ABSTRACT TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION: THE IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE By Daniela Andrea Oliva August 2012 Technology

intervenes in nearly every aspect of life. A multitude of technologies and related fields from virtual reality to bio-genetics are fading the distinction between technology and biology, a phenomenon met with reservation and exuberance. Given the extent of technological mediation today and the promise of its future intensification, humanity is confronted with many unanswered questions. What constitutes life and how is it defined? What would it mean for humanity if technology continues to become more humanized, and evolves to become self-aware? I canvass the work of authors Herbert Marcuse, Jean Baudrillard, Donna Haraway, and Kevin Kelly among others to provide proper scope and a continuum of thought in regards to the implications of technology on the human condition. I propose that it is appropriate to view technology as a pharmakon. Technology is enhancing and dehumanizing, a contradiction that cannot be resolved. Instead, it is something humanity must endure.

TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION: THE IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

A THESIS Presented to the Department of Political Science California State University, Long Beach

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Political Science

Committee Members: Mary Caputi, Ph.D. (Chair) Jason Whitehead, Ph.D. Teresa Wright, Ph.D. College Designee: Mark Wiley, Ph.D.

By Daniela Andrea Oliva B.A., 2007, California State University, Long Beach August 2012

UMI Number: 1521598

All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to dedicate this thesis to my fiance, Daniel Alegria, without whom completion of this process may not have been possible. His encouragement, inspiration, and support gave me strength during a personally challenging time. Additionally, I would like to extend my gratitude to my mother and brother who have been very supportive of my educational pursuits.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTERS 1. OVERVIEW 2. HUMAN NATURE 3. TECHNOLOGY 4. THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE 5. THE PROLIFERATION OF TECHNOLOGICALLY PRODUCED ENVIRONMENTS Virtual Reality Augmented Reality Alternative Reality 6. SCIENCE AND SCIENCE FICTION First Narrative: Neuromancer Second Narrative: Serial Experiments Lain Third Narrative: Caprica Fourth Narrative: Battiestar Galactica Fifth Narrative: Ghost in the Shell 7. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 10 25 iii v

35

50 51 55 57 66 71 72 74 78 83 88 97

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AI BSG GPS HUD MMORPG OS PC RFID SF VR WoW WWT Artificial Intelligence Battlestar Galactica Global Positioning Systems Heads Up Display Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game Operating System Personal Computer Radio Frequency Identification Science Fiction Virtual Reality World of Warcraft WorldWide Telescope

CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW At present, technology intervenes in nearly every aspect of life. Examples range from the medical care and treatments that maintain health and prolong life, to the personal devices and platforms that mediate identity, social interaction, entertainment, learning, exploration, and creativity. In what amounts to the technological mediation of the human condition, we are witnessing the transformation of human experience at the subjective, intersubjective, and objective level. Problematically, due to this profound mediation, we cannot grasp the whole of technology's implications. Nonetheless, there is a basic perception that emerging technologies promise further intrusion. This is already observable in a multitude of technologies and related fields like virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and biogenetics. These unfolding technologies, among others, are fading the distinction between technology and biology. It is a phenomenon that is met with reservation, as well as, exuberance. Given the extent of technological mediation today, the promise of its future intensification and the ambiguity regarding its consequences, the convergence between humanity and technology requires close examination. In doing so, I propose that it is appropriate to view technology as a pharmakona Greek word which means both medicine/cure and poison. Technology is enhancing and dehumanizing, a contradiction that cannot be resolved. Instead, it is something humanity must endure. 1

While it is impossible to definitively isolate technology's enhancing and dehumanizing aspects, thinking critically about its development is more valuable than ever. In fact, increases in processing power and the ongoing humanization of hardware and software, as seen in emerging artificial intelligence, is confronting humanity with questions that science and philosophy have been unable to decisively answer. For instance, what constitutes life and/or consciousness? These long unanswered questions are further complicated by new questions, like as technology continues to become more humanlike overtime, will machines inevitably become self-aware or conscious? If so, what would a parallel consciousness mean for humanity? This project is an effort to illustrate that technology is a pharmakon. Furthermore due to this nature, any attempt to differentiate the implications of technological mediation as either solely beneficial or harmful to humanity is ultimately unsustainable. With this caveat, we gain a more balanced perspective regarding technology's role in human life which can also be useful in making decisions about its future development. I begin by presenting varying interpretations of human nature including those of Georges Bataille, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Taylor, and Peter Kropotkin. They articulate three key junctures in man's development that contribute to an understanding of human nature: the transitions from nature to culture, from animal to man, and from presocial to social man. With these transitions individuals begin to construct their respective identities "dialogically," through social relationships.1 As such, the individuals' connection to others becomes associated with a meaningful, satisfying, fully human 'Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991): 33-35, quoted in Joseph R. Reisert, "Authenticity, Justice, and Virtue in Taylor and Rousseau," Polity, 33, no. 2 (Winter 2000): 308.
2

