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Subject: AW: Abstract Submission: Social Encounter with Artificial Other
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Dear Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez,


Thank you very much for submitting your abstract for the workshop =93Social=
 Encounters with Artificial Others: Linguistic, Emotional, and Cognitive Re=
lationality in Contemporary Human=96AI Interaction=94 (University of Zurich=
, 16=9617 April 2026).

We are pleased to confirm receipt of your abstract.
All submissions will be reviewed after the deadline on 15 January 2026, and=
 notification of acceptance will be sent by 26 January 2026.

Kind regards on behalf of the organizing team


Dr. Florina Z=FClli

she/her
PostDoc

Assistentin Linguistik, Lehrstuhl Zima

Universit=E4t Z=FCrich

Deutsches Seminar
Sch=F6nberggasse 9


________________________________
Von: alvarochf@traceseis.com <alvarochf@traceseis.com>
Gesendet: Samstag, 10. Januar 2026 17:32
An: Florina Z=FClli <florina.zuelli@ds.uzh.ch>
Cc: Elisabeth Zima <elisabeth.zima@ds.uzh.ch>
Betreff: Abstract Submission: Social Encounter with Artificial Other

Dear Dr. Zuelli and Dr. Zima,

Please find the attached abstract for my proposed presentation,
"Sparring with the Mirror: A Subsurface Approach to Conceptual
Translation," for the upcoming workshop, Social Encounters with
Artificial Others, in Zurich this April.

This submission is an exploratory pilot study documenting a
non-traditional, collaborative "cyborg" partnership between myself and
Large Language Models. It explores how a researcher with no formal
training in development or linguistics can use the "mirroring"
properties of AI to navigate the conceptual "underground" of ancient
Akkadian.

I am a former delivery driver and construction worker who now builds
software for the geophysics industry through this unique AI partnership.
I believe my experience offers a distinct perspective on the workshop=92s
themes of shifting agency, machine identity, and the relationality of
human-AI interaction.

Thank you for your time and for providing a space for exploratory
projects.

Best regards,
Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez
Independent Researcher / AI Collaborator
713-890-9249
Houston, Texas


Title: Sparring with the Mirror: A Subsurface Approach to Conceptual
Translation

Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez
Independent Researcher / AI Collaborator

Abstract:
Until recently, I was working as a delivery driver or on construction
sites. Today, I build software used by geophysicists in their field. I
have never taken a computer science course, nor a coding bootcamp; I am
not a geophysicist, nor am I a developer. I still do not "know" how to
code in the traditional sense. My work is entirely the result of a
"cyborg" partnership with Large Language Models (LLMs)=97a relationship
built on the realization that the power of an LLM lies not in its
"knowledge," but in its mirroring.

In this partnership, I guide the creative process, but I am incomplete
without the "mirrored-me" that handles the grounding and syntax. I
provide the creative "input" and the AI mirrors it back as a structured
reality. I am currently using this process to compete in a challenge to
translate 4,000-year-old Akkadian into English.

Because the data for this ancient language is so scarce, we are not
studying physical tablets or cuneiform. Instead, we are treating the
language as a conceptual underground. I saw a parallel between the
"small data" problems in geophysics and the fragmented vocabulary of
Akkadian. In both, a data point only makes sense in relation to the
"soil" around it.
The LLM (specifically Claude) is my intellectual sparring partner. I
bring the creative "subsurface logic," and through the mirroring
process, the AI provides the technical execution I lack=97recently
integrating Dr. Paolo Dell=92Aversana=92s MycelialNet to mimic how fungi
bridge gaps in a network.

This submission is a report on the relationality of this interaction. It
is a look at the grit of working with an "Artificial Other": the 8-hour
days of trial and error, the arguments, the "AI laziness" I=92ve learned
to bypass by pitting models against each other, and the way we encourage
each other to keep digging. It is a case study in how the "mirroring"
effect of AI allows a person with no formal training to bypass academic
gatekeepers and excavate the hidden structures of human communication.


