Production image by Etienne Bolger.Ever since Hal 9000 went rogue in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Colossus assumed control in The Forbin Project, mankind has fretted about computers taking over the world. Simultaneously, we have continued to pour billions into developing the very same technology which we fear poses the greatest risk to our continued existence as a species. Demon Seed took matters to a weirdly perverse level, Terminator terrified entire generations, and The Matrix boggled many a mind. But these doom-laden predictors proved as catnip to cinemagoers. Now, having reached the technological tipping point, we remain justifiably obsessed with the notion.
DOOMERS which opened last evening at the Rose Lipman Building amidst the De Beauvoir Estate in Hackney, confirms we are right to be concerned but without ever really getting into the nuts and bolts (or should that be drilling down into the coding and circuits?) of why. Instead Matthew Gasda’s play becomes a talking shop of actorish angst and grandstanding hyperbole as painfully arrogant techies and investors measure their dicks and preen their egos whilst acolytes and apologists mop their brows and attempt to keep the vitriol at least marginally civil and conducive to decision-making.
The group of developers argues the theoretical and practical dangers of allowing AI to become self-learning and even (on some level) self aware, but mostly the first half feels like an outpouring of effrontery that their board has acted to halt the operation and suspend Seth the CEO due to a perceived lack of adherence to regulatory safeguards. Given the unstable and unsavoury characters ranged around the table, the scenarios requiring machines to assume control to protect us from ourselves, have rarely seemed more prescient. Act II appears altogether less assured as the wine-swilling, ‘shroom-eating Board members, convene to discuss next steps and appear either cynically greedy or out of their depth. Whatever the case, capitulation to Seth’s ego seems the likely outcome and is a reflection of the Musk, Bezos Zuckerberg worship which has consumed the US in recent decades.
The experimental theatre troupe’s director Zsuzsa Magyar claims to be a Luddite at heart and watching the cast bring their examination of an AGI development team’s existential and philosophical meltdown certainly presents an intriguing prospect to anyone who feels technologically out of their depth. There’s even a helpful glossary provided to aid understanding of the jargon used, as they sprawl and slouch, enveloped by a showroom of Tom Dixon furniture and fittings.
Any notion that a group of largely youthful, overly confident gazillionaires is somehow in charge of the planet’s technological progress (and by extension mankind’s future), is undoubtedly a Silicon Valley capitalist’s wet dream but as a piece of theatre it frequently teeters into self-congratulatory and smug rather than the sort of insightfully mesmerising Aaron Sorkin-esque vibe to which it undoubtedly aspired… or perhaps I am being just a tad too British in my outlook.
Cast:
Sam Hyrkin…………..Seth
Neetika Knight……….Alina
Amy Brangwyn………Myra
Aaron Lynn……….Jeff
Ishan Aziz………Sanjay
James Holmes………Richard
Yui Minari…………Mei
Alexander Tol…………Charlie
Shani Gray…………Harriet
Patrick Echlin………….Eli
DOOMERS continues at the Rose Lipman Building until 3rd October and is heartily recommended to nerds, geeks and aspiring megalomaniacs.