existence. It also becomes a strategy that individuals utilize in the pursuit of an authentic existencea striving unique to human beings. These interpretations suggest that it is part of human nature to be contemplative, meaning-seeking, curious, creative, and social. In addition to these insights, the anthropological theory that "we moderns are characteristically anxious about being, about 'reality,' or, more particularly, about the lack of reality" is significant to the question of human nature. Anxiety is not only presented as a definitive human quality, but it is also an often unnoted motivation guiding the development and application of technology. A synthesis of these authors and interpretations provide a useful reading of the human condition in which the role of human beings is that of user and creator. They also shed light on certain affinities; that, in turn, shed light on common motivation factors that influence the technology's uses and development. Afterward, the discussion shifts to the different ways in which we think about technology. Despite its pervasiveness, we lack a precise understanding of what technology is. This dissonance is expressed through a range of attitudes towards technology. At one extreme of the continuum, techno-fundamentalists display an attitude of general enthusiasm and positive feeling toward technology; viewing its advancement as an inevitable and welcomed means to the enhancement of human life. Many consider Kevin Kelly to be an advocate and enthusiast of technology. He believes that technology and nature are in a relationship of coevolution; furthermore, that technology's place and

2Richard

Handler, "Authenticity," Anthropology Today, 2, no. 1 (February 1986):

3

3.

a its advancement are subject to human agency and creativity. Critics of Kelly view him as being overly optimistic accusing him of spreading dangerous ideas that naturalize technology.4 Along the same line, feminist, Donna Haraway uses the cyborg metaphor to propose that the technological transformation of the human body can provide a unique opportunity to "rework nature and culture."5 Accordingly, if we are all cyborgs, barriers such as race, gender, and class become irrelevant. At the other end of the continuum, technophobes display adverse feelings or a negative attitude towards the development of technology. Herbert Marcuse and others, like Jean Baudrillard, exemplify this side of the continuum in that they view technology as having an adverse effect on individual freedom, as well as posing a threat to the integrity of reality itself. Marcuse's principle concern regards the standardizing effect technology unleashes upon man; viewing the homogenizing effects as an end to human potential. What he calls "technological rationality" brings an end to autonomy.6 "This rationality establishes standards of judgment and fosters attitudes which make men ready

Kelly, "Kevin Kelly tells Technology's Epic Story," filmed 2009. TED video, http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_tells_technology_s_epic_story.html (accessed February 24, 2010). Best and Douglas Kellner, "Kevin Kelly's Complexity Theory: The Politics and Ideology of Self-Organizing Systems," Democracy & Nature: The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy, 6, no.3 (November 2000): 375-399. Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and SocialistFeminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991), 151. Marcuse, Technology, War, Fascism: Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, ed. Douglas Kellner (London: Routledge, 1998), 1:46.
4
6Herbert 5Donna 4Steve

3Kevin

to accept and even to introcept [s/c] the dictates of the apparatus."7 Baudrillard's O concerns have to do with the condition known as "hyperreality" which characterizes the experience of living in a modern technologically mediated environment. He claims that in this condition individuals cannot distinguish between reality and simulations of reality which function to conceal the disappearance of the real. Regardless of how compelling, any overly deterministic standpoint regarding technology's implication should be met with reservation. Instead, a tempered approach is favorable. The reason for this is two-fold: first, technology's meaning in the context of human experience is often obscured due to its rapid acceleration and lack and second, due to its pharmakotic nature, technology's dehumanizing and enhancing or complementary attributes, cannot be isolated. Making Marcuse's and Baudrillard's concerns no less substantial or compelling, there are equally compelling counterclaims that technology is enhancing humanity. For instance, it can be argued that much of today's technology has a restorative effect on individual autonomy, or at least that it has the potential of having such an effect. If leveraged to do so, common devices and platforms, can enrich the individual's creative and productive capabilities, as well as, bring about a new form of connectedness. Technology is facilitating the growth of a culture built around collaboration and sharing. It is also destabilizing the current systems of production based on hierarchy, ownership, and regulation. As such, technology can aid the individual in the production and distribution of their own work bypassing traditional channels. In fact,

7Ibid

1:44.

Jean Baudrillard, "The Precession of Simulacra," in Simulacra and Simulation, trans. Sheila Faria Glaser (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1994), 12.
5

"the internet [alone] presents the possibility of the reversal of this long trend."9 While there is merit in the struggle among readings when it comes to technology's implications, I argue that the opportunity that is presented by the decentralization of production and distribution is unique and meaningful. It could lead to a change in values and the reimagining of the current system of exchange. However, this potential for good and meaning is complicated by the effect certain technologies are having on reality itself. Multiple technologically produced realities have become prominent sites of immersion and transcendence. These realities include virtual, augmented, and alternative realities which exist parallel to reality proper and in some respects impinge on it. These environments elicit immersion either by emulating aspects of reality proper or by transcending its limitations. For example many popular console and personal computer (PC) games have nonlinear free-roaming environments, in contrast to what is afforded in reality. Others have intricate and elaborate storylines that players adopt, suspending reality proper, while paradoxically relying on real-life conditions such as cause and effect. Those who engage in console and PC games have been known to spend considerable amounts of time doing so; extreme cases of which border on addiction. The investment of time, and to at least some extent, the abandonment of real life for a virtual and limitless one, extends to such a degree that it illustrates one of the ways in which reality proper and technologically produced realties are converging. In Minecraft, a PC game, collectives of players have built functioning cities that they themselves administer in the same vein of reality/ real-life; a solid

