Recovering Boléro and the Death of Authenticity

Maurice Ravel's Boléro is one of the world’s most well-known classical pieces, in part due to its simplicity: eighteen minutes of repeated rhythms and melodies make it easy to grasp.

But in the midst of that clarity, Boléro holds demanding questions for the listener. Written in the aftermath of the First World War, it sees the dangers of automation and technology—and inquires if humanity can avoid being assimilated into the march of the machine. Ultimately, Boléro asks the hearer two questions: “What is authentic humanity?” and “Can authentic humanity survive the modern world?”

These questions still resonate almost one hundred years later. The recent rise of automation in the form of generative AI shows great promise, but also presents similar challenges to 1928. The rush to adopt this new technology is eroding authenticity not just in biometric authentication and identity, but in writing, in art, and in other activities long thought to be the prerogative of humanity. In response, we must reexamine what it means to remain "authentically human" amidst the drumbeat of innovation.

Through one person's experience in losing and recovering Boléro, we'll explore the questions that Ravel's masterpiece presents and propose ways in which identity can safeguard authentic humanity.