Back in March I co-curated a Passengerfilms event in London which used Alex Garland’s 2015 film Ex Machina to provoke a panel discussion about what it means to ‘be human’ in a world in which the digitally -or algorithmically – processed ‘virtual’ is increasingly experienced in the actualities of everyday life. I wrote a post on my own blog about the event at the time, but have now had the chance to edit the audio recording of the panel discussion, which features thoughts on the film and on the wider discourse from John Danaher (NUI Galway) and myself, as well as Lee Mackinnon (Arts University, Bournemouth), Oli Mould (Royal Holloway) and Mike Duggan (Royal Holloway).

We held the event in the downstairs area of The Book Club, an East London club venue, so some of the audio is accompanied by a booming bassline from the upstairs bar. I have tried…