On 17 March 2023, Dr Jarosław M. Spychała gave a lecture at Edinburgh Futures Institute – The University of Edinburgh entitled 'The Myth of the Golem: the Image of Artificial Intelligence in Culture’ – the lecture was dedicated to the memory of Sean Connery.
In lecture and discussion, students focused on analysing selected scenes from the film Blade Runner, including in terms of identifying the fears and hopes associated with artificial intelligence in the wider culture. Students identified the sources of ideas about artificial intelligence (e.g. the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Bible, Herodotus, the Kabbalistic tradition).
A special place in this part of the work was devoted to the analysis of selected passages from the Old Testament (e.g. the beginning of the book of Bereshid: „בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃”), which allowed participants to reflect on the meaning of the verbs “bara” (בָּרָא) and “asa” (עָשָׂה) and the related concept of 'creation’, e.g. creation of an artificial human, artificial intelligence. Further, participants analysed the influence of Hebrew terminology (including terms such as אֲדָמָה אָדֹם אָדָם דָּם) on the way artificial intelligence is depicted in culture, including film.