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Filmmaker Doug Wolens will discuss the making of his documentary The Singularity, which refers to a point in the future when we create computers with greater-than-human intelligence, bio-engineer our species and re-design matter through nanotechnology. How will these technologies change what it means to be human? In the film, Wolens speaks with leading futurists, computer scientists, artificial intelligence experts, and philosophers who turn over the question like a transhuman Rubik’s Cube. Ultimately, if we become more machine-like, and machines more like us, will we sacrifice our humanity to gain something greater? Or will we engineer our own demise? Join Wolens as he contemplates these questions and shares his experience making a documentary about a time somewhat beyond human imagination’s current capability. To view a trailer of the film and read an interview with Doug Wolens, see the The Atlantic article “Pondering Our Cyborg Future in a Documentary About the Singularity.”
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About Doug Wolens
Doug Wolens grew up in Chicago, earned two BA degrees and a law degree, and spent seven years as a practicing attorney in New York City; he moved to San Francisco and became a filmmaker in 1993. Wolens’s first short, Happy Loving Couples, was selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival. He made two other shorts, Reversal (1994) and In Frame (1995); both have played at film festivals around the world. His 1996 feature documentary Weed premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. In 2000, his feature documentary Butterfly was broadcast nationally on P.O.V., PBS’s documentary showcase and on The Sundance Channel. He is currently developing a documentary on aesthetics and design.