Benkler, "Freedom in the Commons: Towards a Political Economy of Information," Duke Law Journal 52, no. 6 (April 2003): 1250.
6

9Yochai

example of how players reproduce real-world objects and systems within game environments. Additionally, World of Warcraft popularized the sale of virtual currency in the real world, for use in-game. The presence and proliferation of technologically produced environments can be read as posing some ontological concerns. However, due to the growing nebulousness among realities, it is difficult to evaluate the ultimate effects of these immersive environments. Narratives found in science fiction provide a unique opportunity to observe and examine the whole of technology's implications. Given that human perception is limited and tied to a particular time and place, science fiction gives us the distance to see the course of events in their totality. Motifs found in science fiction often center around the transformation of traditional society by technological mediation, and the convergence of nature/biology with technology. Other motifs include; addiction to virtual reality, the desire to exteriorize oneself, the technological augmentation of the human body and its abilities, the notion of life as information, and the emergence of technological consciousness. For example, much of the science fiction novel Neuromancer takes place in cyberspace during a time when the natural human body is altered by cybernetics. Neuromancer's plot and that of a series titled, Serial Experiments Lain explain that technology's ubiquity has to do with its addictive qualities whereby immersion in technological environments becomes more meaningful and real than reality proper. Serial Experiments Lain takes place on the cusp of the convergence of the real world and the networked internet-like environment referred to as the Wired. Preceding this convergence, individuals are isolated and hyper-connected, similar to what we experience
7

today. Pertinently, the series places into question what it means to be human when the boundaries of reality proper and of the natural body cease to exist, and the self or consciousness is able exist in a digital medium. Serial Experiments Lain and Neuromancer portray the anxiety and eagerness that this convergence and change in ontology bring about. The film titled Ghost in the Shell illustrates the motif dealing with the evolution of technology: the emergence of a technological consciousness. In this film a program, a piece of software, becomes self-awaremarking the emergence of a consciousness parallel to humanity. Speaking to this newfound commonality between man and machine, a central character explains that "it can be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself."10 The series, Battle Star Galactica and another titled, Caprica also deal with the emergence of artificial consciousness. Most of Caprica 's narrative serves as a precursor to this event, developing the idea that human beings advance technology not only for the sake of progress, but also to satisfy their drives and anxieties, despite the unforeseen consequences of doing so. This narrative contextualizes the human condition amid substantial technological mediation in which the drive towards exteriorization can be read as an attempt by man to resolve his anxieties about being and realitynot only in regards to his immediate existence, but in regards to the future of the human species.

technique is illustrated by Abe Lasser as The Puppet Master in the scene of the conversation with Nakamura and unknown Section 6 agent; Ito, Kazunori, Ghost in the Shell, DVD, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Kokubunji: Production I.G.. 1996).
8

l0This

The narratives, interpretations, and real-life examples discussed in this project canvas present-day technological mediation and how we imagine its consequences. The continuum with Kelly and Haraway representing one end and Marcuse and Baudrillard representing the other, help frame our occasional visceral responses to a transformation that feels dauntingly out of grasp. Taken together, their concerns and optimisms regarding the implication of technological mediation of the human condition reinforce a reading of technology as a pharmakon. As such, viewing technology as only having the potential to enhance or dehumanize gives us an incomplete perspective. A more immediate concern is that a skewed perspective can limit the potential use and development of technology in ways that are beneficial to humanity and/or make it difficult to determine where we should tread with caution.

CHAPTER 2 HUMAN NATURE It is human to search, from lure to lure, for a life that is at last autonomous and authentic.11 The quest to understand human nature has been pursued by many thinkers within various disciplines, philosophy being among them. Accordingly, the insights of Georges Bataille, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Taylor, and Peter Kropotkin profoundly contribute to the discourse pertaining to human nature. For instance, Bataille's concept of "human specificity"12 qualifies as his most significant contribution to this effort. According to this concept, what is specifically human is rooted in man's negation "of the given world and of his own animality."13 Bataille provides an account of the human world as fundamentally artificial.14 Man is the architect of a world configured by domains that materialize out of the prohibitions he arbitrarily constructs for the purpose of social order. Speaking to the artificiality of human life, in that insincerity is at the center of social life; Rousseau and Taylor propose that the desire and search for an authentic "Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy, trans. Robert Hurley (New York: Zone Books, 1993), 2:124.
12Ibid., 13Ibid i4Ibid.,

2:52-53. 2:53. 2:61.

