Member-only story
Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age
We’re all from somewhere. By that I mean that much of our personal identities comes from our ancestry and the cultural practices that make meaning of ourselves, communities and social structures. We mostly take a deep pride in our cultural heritage. So how do we preserve our cultural heritage in a time when cultures are mixing, mingling and intertwining in new and dynamic ways?
Some fear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could disrupt our cultural heritage by suppressing smaller and minority cultures. Some fear the same has or will happen as aspects of their culture like music, art and design get subsumed into larger cultures. These are long standing fears and such travesties have happened.
But it may be that this becomes less likely to happen and that we may well be able to preserve cultural heritages unlike ever before. This would mean our ability to explore the world’s tapestry of cultures in new and exciting ways. Preservation of cultures could help us find common ground and defuse conflicts.
Already, there are efforts to preserve dying languages. Online learning services like Dualingo and Babel enable people to learn faster and easier, almost any language they like. Now, with AI tools like ChatPT4o which just released, we are able to translate languages by voice almost instantly.
