A new play by Neil Weatherall
Do iPhones Dream of Electric Sheeple? is a darkly comic look at the threats posed by anticipated advances in Artificial Intelligence. Neil Weatherall’s sharp, funny and thought-provoking script considers what it is that makes us human.
When Dick arrives at Conference.comcon IA 6Ci, he meets Tom who seems set on holding him up from his presentation. Short, sharp dialogue bats back and forth and we learn that Dick has devised a simple App that can pass the Turing Test: it can fool people chatting with it that it’s human.
But all is not as it seems...
How many conferences are there?
Why is Tom questioning him?
Have they been here before?
The problem is that the App is so simple that it draws into question the very idea of sentience. The very idea of the soul and the basis for the values that underpin Western society – free will, accountability, human rights. Is the invention so dangerous it is being supressed?
As the encounter progresses, Dick’s world is turned upside down, his certainty gone, his memory failing.
The haunting presence of the faceless Harry lurks in the background... What is real and who is in control?