Bojanović: Man has networked with artificial intelligence that "eats" our own

"For me, a painting is primarily a poetic reflection. A verse and a poem are the most eloquent images, but also the most visual form of writing. When I talk about a painting, poetry is first in my mind, because a poem is a picture and for me that poetic image causes an incomparable sensory impression. You know and themselves that masters of language in poetry are actually also masters of painting," said Kristina Bojanović, Ph.D., cultural theorist and philosopher, who was a guest of "Imaginarium", a forum in Nikšić organized and led by art historian Kristina Radović.

The two Kristinas talked about "the image of the world and the image of man", about technological progress and spiritual stumbling, about human forgetfulness and self-forgetfulness, about art that transcends reality, because it is immortal.

"Painting as the work of great masters is something that is very important in my life. I mean those masters who not only had a skillful hand, but also a brilliant mind. The picture woven by philosophy, i.e. hermeneutics, the picture that represents the world, criticizes it, admonishes, interprets, but also responds to him in a benevolent way. Philosophy, it seems to me, does this benevolently, trying to change the face of the world, but not by making it up, but by washing it. So, the image is for to me, a medium that neither has a rounded verse, nor a final stroke of the brush, nor the last word. It, to put it philosophically, is always lasting," said Bojanović, for whom philosophy is an inseparable companion and constant hostage of poetry.

If the image of the world and man were to be seen today as a portrait, it would be, she believes, a caricature or an exaggerated representation painted by an ignorant but popular and very self-loving painter. If it were a landscape, then it would be a dense, dark, and ominous forest, although, as she pointed out, it is best to say that today's world looks like "The Raft of Jellyfish" by Teodor Zherikov.

"Today's image of the world and man does not inspire me with too much joy, faith, hope, and with that I am not saying anything new," said Bojanović, for whom philosophy is the only spiritual discipline that is completely comprehensive and if you surrender to it, which she did personally. and professionally, on the one hand you are in the secret and on the other in the truth of being.

Many philosophers, as she pointed out, have for centuries expressed anxiety about what will happen to man, pointing the finger at the perniciousness of technological innovations, pointing out that the more man develops technologically, that his spirit will decline and that the development of civilization will be proportional to the decline of the human spirit that we are witnessing today.

"We are technologically completely 'eaten up', absolutely imbued and mediated by technology, while on the other hand, and I will not say anything new, values, ethics, tendency to metaphysical thinking have fallen not into the second, but into the hundredth plane. And man allowed that technology has defeated him, he has become globally networked with the so-called artificial intelligence that 'eats' our own. We forget our own and take this one as necessary, as completely normal, we don't even consider ourselves literate if we are not technologically literate. Man is neither communicative, nor a mature, resourceful being if you don't use technical tools and apparatus. I'm not against technology. On the contrary, I really appreciate hardworking scientists who want to make this world better and help humanity. I'm just afraid of the supremacy of technomages and that feeling when metaphysics falls into that hundredth plane causes me I shudder," Bojanovic said.

He believes that it is not only technology and technomages who are to blame for the fact that man has forgotten his original possibilities, but that we ourselves are to blame because opportunities and choices are always in front of us and we can, if we want, choose.

But..."a man of great alienation and the race for material possessions and acquisitions has no time to think".

Bojanović believes that human forgetfulness and self-forgetfulness are events that marked not only the 20th and 21st centuries, but also centuries before, and that unlike earlier periods when everyone admired famous people and learned from them, today we renounce them or we drive them away, we don't notice them.

She said that art is more powerful than reality, because it is the one that remains, transcends everything, that is immortal and that sometimes man is not even aware of how blessed he is because he can touch infinity, since he is the one who creates art.

Bojanović started her academic career as an associate in the study program for philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić, and after her master's and doctorate in Belgrade, and academic training in Paris, she continued her professional career at the University of Donja Gorica and the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts. As she pointed out, she set herself the goal of teaching students to value morality, intelligence, knowledge and culture as eternal and unchanging human values.

"I always give myself that as my primary goal, and no matter what subject I teach, everything always revolves around that morality, about the students mastering what ethics is. And I kind of simplified it for them and told them that ethics is the harmonization between thoughts, words and action. It is very difficult to achieve a balance between those three elements, because today we often think one thing, talk another, do the third. It turns out that the greatest feat is to think, speak and act at the same time, honorably," she said.

She believes that you cannot practice philosophy if you do not live it privately, and she lives life completely metaphysically and considers being at a loss in this kind of society and world to be a good trait.

"To live metaphysically in a world like this is really a privilege," says Bojanović, who has an unfulfilled desire to live in the countryside or to stay there occasionally, to have absolute silence in which she found many useful things for both her work and her poetry, and which is almost non-existent in cities.

"Imaginarium", a forum designed by Kristina Radović, the editor of the art program at JU "Zahumlje", and was organized as part of the November repertoire of the Nikšić cultural scene.

Through infinity "reconciled" Levinas and the concept of the feminine

Bojanović is the author of the book "The Trace of the Other - The Concept of the Feminine in the Philosophy of Emanuel Levinas", which was created as a result of her long-term research into the philosophy of that thinker, especially his concept of the feminine, which has caused many reactions in the history of philosophy, but also within feminist theory.

"From affirmative ones, such as Jacques Derrida who said that Levinas's book is the totality of infinity, a kind of feminist manifesto, to completely negative philosophical comments where the idea of ​​the feminine in his philosophy is considered to be placed in a patriarchal structure. I am trying to 'reconcile myself' with those particularly negative ideas, to arrive at the true meaning of the concept of the feminine through dialogue with Levinas's key concepts such as eros, fertility, paternity, motherhood, hospitality, responsibility and finally infinity. I wanted to somehow "reconcile" Levinas and the feminine , by adding to the idea of ​​the feminine the greatest and most beautiful concept of his philosophy, at the same time my favorite philosophical concept, which is infinity. And of course I emphasize the distinction between the metaphysical concept of the feminine, that is, the feminine as a philosophical category, and the empirical concept of the feminine, as a female being," said Bojanovic.

Translation is both mother and matrix

Bojanović is engaged in the CID publishing house as a translator of professional literature. She translated 30 books and more than a hundred texts from French and English. In addition to French and English, he knows ancient Greek, Latin and Polish, and is studying Arabic and German. He believes that translation completely goes beyond the act of creation and the act of recreation because it carries a great responsibility.

"You, as the author of a book, can make a mistake. The translator, if he is responsible, must not. When translating, first of all, you must love the language. You have to immerse yourself in the language, as I like to say, to dwell in it, to selflessly and unreservedly love, to rejoice in the gifts of that language, which is your mother tongue, but also which you translate, to give that language the gifts of your spirit, your skill," said Bojanović.

He believes that it is not enough to only know your own and other languages ​​and their grammars, but you have to "feel, explore, calm down and play when necessary, intervene where necessary, sing and sing, if necessary".

"And then at the very end to be, together with the author you are translating, an actor of a sublime hermeneutic act, an act of understanding. You place a book under the reader, publish it, make it true, give it light. I came across a good sentence somewhere that says that translator mater and matrix, mother and midwife. It means she who gives birth, who gives life, but also she who brings it forth, brings it. And every work wants to be born, and to be brought to light," Bojanović said. .

It bothers her that translators are often not mentioned, their names are not known, and without them we would know nothing, read nothing.

"There would be no culture, no civilization without translators. That's why I say that it is magnificent to be a translator," concluded Bojanović.