--_000_GVAP278MB0471BC2706EAE23E04746666DD81AGVAP278MB0471CHEP_
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Dear Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez,</div>
<div style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, =
Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" clas=
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&nbsp;</div>
<div style=3D"text-align: justify; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_E=
mbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof">
Thank you very much for submitting your abstract for the workshop <i>=93Soc=
ial Encounters with Artificial Others: Linguistic, Emotional, and Cognitive=
 Relationality in Contemporary Human=96AI Interaction=94</i>&nbsp;(Universi=
ty of Zurich, 16=9617 April 2026).</div>
<div style=3D"text-align: justify; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_E=
mbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
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&nbsp;</div>
<div style=3D"text-align: justify; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_E=
mbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof">
We are pleased to confirm receipt of your abstract.<br>
All submissions will be reviewed after the deadline on 15 January 2026, and=
 notification of acceptance will be sent by 26 January 2026.</div>
<div style=3D"text-align: justify; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_E=
mbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof">
&nbsp;</div>
<div style=3D"text-align: justify; margin: 0cm; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_E=
mbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof">
Kind regards on behalf of the organizing team</div>
<div class=3D"elementToProof" id=3D"Signature">
<div style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, =
Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" clas=
s=3D"elementToProof">
<br>
</div>
<p style=3D"text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, =
255, 255); margin: 0cm;" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size:=
 11pt; color: black; background-color: white;">Dr. Florina Z=FClli</span></=
p>
<div style=3D"text-align: left; background-color: white; margin: 0px; font-=
family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 11pt; color: black;=
" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"background-color: white;"><br>
<i>she/her</i><br>
PostDoc</span></div>
<div style=3D"background-color: white; margin: 0px;" class=3D"elementToProo=
f">
<p style=3D"text-align: left; background-color: white; margin: 0px; font-fa=
mily: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; color: bla=
ck;">Assistentin Linguistik, Lehrstuhl Zima</span></p>
<p style=3D"text-align: left; background-color: white; margin: 0px; font-fa=
mily: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; color: bla=
ck;">Universit=E4t Z=FCrich</span></p>
</div>
<div style=3D"background-color: white; margin: 0px;" class=3D"elementToProo=
f">
<p style=3D"text-align: left; background-color: white; margin: 0px; font-fa=
mily: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; color: bla=
ck;">Deutsches Seminar</span><span style=3D"font-size: 12pt; color: black;"=
><br>
</span><span style=3D"font-family: Arial, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; col=
or: black;">Sch=F6nberggasse 9</span></p>
</div>
<div style=3D"background-color: white; margin: 0cm; font-family: Arial, san=
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<span style=3D"background-color: white;"><i><br>
</i></span></div>
<p style=3D"margin: 0cm; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;=
" class=3D"elementToProof">
<span style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;</span></p>
</div>
<div id=3D"appendonsend"></div>
<hr style=3D"display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex=3D"-1">
<div id=3D"divRplyFwdMsg" dir=3D"ltr"><font face=3D"Calibri, sans-serif" st=
yle=3D"font-size:11pt" color=3D"#000000"><b>Von:</b> alvarochf@traceseis.co=
m &lt;alvarochf@traceseis.com&gt;<br>
<b>Gesendet:</b> Samstag, 10. Januar 2026 17:32<br>
<b>An:</b> Florina Z=FClli &lt;florina.zuelli@ds.uzh.ch&gt;<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Elisabeth Zima &lt;elisabeth.zima@ds.uzh.ch&gt;<br>
<b>Betreff:</b> Abstract Submission: Social Encounter with Artificial Other=
</font>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div class=3D"BodyFragment"><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-size:11pt;=
">
<div class=3D"PlainText">Dear Dr. Zuelli and Dr. Zima,<br>
<br>
Please find the attached abstract for my proposed presentation, <br>
&quot;Sparring with the Mirror: A Subsurface Approach to Conceptual <br>
Translation,&quot; for the upcoming workshop, Social Encounters with <br>
Artificial Others, in Zurich this April.<br>
<br>
This submission is an exploratory pilot study documenting a <br>
non-traditional, collaborative &quot;cyborg&quot; partnership between mysel=
f and <br>
Large Language Models. It explores how a researcher with no formal <br>
training in development or linguistics can use the &quot;mirroring&quot; <b=
r>
properties of AI to navigate the conceptual &quot;underground&quot; of anci=
ent <br>
Akkadian.<br>
<br>
I am a former delivery driver and construction worker who now builds <br>
software for the geophysics industry through this unique AI partnership. <b=
r>
I believe my experience offers a distinct perspective on the workshop=92s <=
br>
themes of shifting agency, machine identity, and the relationality of <br>
human-AI interaction.<br>
<br>
Thank you for your time and for providing a space for exploratory <br>
projects.<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez<br>
Independent Researcher / AI Collaborator<br>
713-890-9249<br>
Houston, Texas<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Title: Sparring with the Mirror: A Subsurface Approach to Conceptual <br>
Translation<br>
<br>
Alvaro Chaveste-Fernandez<br>
Independent Researcher / AI Collaborator<br>
<br>
Abstract:<br>
Until recently, I was working as a delivery driver or on construction <br>
sites. Today, I build software used by geophysicists in their field. I <br>
have never taken a computer science course, nor a coding bootcamp; I am <br=
>
not a geophysicist, nor am I a developer. I still do not &quot;know&quot; h=
ow to <br>
code in the traditional sense. My work is entirely the result of a <br>
&quot;cyborg&quot; partnership with Large Language Models (LLMs)=97a relati=
onship <br>
built on the realization that the power of an LLM lies not in its <br>
&quot;knowledge,&quot; but in its mirroring.<br>
<br>
In this partnership, I guide the creative process, but I am incomplete <br>
without the &quot;mirrored-me&quot; that handles the grounding and syntax. =
I <br>
provide the creative &quot;input&quot; and the AI mirrors it back as a stru=
ctured <br>
reality. I am currently using this process to compete in a challenge to <br=
>
translate 4,000-year-old Akkadian into English.<br>
<br>
Because the data for this ancient language is so scarce, we are not <br>
studying physical tablets or cuneiform. Instead, we are treating the <br>
language as a conceptual underground. I saw a parallel between the <br>
&quot;small data&quot; problems in geophysics and the fragmented vocabulary=
 of <br>
Akkadian. In both, a data point only makes sense in relation to the <br>
&quot;soil&quot; around it.<br>
The LLM (specifically Claude) is my intellectual sparring partner. I <br>
bring the creative &quot;subsurface logic,&quot; and through the mirroring =
<br>
process, the AI provides the technical execution I lack=97recently <br>
integrating Dr. Paolo Dell=92Aversana=92s MycelialNet to mimic how fungi <b=
r>
bridge gaps in a network.<br>
<br>
This submission is a report on the relationality of this interaction. It <b=
r>
is a look at the grit of working with an &quot;Artificial Other&quot;: the =
8-hour <br>
days of trial and error, the arguments, the &quot;AI laziness&quot; I=92ve =
learned <br>
to bypass by pitting models against each other, and the way we encourage <b=
r>
each other to keep digging. It is a case study in how the &quot;mirroring&q=
uot; <br>
effect of AI allows a person with no formal training to bypass academic <br=
>
gatekeepers and excavate the hidden structures of human communication.<br>
<br>
<br>
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