10

existence characterizes the human experience. The value of an authentic existence is that it promises a new level of meaning and fulfillment.15 Both authors address the ways in which man attempts to actualize this desire. Rousseau advocates a strategy of isolation and retreat from society, the rationale being that through reclusion one becomes liberated from his or her obligations to others. While Rousseau's well-known fondness for community can be found in texts such as the Social Contract and the First and Second Discourses, in his last and unfinished manuscript Reveries of the Solitary Walker, he temporarily opts for solitude. In a series of meditations, or walks, Rousseau explores the idea that the unmitigated freedom to do as one pleases is conducive, if not necessary, in embracing one's authenticity. To the contrary, Taylor warns against this approach; arguing that others are a part of human subjectivity, and that any attempt to be authentic through the rejection of social bonds would ultimately result in a failed attempt. He claims that human subjectivity is dialogically not monologically constructed; therefore, social bonds are intrinsically tied to one's happiness and fulfillment.16 Kropotkin makes an additional observation regarding the significance of social bonds. He argues that man's sociability, in particular an affinity towards cooperation, is a characteristic that humans have acquired through the process of evolution. Evidence found in numerous archeological sites suggests that early man's survival may have depended on cooperation and mutual aid. This affinity remains with us today. It is expressed though collaborative efforts; however, in many cases individuals collaborate not for the purpose of survival, but for the pleasure of connecting with others based on
15Reisert, 16Ibid

308.

307.
11

shared interest. In this regard, there is an argument to be made that technology plays an increasingly important role in facilitating and nurturing this inherited aspect of human nature. These authors portray human nature as being contemplative, creative, meaningseeking, and social. Additionally, anthropologists highlight an important consideration that the human experience is latent with anxieties about being and about reality.17 These anxieties are believed to be at the root of collective and individual identity construction. From identity politics to the base-level day-to-day interactions of individuals which covers race, gender, and nationalism; the construction and demarcation of identity showcases a desire to attain an authentic existence, gain recognition, and protect one's authenticity. The insight that human beings regularly engage in mitigating anxieties extending beyond simple flight or fight is an important piece of the puzzle, rendering a more complete portrayal of human nature. In all, anxiety, the universal desire for authenticity, and the increased artificiality of the human world operate simultaneously; giving shape to human experience. Fittingly, these very forces are also influencing the way technology is developed. This is evident in science, where through genetic research; scientists are working to conquer hereditary disorders and life threatening diseases. Research of this kind relies heavily on the relationship between technology and science, which will inevitably grow closer. As our technology and ability to manipulate genetic information becomes more sophisticated, predictive medicine will make longer life spans possible, moving us closer "'Handler, 3.
l8Ibid.

18

12

to overcoming mortality itself, and perhaps allowing us to become more god-like. These efforts can be viewed as a continuation of mankind's dominion over nature and/or as a logical progression and application of our technological knowledge and abilities. However, their rationale lies somewhere between progress for its own sake and altruism. While altruism may drive researchers themselves as well as the individuals and organizations that fund given projects, the possibility that such efforts are tied to latent anxieties regarding our being, particularly about mortality, is a potentially more acute yet often overlooked motivation. The forces that shape human experience, and that are subsequently guiding science and medical research, are also at play in our interaction with technology. Daily routines often include repeated interaction with a host of devices like; personal computers, tablets, and smartphones to name a few. They provide access to a multitude of social platforms like Delicious, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. The popularity of these and other social platforms, like those accessible through gaming and entertainment consoles, are arguably reflective of our innate social and collaborative nature. Given the driving-force of human nature, it is fitting to thoughtfully consider the motivations and the existential struggles that have led us onto our current path; upon which we are etching out humanity's future. The insights gained, thanks to the aforementioned authors and disciplines, are useful to having an honest dialog regarding our collective affinities and anxieties whether they be conscious or unconscious. By doing so, we can gain a clearer picture as to how the deepest emotions, and lurking uncertainty, are driving the development of technology, and the way in which human beings experience the world.
13

In The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy, Bataille details a two phase movement that speaks to man's totality; the transition from nature to culture and the transition from animal to man.19 His explanation of these transitions shed light onto an intangible aspect of being human: thought and experience. To begin with, Bataille draws on anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss's The Elementary Structures of Kinship which discusses the first phase: the transition from nature to culture. From the dawn of mankind, human beings have observed certain prohibitions "concerning sexual activity 9fi and behavior with respect to the dead." One such prohibition is the taboo against incestuous relationships; thought to be the hallmark of culture and civilization. It functioned through the restriction of sexual activity, particularly, through the rules of exogamy.21 As a result, the universal character of the prohibition promoted the institution of marriage and the network of social relations known as kinship. With the rules of exogamy emerged a ubiquitous form of exchange and transaction; "the gift of women."22 Bataille asks that we not think of this in economic terms; instead, that generosity and movement underscore the principle of the gift.23 In further detail, the principle refers to the gift and distribution of women for the purpose of marriage and kinship formation in which the activity of giving away a woman, either a daughter or sister, became both functional and meaningful. Levi-Strauss writes,
l9Bataille, 20Ibid 2lIbid., 22Ibid 23Ibid.,

2:52.

