The Life Project (original) (raw)
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Techno-Emotional Bodies Jéssica Anahí Roude, Interdisciplinary Industrial Designer
In terms of sense terminology, it is possible to make use of Digital Technology to expand and modify the perception of humans' environment. The approach to design Cybernetic Extensions to expand the senses of the Human Body is being analyzed throughout this article. Under the debates on the dialectical interaction between technology-body, species-environment, creation-biocreation and human-bonding, the concept of Prosthesis presented by Tomás Maldonado is proposed as the starting point for the Cybernetic Organs design. It is predicted that these Smart Prosthesis will be designed by using 3D printers, and the patient's own cells, which will be created in Fab Labs laboratories. It will go from designing objects to designing the Human Body as an object.
Past research suggests that the mobile device can be experienced as a relational artefact, and also, as a technology for cyborgization, questioning the boundary between the mobile device and humans. This paper examines the question in the context of Japanese young people. More specifically, the present study seeks to identify various patterns of the way people make sense of their mobile device in Japan, suggesting some possible future research questions where the notion of social robots, mobile device, and emotions intersect. Based on the results of focus group interviews conducted in 2010, the paper explicates how humans start blurring the distinction between their relational partners and the mobile device that affords the sense of perpetual contact. This is indicative of how a mobile device has gone through the process of anthropomorphization, turning into a quasi-social robot. Furthermore, the paper discusses how some experience their own mobile device as a part of their body. This suggests how a mobile device is perceptually incorporated into the body, turning humans into quasi-social robots. Connecting the results to the notion of electronic emotions, the paper conceptualizes the idea of quasi-social robot as a metaphor that conveys the extent to which humans are now equipped with advanced technologies, making us more powerful but also simultaneously more vulnerable. It concludes that the heightened complexity in the relational dynamics, and the emotions that are triggered and exchanged deserve further investigation to see how their emotional experiences are changing. Such future research promises to foster our understanding of the transcending boundary between humans and the mobile communication device, informing the question of social robots and emotion.
Real Artificial Life as an Immersive Media
1995
This paper presents concepts and realization of interactive robotics, sound and light installations. Aesthetics of these kinetic environments are discussed regarding artificial life as an immersive media. Robotic ecosystems principles are exposed through connectionism, subsumption and reactive man-machine dialogue. Three pieces are exemplified with implementation and technical overview of their respective systems. Emphasis is made on the installation's behaviors and their design process.
Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2020
Like no other medium, virtual reality (VR) offers new possibilities to alter the perception of reality. These possibilities are mainly related to the feeling of presence in a virtual environment. With the VR performance ‘The Machine to be Another’ (TMTBA), we find an innovative embodiment system that enables a virtual body swap between two users. Hence, we conceptualise the performance as some kind of breaching experiment in order to alter self- and body perception. With the use of TMTBA and a qualitative research approach, we hope to gain a closer insight into the formation, alteration and persistence of body images. This challenges the phenomenological idea that our sense of bodily presence is essentially anchored in our physical or ‘objective’ body as we know it and seems to potentially expand our notion of what bodily presence can mean.
Recently, Japanese society has been witnessing a rise in intimate attachment to information and communication systems such as emotional robots, holographic spouses, downloadable boyfriends and augmented reality partners. Some users are now tackling the social stigma associated with artificial worlds, up to the point where they openly ‘marry’ their favorite ‘2D character’ by organizing pretend weddings or filling out legally-invalid marriage licenses. Also, the game industry has started to address the demand for ‘delusional love’ (mōsō ren’ai) and – although it is still a niche market – they are increasingly targeting a more mainstream audience. With the proliferation of sophisticated electronic devices, this rising phenomenon of emotional attachment to artificial entities is likely to further expand in Japan and globally. How could such ways of bonding be understood and explained? During the course of an international and interdisciplinary conference, the discussion will involve the ways in which humans form intimate relationships with ‘emotionally-intelligent entities’ and what purposes these relationships to machines serve for them. Conference Organized by Elena Giannoulis, Agnès Giard & Berthold Frommann (ERC-Funded Research Project “Emotional Machines: The Technological Transformation of Intimacy in Japan” - EMTECH), at Freie Universität Berlin. Friday 25 and saturday 26 October 2019. Au Japon, un nombre croissant d’interfaces issues des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TC) sont spécifiquement conçues pour favoriser l'attachement : les robots de compagnie, les épouses holographiques, les petits amis à télécharger et les partenaires en réalité augmentée sont commercialisés à des prix toujours plus attractifs. L’attrait qu’ils exercent est tel qu’une frange non-négligeable de consommateurs affirme préférer ces formes de vie artificielles aux humains de chair et d’os. Ce colloque international et interdisciplinaire s’intéressera à la manière dont l’être humain établit des relations intimes avec des «entités numériques émotionnellement intelligentes» et aux raisons pour lesquelles il s’engage dans une histoire avec elles. L’impact de ces technologies sur les structures traditionnelles de la famille et de la société sera également exploré. Le colloque est organisé par Elena Giannoulis, Agnès Giard & Berthold Frommann (projet de recherche européen ‘emotional Machines: The Technological Transformation of Intimacy in Japan’ -EMTECH) à Freie Universität Berlin. Vendredi 25 et samedi 26 octobre 2019.
Robotomorphy: Becoming our creations
AI and Ethics, 2021
Humans and gods alike have since the dawn of time created objects in their own image. From clay figures and wooden toys-some granted life in myths and movies but also dead representations of their creators-to modern-day robots that mimic their creators in more than appearance. These objects tell the story of how we perceive ourselves, and in this article, I examine how they also change us. Robotomorphy describes what occurs when we project the characteristics and capabilities of robots onto ourselves, to make sense of the complicated and mysterious beings that we are. Machines are, after all, relatively comprehensible and help dispel the discomfort associated with complex human concepts such as consciousness, free will, the soul, etc. I then argue that using robots as the mirror image by which we understand ourselves entails an unfortunate reductionism. When robots become the blueprint for humanity, they simultaneously become benchmarks and ideals to live up to, and suddenly the things we make are no longer representations of ourselves, but we of them. This gives rise to a recursive process in which the mirror mirrors itself and influences both the trajectory for machine development and human self-perception.
transcript, 2022
Robots as social companions in close proximity to humans have a strong potential of becoming more and more prevalent in the coming years, especially in the realms of elder day care, child rearing, and education. As human beings, we have the fascinating ability to emotionally bond with various counterparts, not exclusively with other human beings, but also with animals, plants, and sometimes even objects. Therefore, we need to answer the fundamental ethical questions that concern human-robot-interactions per se, and we need to address how we conceive of »good lives«, as more and more of the aspects of our daily lives will be interwoven with social robots. Janina Loh (née Sombetzki) is an ethicist (Stabsstelle Ethik) at Stiftung Liebenau in Meckenbeuren on Lake Constance. They have been a university assistant (Post-Doc) at Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel (2013-2016) and in the field of philosophy of technology and media at Universität Wien (2016-2021). Their main research interests lie in the field of critical posthumanism, robot ethics, feminist philosophy of technology, responsibility research, Hannah Arendt, theories of judgement, polyamory and poly-ethics as well as ethics in the sciences.