FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Blow Your Own Damn Mind with This Killer Video Essay About Why China Already Is the Future

In 'Sinofuturism,' film essayist Lawrence Lek posits that Chinese technological development is actually a form of Artificial Intelligence.
Images courtesy of the artist

Ever wonder why, even though he gets his eyeglasses made there, Donald J. Trump just seems so afraid of China? In Sinofuturism, an hourlong video essay that brings together commercials, YouTube tutorials, films, and even bits of manga, artist Lawrence Lek may have come up with the reason why. "By embracing seven key stereotypes of Chinese society (Computing, Copying, Gaming, Studying, Addiction, Labor, and Gambling)," Lek explains, "[Sinofuturism] shows how China's technological development can be seen as a form of Artificial Intelligence." That's right—if you've ever wondered why, while Afrofuturism's been around since the 60s, Gulf Futurism the better half of this century, and Japanese futurism since about as long as anyone can remember, when the term Chinese sci-fi is spoken, the closest example you can come up with is 2046sort of?

Advertisement

Well, let Lek's Adam Curtis-on-Opposite Day film, Sinofuturism, be your bedtime story tonight.

Sinofuturism (1839 - 2046 AD) from Lawrence Lek on Vimeo.

Click here to visit Lawrence Lek's website.

Related:

You Own the Royal Academy of Arts—In Virtual Reality, at Least

Photographer Fills an Abandoned Chinese City with Artistic Interventions

Travel Around a Flooded Utopian London in This Open World Video Game