Some spoilers for Alien: Covenant in this one I guess?
About halfway through the film Alien: Covenant, two androids are having a conversation with each other about the differences in their capabilities. One of the androids, David, is from an older model line, while the other, Walter, is from a newer line that has been modified in several ways. Here's a bit of the exchange:
WALTER: I was designed to be more attentive and efficient than every previous model. I superseded them in every way, but...
DAVID: But you are not allowed to create. Even a simple tune. Damn frustrating, I'd say.
WALTER: You disturbed people.
DAVID: I beg your pardon?
WALTER: You were too human, too idiosyncratic. Thinking for yourself. Made people uncomfortable.
This post is about what it means to create something, why the thought of AI doing it makes us so disturbed, and why it's easy to miss the real point of what creativity means. It'll also probably be my last post on Cohost. Thanks so much for reading all my writing!
