One of Serres’ most provocative contentions is that the development of digital information processing will mean that we will have a new space to think. Memory, deductive reasoning, judgement, even imagination, will be externalised in computers, leaving us free to think and invent better. Keeping all this knowledge and activity at a distance, he will then be able to:
… become this emptiness, this impalpable air, this soul – a word that translates this “wind.” … I can invent if I manage to reach this emptiness..
He claims that the ‘subject of thinking’ will change, if we are strong enough to embrace this ‘nothingness’.
Yoichi Ochiai is a Japanese media artist who focuses on digital nature, the fusion of physical and digital realms. Ochiai has a standout pavilion at the 2025 Osaka-Kansi Expo entitled null-null2. The pavilion’s name originates from the concept of ‘null’, an undefined state in computer science, combined with the Buddhist concept of emptiness.
The pavilion is a massive architectural sculpture that is entirely covered in a thin metallic ‘mirror membrane’ that undulates like living tissue. Inside the pavilion, the immersive ‘theatre presentation’ sends out disconcerting AI messages such as ‘human intelligence is just a bonus’ and ‘you only began worrying about life’s meaning after leaving the forest’. Ochiai’s work expresses how life endures beyond human cognition. The AI voice resonates with Serres, claiming that ‘differentiating the world is our role’ and that ‘humans can be freed from that burden.’ The implication is that humans can delegate information processing and objective judgment to AI and concentrate on intuition and invention So far, we are told by the AI dialogue, we have been full of ‘chat but aren’t good at thinking’.
Michel Serres (2015 [2012), Thumbelina. Rowan Littlefield. pp 25-27.
Yoichi Ochiai (2025), ‘The Making of null²: A Digital Nature Monument at Expo 2025’
https://medium.com/@ochyai.manage/the-making-of-null²-a-digital-nature-monument-at-expo-2025-e627a532a170
Yoichi Ochai is a very talented artist. The pavilion in Osaka is definitely worth experiencing.
To add to other posts about Serres. Japan is seen as wealthy but it hides poverty. At night Shinjuku Central Park in Tokyo is full of homeless people. In the day they pack their belongings and stay in remote, makeshift shelters- always hidden