Skip to content
Notes by Axbom
Per Axbom Akkoma

This is of course my favorite cover of The Continent, from May of this year. I wouldn’t mind having it as a poster. This is how the magazine explained the image:

”Cover: The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo’s iconic fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel depicts the Christian deity breathing life into the very first man. Today, a handful of incredibly rich men in Silicon Valley claim a similarly grandiose mission. This is, apparently, the dawn of the age of ’artificial intelligence’.

According to its creators, this emerging technology is godlike in its abilities: so powerful that it could one day create unimaginable wealth and luxury – or destroy us all. But not everyone is buying into this hype. We spoke to several African AI researchers who see, instead, an all too familiar pattern of exploitation and extraction.”

@thecontinent

Cover of The Continent. 20 May 2023. ”The dawn of artificial imperialism.”

A pastiche of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man.

God (top right) is depicted as an elderly white-bearded man, wrapped in a swirling cloak while Adam, on the lower left, has been replaced by a detailed, metallic robot.

God's right arm is outstretched to impart the spark of life from his own finger into that of the robot, whose left arm is extended in a pose mirroring God's. Originally the pose is a reminder from Genesis that God said,

🔗 Originally posted on Akkoma

19 Nov 2023, 17:19
Share
LinkedIn Bluesky Email
  • Notes by Axbom
  • RSS

© 2026 Notes by Axbom