2:28. 2:31. 2:39. 2:40-41.

14

these gifts are either exchanged immediately for equivalent gifts or are received by the beneficiaries on condition that at a later date they will give counter-gifts often exceeding the original goods in value, but which in their turn bring about a subsequent right to receive new gifts surpassing the original ones in sumptuousness.24 Again, emphasizing social movement instead of material gain as the guiding factor, the system of kinship bound unrelated groups while the custom of reciprocity ensured future transactions. And, it should come as no surprise that "the principle of the gift, which 9S propels the movement of general activity, is at the basis of sexual activity." The universal establishment and observance of prohibitions like the taboo against incest, although varying degree, provide meaning and evidence that culture is the antithesis to the wildness and incivility of nature.26 Upon this anthropological account, Bataille conceptualizes a second phase: the transition from animal to man. In doing so, he revisits the principle of the gift. He understands the principle as both a renunciation and expenditure in that the gift of women requires the renunciation of one's kin, who is set aside for future expenditure upon an outside group. The renunciation involved produces a reserve from which excess becomes possible.27 He upholds the practice of negation and delayed squandering, for the sake of

Levi-Strauss, The Elementary Structures of Kinship (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969): 52, quoted in Bataille, 2:41.
25Bataille, 26Ibid 27Ibid.,

24Claude

2:41.

2:23. 2:56-57.
15

continued social movement and one's future well-being as an observance that unique to man.28 As society became more complex, the meaning of the gift underwent a transformation. It was transformed from a "total social fact"29 with social, religious, utilitarian, sentimental and moral significance to a function governed by self-interest and the understanding that, "economic needs depended on the marriage partnership and the sexual division of labor."30 This change in status did not signify a deficit of meaning, instead; it signified the presence of another domainthe utilitarian domain. This brings us to Bataille's central proposition; "humanity forms worlds, seemingly related but 31 actually alien to one another." Notably the world of utility and its counterpart the world of thought, which encompass the concepts of the prohibition against incest and "the festival," give rise to the structure of eroticism. "Essentially, eroticism is defined as the sexual activity of man as opposed to that of animals."33 Beyond the categorization of eroticism as distinctly human, as well as, a theory explaining its origin, Bataille adds that what is considered

28Ibid 29Ibid., 30Ibid 31Ibid., 32Ibid 33Ibid.,

2:57. 2:41. 2:40, 45. 2:21. 2:90. 2:27.

sexually appropriate and what is forbidden is arbitrarily established, changing from place to place.34 The arbitrary boundary between permitted and prohibited kin is a function of the need to ensure circuits of exchange. When these organized circuits cease to be useful the incestuous situation is reduced. If utility no longer enters in, one tends to remove obstacles whose arbitrariness becomes blatant .... Whenever it is convenient, moreover, the boundary can be extended anew ... No matter, it is always a question of countering animal disorderliness with the principle of perfect humanity .. .35 Thus, prohibitions and the domains they create are never settled, they only produce outside domains where the objects of prohibitions can be coveted. In this account, Bataille construes the human world as a world of artifice, transformed by man in his quest to negate nature and suppress any residual animal tendencies he may still harbor. Given what can only be described as an instinctual repulsion towards "the natural and undefined life of the 'beasts,' " man's totality is most adequately understood in contrast to the meaningless existence of animals.37 It is these intangible aspects of the human world that have been unique and deterministic of human development, activity, and experience, an observation that both Rousseau and Taylor echo. Society has been a pivotal site of man's development. It is also where meaning and value is continuously established. According to Rousseau and Taylor, man's awareness becomes sophisticated once society becomes a primary environment.
34Ibid 35Ibid

2:30.

., 2:55. 2:48-49. 2:31.

17

36Ibid 37Ibid.,

Rousseau identifies an important transition in human development; the transition from amour de soi to amour propre. Amour de soi translates into love of oneself, focusing on well-being by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. OO This level of well-being

corresponds to animals and pre-social human beings; a state in which man had an innocence about him and before he became socialized and corrupt. From this elementary notion of well-being, man develops a more complex love of oneself; amour propre. It upholds the pleasure principle while including a sense of the good, the useful, as well as a sense of self that goes beyond one's physical being. Marking man's transition into a social being which for Rousseau is an unnatural state of being, amour propre relies on one's comparison to others. Upon the realization of how one looks to others certain negative consequences arise: such awareness breeds pride, vanity, and contempt as discussed in the Second Discourse. In tandem with this transition, man develops reason, emotional sensitivity, and imagination. All together, these developments enrich man's inner life and awaken the

individual to the other's gaze. Sensitivity to the other's gaze bridges man's transformation from a pre-social being to a fully human social being. The gaze of the other becomes a feature of the human condition and instrumental to a sense of self and identity.40 Likewise, Taylor argues that identity is produced dialogically between the self and the other, furthermore, that we seek recognition for being the particular individual

38Reisert, 39Ibid., 40Ibid

317.

