Dear reader,

Although early artificial intelligence (AI) programs were initially founded a little over 70 years ago, it has felt like the past three years have been the tipping point for excitement around AI, with an undertone of urgency and anxiety. My initial thoughts around AI, and technological developments broadly speaking, are that they are an absolute threat to humanness: the qualities of authenticity and imperfection that characterize humans, as well as the more concrete idea of human skills. I quickly emailed Professor William Lempert for advice.

We met in his office tucked away in Sills Hall and talked through multiple ideas, Lempert simultaneously pulling out books from his shelf and typing away on his computer to research more lines of thought. Afterwards, Lempert graciously handed me a Fujifilm camera as a way to record my thoughts while brainstorming magazine ideas, which, I have to admit, did make me giggle in irony: What could be more perfect than using a piece of technology to capture my thoughts on technology itself? With my memory of this meeting stored in a green disposable camera, I left with a few key takeaways: (1) technology fundamentally changes the way information and memories are preserved and shared, (2) humans will always be involved in the creation of technology and should still be held responsible for technological mistakes, (3) while technology has democratized art and made it more accessible, it has also turned it into a product of mass production and (4) I should visit Lempert’s office more often to receive free Fujifilm cameras.

My first thought was confirmed after I interviewed Media Librarian Carmen Greenlee for an article and asked her about the most drastic changes in consumer technology since the 1970s. Greenlee delved into stories of students migrating to the library or certain classrooms to watch coverage of 9/11. Information became more accessible for individuals, while consuming and processing information in a community became less common. I also think about the invention of cameras, film and later color television. The methods we used to preserve memories became more of a spectacle, shaped by corporate interests to capture society’s attention. Taking these two examples into account, I am curious about how knowledge will be consumed in the future and how memories will be shaped with newer technological developments—an idea explored throughout this magazine.

On my second thought, I started off by writing about the blurred line between humanness and technology—an idea you may have first encountered in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” in high school literature class. But I do not want to spend much time talking about this highly debated topic. Instead, I think it is much more worth exploring who claims responsibility for these machines—and their potential accidents. Should mistakes be blamed on the machine itself or the creator? Can human imperfections and mistakes even be blamed? Either way, these are not new questions that are being asked. As Professor David Hecht told me in an interview, “it’s easy to view technology as coming out of nowhere. However, there are always precursors—and sometimes they stretch back much further than it might seem.”

My third thought was fully formed after reading Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” published in 1936. He argues that technology has democratized art, which has also ruined its “aura,” which is its unique presence rooted in the process of creation, its location and history. He further writes that “a man who concentrates before a work of art is absorbed by it.… In contrast, the distracted mass absorbs the work of art.” While technology has made art more accessible, we may be losing the intentional thought in the process of forming art. Managing Editor Lily Echeverria ’26 grapples with these questions in her article, specifically highlighting AI replacing human creativity—if even possible.

This magazine focuses intensely on the ways that technology interacts with humans and culture. Throughout the next few pages, I broadly define technology as computing software, social media platforms and scientific advancements. I invite you, with this magazine in hand, to reflect on and reckon with our current era filled to the brim with tools that both aid and inhibit our humanness.

Warmly,

Aleena Nasruddin

Magazine Editor, Bowdoin Orient