Abstract
The role of the cultural anthropologist in studying the results of information technology and artificial intelligence should be to contribute and reaffirm a sense of life which considers the human being in his or her totality, and to recognize the role of diversity and the imaginary. Technical revolutions have also proved to be cultural revolutions.
The skills required by one culture, the identification and creation of problems and the solutions are interrelated. These interrelationships are worked out in a cultural context endowed with its own experiences, knowledge and needs which define and make it different from other societies. The advanced technologies require new competences and new skills.
This paper examines imaginary from two different viewpoints: (a) the imaginary aspect of body-mind relations, influenced by research into artificial intelligence and its prospects for the future; and (b) the roles and forms assumed by the imaginary in human-computer relations.
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Combi, M. The imaginary, the computer, artificial intelligence: A cultural anthropological approach. AI & Soc 6, 41–49 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02472768
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02472768