317. 308.
18

that we are.41 It is through social interaction that identity is produced and maintained. However, once predetermined social roles collapse, the network of recognition becomes increasingly complex and society becomes the locus of role-playing.42 While this collapse can be interpreted as an opening for self-discovery, Taylor points out an important consideration; in this scenario the need for recognition is intensified. Uncertain that we will receive our desired recognition we can only "take satisfaction in the recognition afforded to [us] by those whom [we] deems estimable."43 It is also the reason why personal and intimate relationships become so important.44 The social sphere is ripe with the potential for insincerity; nevertheless, Taylor maintains that society should not be viewed as counterproductive to authenticity. He argues that others are an essential part of human subjectivity and that authenticity should be viewed as an ideal connecting us to a wider community. Within such a community, the individual can properly address "the need to craft a distinct identity for oneself' and "the need for recognition," both of which are universal."45 Given this, it is important that "everyone have an equal chance at self-fulfillment."46 Both, Rousseau and Taylor explore the strategies with which man searches for an authentic existence; particularly those of isolation and connectedness. Rousseau
4lTaylor

quoted in Reisert, 308. 3.

42Handler, 43Reisert, 44Ibid. 45Ibid. 46Ibid

311.

310.
19

questions the understanding that an authentic man is necessarily a social being. In Reveries of the Solitary Walker, he advances the idea that external demands posed by social relationships are detrimental to the individual's potential to be authentic. As such, these meditations depict a turns towards isolation; involving the retreat from society, "repudiation of connectedness,"47 and rejection of the other's gaze. Rousseau's "radical authenticity,"48 an existence free from obligation, is reminiscent of Marquis de Sade's notion of radical sovereignty in which sovereignty is obtained through the negation of the other. For Sade, moral isolation leads to the removal of constraints. In the following statement Sade explains that isolation can be delimiting, an idea that Rousseau supports. Anyone who believes in the worth of others is necessarily limited; he is restricted by this respect for others, which prevents him from knowing the meaning of the only aspiration that is not subordinated within him to the desire to increase his material or moral resources .... The fact is that solidarity keeps man from occupying the place indicated by the word "sovereignty": human beings' respect for one another draws them into a cycle of servitude where subordinate moments are all that remains, and where in the end we betray that respect, since we deprive man in general of his sovereign moments (of his most valuable asset).49 Rousseau, like Sade, advocates the repudiation of others as a means to break the cycle of servitude that constrains man. However, while Rousseau celebrates the freedom that isolation affords, it ultimately leads him to conclude that such limitlessness transforms man into something that "bears striking similarities to the bestial."50 This is

47Ibid., 48Ibid

314. 306. 2:178-179.

49Bataille, 50Reisert,

318.
20

because an isolated man has no one and nothing with which to measure or recognize his humanity. Taylor, who warns against the strategy Rousseau adopts, suggesting that to deny the connection between the self and others is to undermine the stability of one's identity and render it meaningless.51 Additionally, the lack of the other's gaze translates into the lack of recognition: a human need says Taylor. Accordingly, while individual will and action are important; authenticity requires proximity to others, communication, and fairmindedness. In light of the shortfalls attached to the strategy of isolation, Taylor advocates that authenticity be sought through connectedness, particularly through the development of emotional bonds. Anarchist, philosopher, and evolutionary theorists, Peter Kropotkin can be read as complementary to Taylor's emphasis on connectedness. Kropotkin argued that cooperation, not competition, was an important feature of survival of the fittest. Per his many expeditions, he found that early man and some animals lived in societies exhibiting a strong presence of mutual aid and sociability. In his work titled, Mutual-Aid: A Factor of Evolution, Kropotkin "saw evidence of mutual aid and mutual support to such an extent that he suspected that they were both a feature of the greatest importance for the maintenance of life, the preservation of each species, and its further evolution." He advances the idea that mutual aid began as a strategy for survival "in the struggle against nature," and that overtime an affinity towards cooperation became
5'ibid., 52Peter

314.

