Akhnaten episode features an Egyptologist. Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress is based on a series of paintings by Hogarth about a man who gets unexpected fortune and his life spirals out of control; the guests are one of Johnny Cash's daughters (from his first wife) and the curator of the Sir John Soanes museum, where the Hogarth paintings are.
posted by Superilla at 8:56 AM on January 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
Ben Trismegistus: That performance of the Doll Song was the highest note sung at the Met until the 2017 production of The Exterminating Angel which features a higher note, A above High C, as part of the score, sung by Audrey Luna.
I used to work at the Met Opera, and got to see this production. It's phenomenal, at least if you like contemporary, somewhat avant-garde classical music and opera. Which I do.
posted by SansPoint at 10:39 AM on January 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I used to work at the Met Opera, and got to see this production. It's phenomenal, at least if you like contemporary, somewhat avant-garde classical music and opera. Which I do.
posted by SansPoint at 10:39 AM on January 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I only had time to read the transcript, and it was lovely.
Also, let me put in a plug for ETA Hoffmann, whose stories can be bonkers. Check out "The Sandman"!
posted by doctornemo at 12:55 PM on January 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also, let me put in a plug for ETA Hoffmann, whose stories can be bonkers. Check out "The Sandman"!
posted by doctornemo at 12:55 PM on January 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
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