New Article by Mirco Spiegel published
To what extent can photos and videos manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence influence perceived reality? Can doubts about the authenticity of sexual or pornographic media content lead to a change in our sense of shame? Does the image lose its status as a generator of evidence?
Mirco Spiegel explores these and other questions in his article 'Norbert Elias and Deepfakes' in the newly published open access volume Mythenjagd. Soziologie mit Norbert Elias. The editors Thorsten Benkel and Matthias Meitzler held a conference on Elias' 125th birthday under the title Norbert Elias and.... providing opportunities for connection and exchange that went beyond the main work of the 'Process Volumes'; the contributions that this exchange brought about are now published in the book. Here, the technological innovation of the deepfakes is integrated into perspectives on gender relations, pre-state societies, violence, the body, young people, time and death.
Elias' thoughts on seeing in nature and his contemplation of a painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau form the framework into which deepfakes can be inserted as synthetic media. They can be created very easily on a smartphone, so that an awareness of their existence in the absence of an equally uncomplicated examination of the image material can lead to a change in the relationship to it. Considering the spread of deepfakes for wish fulfillment in the field of pornography, the risk of misuse is obvious and defending against it seems almost impossible. In this way, the evaluation of images of the naked body can also change into pure art objects - does this phenomenon mark a structural change?