Kropotkin, "Introduction," in Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, (London: William Heinemann, 1902) http://librivox.org/mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolutionby-peter-kropotkin/ (accessed June 14, 2012).
21

hardwired human behavior. Early man shared with its ancestors from the animal kingdom, a primitive form of organization, the tribe, band, and society. Reaching as far back as the Glacial Era to the post-Glacial Era, man was known to live in societies; living collectively with little regard to personal wealth. "Within the tribe the rule of 'each for all' was supreme."53 However, a shift in organization took place. The reason, at least partly, had to do with the mass migration of people which resulted in the fragmentation of societies that had lived together for thousands of years. Subsequently, the emergence of the state, characterized with a readiness to wage war, contributed to the shift as well. This disruption to the prior mode of organization also gave rise to the accumulation of wealth and with it, an emerging unit of organization: the family. Furthermore, the wealthy family reshaped the structure of organization into one of hierarchy. Under the new hierarchical structure, these families became institutions of power and authority. Somewhat adjacently, the rise of the medieval city brought about the decay of communal institutions. Kropotkin associates this segment of human history, and much of what follows, with the vision of the pessimistic philosopher who would attribute human nature with an affinity towards war and oppression in order to mitigate the harshness of nature.54 He notes that mutual aid had not disappeared. Collaboration and cooperation are as commonplace as war despite the disproportionate attention history gives it.55

53Ibid. 54Ibid., 55Ibid.

"Mutual aid among the barbarians."

22

Mutual aid and cooperation remain relevant today. As Kropotkin suggests, these factor never really disappeared. In fact, they are resurging. Certain ways in which technology is leveraged can be read as aiding the resurgence of humanity's affinity towards collaboration. This is evidenced in the formation and proliferation of the opensource development and "peer production,"56 where not only do users share and re-use content, they also build upon one another's work. Now this is not completely new. Science is built by many people contributing incrementallynot operating on market signals, not being handed their research marching orders by their dean-but independently deciding what to research, bringing their collaboration together, and creating science. The Oxford English Dictionary was created in roughly the same way in the nineteenth centurylaboriously over and over many years.57 Wikipedia, a collaborative web-based encyclopedia, serves as a more recent example. As mentioned, scientific research has long been a collaborative effort; however, it has also become increasingly open to outside participation. For example, "The Mars "clickworkers" project was an experiment run by NASA that allowed 85,000 people to collaborate on mapping Mars craters."58 Participants did so by looking at online images of Mars's surface. In another example, Creative Commons licensing, an alternative to traditional copyright exclusive ownership rights, facilitates sharing and open source development. These are only a small example of how collaboration, an important factor of our evolution, not only remains relevant but the preferred way to create, learn, and solve problems. The experience and interactive paradigms technology

56Benkler, 57Ibid. 58Ibid.,

1246.

1257.
23

and the communities of production that have emerged as a result, challenge market driven rationales of competition and the accumulation of resourcesgiving new breadth to Kropotkin's observations. Taylor, and ultimately Rousseau, view isolation as detrimental to the ongoing process of identity construction. While connectedness offers an imperfect authenticity, it is generally accepted as a source of meaning and fulfillment. The ideas and values that we as individuals hold as important, and defining of our character, feel more meaningful when they are shared and understood by others; particularly by those we care for. Connecting with others in this way is brings about a sense of fulfillment. As such, many platforms that facilitate connectedness and collaboration have gained popularity. With technology, it is possible for individuals to do so regardless of geographical limitations. The desire for an authentic existence remains deeply significant. However, technology can be understood as overcoming isolation and connectedness as discrete strategies. It provides the best of both worlds in that the need to choose between strategies is obsolete. With technology, human beings experience isolation and connectedness simultaneously. Granted, some argue that the quality of experience has decreased in meaning, it is difficult to deny the possibilities that we are presented with. For instance, the process of self-discovery, self-creation, and self-expression requires that an individual "have the ability to act according to his or her conscience and assessments."59 Arguably, technology enhances our ability to do so. With current technology and devices, the individual can experience the delimitations of isolation while remaining connected to individuals and belonging to meaningful communities.
59Reisert,

330.
24

CHAPTER 3 TECHNOLOGY In a general way, technology can be understood as an outgrowth of a creative impulse that is fundamentally human.60 It is, in other words, an expression of humanity. However, how we feel, think, and respond to its presence in our lives is informed by our particular disposition towards it. For instance, technology can be viewed as being analogous with automation and that which is inorganic. Counter to the incalculable, imperfect, and organic quality of human existence. One may determine that technology's inorganic quality ought not to compromise the integrity of the human mind and body or nature which is qualitatively organic and authentic. Or, one can view technology as an integral part of human evolution serving to improve the species. However, the distinction between organic and inorganic is quickly fading. As a result, this increased nebulousness is engendering diametrically opposed readings of technology. Those who, more-or-less, fetishize technology believe that technology's prevalence is beneficial to humanity while technophobes, generally view its prevalence as an unwelcomed encroachment. Therein, technology has various readings each leading to a different assessment of its implications on the human condition. In this chapter, the readings and dispositions of Kevin Kelly, Donna Haraway, Herbert Marcuse, and Jean

Weinstone, "Welcome To The Pharmacy: Addiction, Transcendence, and Virtual Reality," Diacritics 27, no. 3 (1997): 82. 25

