Strange and familiar: robot love and artificial intelligence in science fiction theatre script writing: a response to the imminent Technological Singularity

ABSTRACT This article reflects on my process in script-writing responses to the threat of Artificial Superintelligence ending the Anthropocene. This point is often theoretically termed Technological Singularity, a hypothesised extinction point caused by uncontrolled and irreversible technological acceleration. While scholars debate the timing and existential effect of such Technological Singularity, my creative research positions human–robot relationships as the key to surviving super intelligent machines’ apocalyptic potential. This script-writing innovation into representations of Technological Singularity is based on research on intimate emotions between humans and technology, in particular within the fields of Lovotics and Affective Computing. Combining this research with the defamiliarising science fiction strategy of cognitive estrangement, I have produced a science fiction theatre script. Unlike the more common Terminator-style-scripted responses, my work significantly differs in its ‘Make Love, Not War’ positioning.