How can ChatGPT reflect the voices that are missing in public debates? And how can language unite or divide people? Artists, academics and students tried to find answers to these kinds of questions at the For Love of the World festival last Saturday in Delft.
The first edition of the festival For Love of the World in 2024. (Photo: Studium Generale)
A festival that has meaning: the For Love of the World festival in the De Veste theatre on Saturday 29 March might qualify. It brought together philosophy, art, science and technology around one core theme: language as a source of power for unification and for disharmony.
How can language bring people together or drive them apart? There are poems that unite and algorithms that separate. Words determine how we get along with each other and with the world. The organisers – TU Delft’s Public Lecture Series and Theater de Veste – wanted to see how this works.
Keynote speakers and meditation sessions
The programme included keynote speeches from people such as the Director of the Centre for Deaf Studies. The Director talked about the challenges facing Irish sign language and the impact of ‘language domination’. There was also be a writer who argues for an eco-fair society. And there was a TU Delft researcher and designer who uses artificial intelligence from a queer perspective.
Those wishing to do more than just listen could attend various meditation sessions and/or workshops in which visitors and students develop a new language.
Experimenting with language and technology
One striking part of the festival was the Tripod, a large Y shaped installation built by TU Delft students. In it, artists and academics could see whether large language models, such as ChatGPT or Claude, are able to give a voice to those who are rarely heard in public debates. These could be nature, indigenous philosophers, or feminist thinkers.
Visitors could also talk to a spiritual chatbot that encourages philosophical reflection. They could join language experiments in which their own input was turned into poetry by artificial intelligence.
Other stories
The organisers of the For Love of the World festival wanted to promote love as the driving force behind change. They wanted to challenge visitors to stop and think about their role in today’s world and how they can jointly write a different, more positive, story.
Here is some practical information.
- What: For Love of the World Festival
- How: The programme is in English and accessible for everyone.
- When: Saturday 29 March 2025 from 15:00 to 19:30
- Where: Theater de Veste, Delft
- Tickets: www.theaterdeveste.nl/flotw
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