Terminal Beach is a 5-minute computer animation film for which the artists used custom motion capture to record the movements of a person swinging an axe and cutting down a tree. This motion was transferred to a production robot arm, dressed in long dark hair. The result makes the robot look uncannily animalistic or even human, reminding us of a large ape-like creature chopping down what we thought of as the last tree on Earth.

In the futuristic end-time scenario, the robot brings to an end what humankind began long ago – the continuous destruction of our planet. In a world facing the ravages of climate change, with people on one extreme feeling fear and on the other plain apathy, the piece triggers new complex emotional responses. The actions of an almost comical yet aggressive robot intensify the feeling of desolation evoked by the landscape in a dystopian world.

The artists chose the title Terminal Beach both in reference to J. G. Ballard and because they feel it is more evocative, while pointing to the logical conclusion of the act presented in the work.

The work was inspired by the re-reading of a text by Theodore John Kaczynski Industrial Society and its Future, widely called the Unabomber’s manifesto. While the text is rightfully highly controversial for its right-wing positions, its wide-ranging simplifications, and most importantly for being the motivation behind Kaczynski’s numerous act of terrorism, it does propose a pretty irrefutable demonstration of the dangers of AI, indicating that humanity is on the path to becoming subservient to its own creation and being relegated to a life of meaningless idleness (paragraphs 171-179). A little known fact is that Kaczynski was also the youngest assistant professor of mathematics ever nominated at Berkeley University, renowned for his atypical analytical intelligence.