From Shakespeare to AI and back

When Polonius asks Hamlet what he is reading, Hamlet's answer is: 'words, words, words'. And so since Shakespeare's days, language, spoken and written, has had a privileged position in Western culture. Indeed both natural language processing, NLP and machine learning, ML, as sub-fields of artificial intelligence, AI, learn from historical datasets by finding patterns and relationships in the data and are widely used in generative artificial intelligence, GenAI. And GenAI models are used both for text-based tasks and text-to-image content, as exemplified by chatbots like GPT4 or by content generators such as Midjourney, which generates images from natural language descriptions known as prompts. When these technologies are combined they complement one another by using NLP’s ability to understand and analyse language and GenAI’s capacity to produce new content. And so both technologies underline language as key to human communication, like in Shakespeare's days. Moreover, AI, as a sub discipline of computer science is transforming the methods and nature of scientific research and its use of language highlights the most crucial aspect of science. That is, the skill to ask the right questions - not from answering known questions, but from asking challenging new questions and questioning previous ideas. The challenge for ideators, then, is to see things in a new and different light. But while ways of seeing may come before words, the use of language, in defining the problem and getting closer to the solution is at the core of design. And so, whether Shakespeare or a present-day designer (in communicating in the context of design), they both turn words. *Cf. Dostoyevsky's psychological exploration of a murderer in Crime and Punishment, his remorse and redemption posed an immense challenge for cinematic rendering, as in the 1935 US film version of the novel: 'as there could be no visual equivalent [for] the author's detailed reasoning and elaborate description of [his characters] mental attitudes'. Baxter, J. 1971. The Cinema of Josef von Sternberg. The International Film Guide Series. A.S Barners & Company, New York.

Idearo, ergo sum

Ideas appear extensively in the sociology of design, in the sociology of innovation and culture. While content and context naturally vary, the way the idea is being communicated affects the perception and appreciation of, and the response to the idea. The presentation of the idea also releases and conveys the emotion embedded in the ideation process. All which reflect and deepen individual and societal understandings of design, both as process and outcome. The advances of technology has not fundamentally changed the underpinnings of ideas. For instance, GenAI simply masks the simple art of observation or what is seen in the imagination. And so, ideas are generated, developed and shaped by the cultures we live in, by the circumstances of life, or by the particular gifts or weaknesses we have as individuals. Indeed ideation lies so deep in human nature that one is tempted to think of it as innate. To paraphrase; I ideate, therefore I am.