Technology is changing the way we understand reality and turning us
"Superhuman" argues cyborg expert Amber Case. She tells CNN that data
mapping will revolutionize the way we plan our world.
FULL STORY
Cyborg anthropologist: We can all be superhuman
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Amber Case is the Director of the Esri R&D Center and a cyborg anthropologist
- Cyborg anthropology is the study of the interaction between humans and technology
- "A cyborg is simply someone who interacts with technology," says Case
- Case: "Technology won't propagate until it fulfills a social need"
Editor's note: Amber Case is the Director of the Esri
R&D Center, Portland, a company which aims to understand our world
and "unleash the power of location." She was formerly the CEO of
geolocation platform creator Geoloqi, Inc.,
acquired by Esri in Oct 2012.As a student of cyborg anthropology, Case
studies the symbiotic interactions between humans and technology.
(CNN) -- What exactly is cyborg anthropology?
Cyborg anthropology is
the study of the interaction between humans and technology, and how
technology affects culture. Mobile technology allows one to stand almost
anywhere in the world, whisper something, and be heard elsewhere. These
devices that live in our pockets need to be fed every night require our
frequent attention. In only a few years these devices have become
stitched into the fabric of our everyday lives. Phones offer us respite
from the boredom of waiting in lines, but they also inhibit us when they
run out of batteries.
Everyone that uses technology is a superhuman.
Amber Case
Amber Case
I'm fascinated with
mobile devices for another reason -- they are a bundle of sensors that
we walk around with every day. That sensor data can be used to do very
interesting things, such as automatically turn on the lights in your
house when you get home, or turn the lights off when you leave.
In traditional
anthropology, somebody goes to another country, says: "How fascinating
these people are! How interesting their tools and their culture are,"
and then they write a paper, and maybe a few other anthropologists read
it, and we think these cultures are very exotic. cyborg anthropologists
step back from the modern world and look at the everyday life and how
the people around us are influenced by technology in everyday life.
Why did you decide to study cyborg anthropology?
When I was little, I was
very interested in technology, science and mathematics. I grew up in the
'80s, but read my dad's copy of 1960 World Book Encyclopedia. My
favorite entry was on the modern computer. The machine filled an entire
gymnasium and was used for military and business. As I grew up, I saw
technology transition towards being used in everyday life. The only
problem was that technology was still a pain in the neck to use. Most
systems had too many menus and buttons.
A cyborg is not Terminator or Robocop, but the experience of everyday life that's been altered by technology.
Amber Case
Amber Case
During my freshman year
of college, I was introduced to the field of cyborg anthropology -- the
study of humanity and technology. What I really liked about cyborg
anthropology is that it crossed multiple fields of study. In academia,
you can learn a lot about a certain field, but know nothing about
another. Technology is so intertwined with humanity at this point that
it takes multiple fields to understand both tools and people.
How would you define your cyborg self?
A cyborg is simply
someone who interacts with technology. The technology can be a physical
or a mental extension, and doesn't need to be implanted in the person.
The origin of the word cyborg was from a 1960 paper on space travel,
where it was used to describe the placement of external devices and
clothing on a human to make them fit for space travel.
For thousands and
thousands of years, everything has been a physical modification of self.
It has helped us to extend our physical selves, go faster, hit things
harder, and there's been a limit on that. But now what we're looking at
is not an extension of the physical self, but an extension of the mental
self. And because of that, we're able to travel faster and communicate
differently through the use of technology.
A cyborg is not
Terminator or Robocop, but the experience of everyday life that's been
altered by technology. Everyone that uses technology is a superhuman.
It's not so strange anymore because it's the norm -- most everyone else
around us is also a superhuman. The only time we notice it is when our
devices run out of power. We're all super humans until our devices lose
energy.
You talk about a new form of "human connection," can you explain this to us?
60-second pitch: Whyd
Could robots take over Earth?
A vehicle is a physical
transportation device, but there are limits to how small it can be made.
A computer is a mental transportation device, but it need not be
limited by its size and shape. We can put anything we want into
computers and phones, and they don't get heavier because that
information is invisible and weighs nothing, or is stored elsewhere, and
then we can take anything out. What does the inside of your computer
actually look like? If you print it out, it looks like a thousand pounds
of material that you're carrying around all the time.
When you use a social
network, your sense of self extends into that virtual space. Getting a
"Like" on Facebook or a comment on a status is a dopamine hit the
equivalent of getting a hug. This isn't really a new form of
communication, but a new way of connecting.
Can you tell us about some projects you're working on?
I've always inspired by
the technology built by Mark Weiser at Xerox Parc in the '70s,
especially ubiquitous and calm computing. My projects have always been
about using data in new ways, the future of the interface and the
button, and the future of location.
What we need is a common language that allows all of these devices to communicate with one another.
Amber Case
Amber Case
For instance, you should
always be able to get information based on when you need it. Location
plays a big role in that. Right now, data is stuck on the web, not where
you are. When you land at the airport, you often have to look through
your email to get to the information you need in order to get to your
destination. It should already be there on your phone.
There is a lot of talk
that we're finally entering into an era of the "Internet of Things." The
exciting part is that we have all of these devices now that are sensors
for reality -- sound, noise, temperature, images, location, air quality
and so on. We can wear trackers to count our steps or measure our
weight, and we can use tech to make a picture of where we've been. All
of this data is interesting by itself, but all of the devices speak
different languages. Devices made by different companies use different
protocols. Some are open; others are closed. It's a modern day Tower of
Babel.
Taking data from across
many different silos is where the opportunity is. If I knew my mood,
hunger level, and location at a given time of the day, I could figure
out if my mood caused me to want to eat, or if I was unhappy at work and
needed a different job. I could correlate amount of sleep with weight
gain, and so on. What we need is a common language that allows all of
these devices to communicate with one another. We saw this with SMS
(allowing different phones to talk to each other across networks),
SMTP/POP that allowed for modern email to exist (because it allowed
modern email accounts to talk to each other across networks), and
Interpress (allowing the modern printer industry to form.) That hasn't
been solved for devices.
Once we get a lot of
data onto maps, we can really begin to understand reality in much
different ways, like where to build a house to increase the happiness of
the people inside it, how to make routes that avoid accidents, and how
to design better urban systems. I'm really excited about platform that
Esri provides. We'll be integrating the Geoloqi location technology into
the Esri platform in July 2013 and will be able to open up an entire
world of datasets and solutions accessible before only by geographers,
scientists and researchers
COPY http://edition.cnn.com/
.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário