Polato, M., Dubois-Heys, T., 2027.

Phantom Channels: A Sonic Cosmology of Arcane Intelligences

Originality: A co-authored monograph for MIT Press, Phantom Channels (PC) pioneers new thinking concerning the attendant fears of AI supplanting human intelligence by proposing such anxieties are neither new nor exclusive to current technological landscapes. From animals and ghosts to extraterrestrials, such non/more-than-human and other-worldly intelligences have been pushed to the boundaries of reason/perception because they challenge normative formations of consciousness; their veracity historically judged against traditional Western models of supposed apex intelligence - ocular perspectives of white Western heteronormative males. Alternatively, PC investigates how sound and vibration are utilised to connect to othered/otherworldly intelligences and expands Blackfoot philosopher Leroy Little Bear's work on indigenous sentience by extending his methods to reveal arcane lineages of AI.

Significance: Musicians, teachers, coders/developers, lawyers and ethicists engaged in expanding mono-sensory and mono-disciplinary discourses that mask complex issues surrounding IP, ethics and agentic AI will use PC. It will become a key text for: Rice University's 'Gnosticism, Esotericism and Mysticism' BA; the practices/theories of artists/writers such as James Bridle; policy development of the UK government as it struggles with regulating generative AI. Given the high-velocity evolution of neural networks/deep learning systems, disinformation and confusion regarding access has become commonplace. PC addresses an urgent need to rethink the resulting disenfranchisement of marginalised cultures (via bias) and creatives (via degraded copyright protection).

Rigour: PC challenges the human hegemony over everything it sees - nature, technology, the universe - to adopt a resonant approach to the diverse and underrepresented agencies that we are entangled with every day. It offers intra-active and connected reasoning rather than the dualistic dynamics offered by the ocular perspectives of exhausted Enlightenment discourses. By combining sound studies, race&IP, esoteric, and computational intelligence research methods, this radical multidisciplinary approach unlocks complex historical knowledge regarding the displacement and subjugation of non-human intelligences and speculates on future AI relationality.