Performer dancing and holding a pose with a red scarf covering her face

ASU students explore the concept of digital trust through spoken word, song and dance

Students from the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts explore the concept of digital trust and artificial intelligence through original works and performances.

Krista Hinz

October 19, 2023

Because there is nothing more Human than hoping and dreaming
Technology is created through our hopes and dreams
it is an extension of who we are as people
and how far we want to go forward
we build artificial machines as intricate as our bodies

This excerpt is taken from the work of John Paul ‘JP’ Alejandro titled Human Machines; see below for the full transcript.

JP, who studies at the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts (HIDA) at Arizona State University, performed his original piece as part of the 2023 Digital Trust Summit on Monday, October 16.

The third annual convening set to explore digital trust – the confidence that individuals have in the security, privacy and reliability of online interactions – in the accelerating age of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Every October, we host the Digital Trust Summit as part of our month-long campaign to recognize Cybersecurity Awareness Month at ASU,” shares Donna Kidwell, summit host and ASU’s chief information security and digital trust officer. “We are thrilled to be able to showcase the immense talent of our ASU students and work with teams [like HIDA] to deeply humanize the concept of digital trust.”

JP, along with fellow ASU students and performers Addison Hill and Valkyrie Yao who study under Associate Professor Daniel Bernard Roumain as a part of his DBR LAB, were invited to interpret the topic of trust and technology in both their personal and artistic pursuits.

Each performance focused on a different aspect of the convergence of trust around topics of artificial intelligence, technology, language and culture. Performances included:

One Hallelujah by Daniel Bernard Roumain
Unravel by Addison Hill; see Hill’s living professional portrait
Be Seen by Valkyrie Yao
Human Machines by John Paul (JP) Alejandro

See below the full transcript of Human Machines, a spoken word and performance:

Human machines
By John Paul ‘JP’ Alejandro

Our bodies were designed to be like a machine
cogs and gears that grind to produce ideas
an innovation in this world
Humans were the first to fabricate
setting foot to mankind's greatest achievements
like landing on the moon
deep into the black abyss of space
a seemingly impossible frontier
our limbs move in confidence through lifeless gravity
Wrought up from the inventions that we built to accompany us
Because there is nothing more Human than hoping and dreaming
Technology is created through our hopes and dreams
it is an extension of who we are as people
and how far we want to go forward
we build artificial machines as intricate as our bodies
to conquer the mundaneness of life
to define life in our existence
by finding the rewards in solving the unknown
Despite our ingenuity,
we have come to acknowledge
the limits of our of existence:
Climate Change
Disease
Overpopulation
and again,
we stand at the frontier of impossible obstacles
as Human as we are
we imagine a better world for everyone
like the first time we thought to use flint to create fire
we use our hands to spark the fire in our will
so we create machines that reflect the expansiveness of the human mind
this artificial intelligence
processes information faster
against the ticking down of the clock
to help us focus on being more human than ever
to dream bigger things to advance our people forward
and hoping for a change that can secure a place in the future
I put trust in knowing that nothing can replace us
for as long as we stay at the font of our consciousness
our machines built from our humanity
can build the foundations of excellence for human kind.

The Summit continued on Tuesday, October 17 during a full-day event that included a speaker series and innovation experience at ASU Drone Studio.

Learn more about the 2023 Digital Trust Summit.