60Ann

Baudrillard are presented. They vary in the way each defines technology, the way each perceives technology in its totality, and the way each assesses the machine/human dynamic. I spend some time discerning each author's disposition as each provides a breath of meaningful context and in turn, a more open discussion. Technology has been at the center of Kevin Kelly's career and life's work. As such, he has considerable experience and familiarity with technological applications and issues. Choosing from a wide spectrum of professional endeavors, I have selected two that best demonstrate his expertise. Over two decades ago, he took part in launching the first online teleconference system called, WELL, which facilitated collaboration over large distances. In 1993 he co-founded, Wired magazine, a technology critique publication where he currently serves as executive editor. Kelly's personal investment in technology along with his professional affiliations suggests an attitude of general enthusiasm towards technology. This notion sets the tone of his reading. Kelly defines technology as anything useful that comes from the human mind.61 Accordingly, what constitutes technology is wide in scope, ranging from modern devices and gadgets to systems of organization such as governments and legal systems. Further widening this scope, Kelly proposes that technology has its own epic story.
62

He

envisions the genesis of this story as part of our own human origin; asserting that technology is an extension of life itself. "Energy led to matter and matter led to

6'Kelly. 62Ibid.

26

information."63 This reading places technology in the sphere of the cosmos which is, at times, misconstrued as de-emphasizing the role of human beings. To the contrary, Kelly asserts that human beings play a decisive and creative role in finding the proper location for different technologies. As such, he depicts technology itself as neutral, until human beings do something with it. Feminist and author of "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," Donna Haraway can be read as generally supportive of Kelly's assessment. She considers technology as part of human evolution. While not in complete alignment with the idea of technology's neutrality, she does believe that there is a networked relationship; that technology is a part of us and that we are a part of what we create.64 In an interview on Wired.com, Haraway claims to be a cyborg. Demonstrating that she is not referring to some future technologically enhanced being, she says that it is not about prosthetics. It is about "the interaction of medicine, diet, training practices, clothing and equipment manufacture, visualization and timekeeping."65 The resulting confusion of boundaries and responsibility for their construction is a consequence Haraway, not to mention Cyberfeminists, welcome.66 As with the other authors discussed in this chapter, Marcuse's professional and ideological affiliations are also telling of his attitude toward technology. Marcuse was
63Ibid.

Kunzru, "You Are Cyborg: For Donna Haraway, We are Already Assimilated," Wired.com, 1997, http://www.wired.eom/wired/archive/5.02 /ffharaway.html?pg=l&topic=&topic_set= (accessed March 08, 2012).
65Ibid. 66Haraway,

64Hari

147.
27

affiliated with a group of neo-Marxist intellectuals known as the Frankfurt School. Its members criticized the project of Enlightenment in which instrumental reason and the advancement of science replaced philosophy and religion as universal guiding principles. The crux of their criticism centered on the idea that instead of delivering on the promise to end human suffering, this shift in principles led to the catastrophic events of WWII. In various writings, Marcuse scrutinizes capitalism, particularly the area of consumer culture. Within this already repressive system, he viewed technology's impact on individual thought and behavior, as creating a deeper level of alienation and dehumanization. As such, he held the prospect of technology as an emancipatory force deeply suspect. Marcuse defines technology in the following way; he differentiates "technology" from "technic," defining technology as the mode of organization, the mode of production, as well as the totality of devices and instruments. He defines technic as the instruments and practices "of industry, transportation (i.e., cars), and communication (i.e., computers)."67 Diametrically opposed to Kelly's definition which is quite broad in scope, Marcuse defines and focuses his reading on technology's direct implications on the individual rather than an account of its totality. In other words, Marcuse's assessments are tied to a particular frame of reference: the factory which speaks to technology's effects on the individual worker already situated in a repressive environment. Accordingly, technological instruments and processes subjugate the worker with unprecedented adeptness. Engagement with the machinery requires the individual to adapt to the machine process; resulting in a loss of individuality and humanity.
67Marcuse,

5.
28

The system of life created by modern industry is one of the highest expediency, convenience, and efficiency. Reason, once defined in these terms, becomes equivalent to an activity which perpetuates this world, Rational behavior becomes identical with a matter-of-factness which teaches reasonable submissiveness and q thus guarantees getting along in the prevailing order.
r

Thus, from Marcuse's reading we can derive a rather bleak understanding of the human/machine dynamic where at best the role of the individual is that of a passive user and at worst, the individual plays a servile role. The work of philosopher and cultural theorist, Jean Baudrillard can be read as analogous to Marcuse's perception concerning technology's adverse effects. Focusing on media culture and technological communication, Baudrillard describes a condition that is tantamount to voluntary servitude. He writes, In the virtual and media world, the mass and the individual are merely electronic extensions of each other. We have thus become virtual monads, free electrons, individuals left to ourselves, desperately seeking the other.69 [Furthermore,] Behind every television and computer screen, every technical operation which confronts him daily, the individual is analyzed in return, function by function. He is tested, experimented on, fragmented, harassed, summoned to respond: a fractal subject doomed henceforth to be disseminated in the network.70 Why subject ourselves to, as Baudrillard sees it; alienation, dehumanization, and servitude? The answer can largely be attributed to the power of seduction. As he famously asserted, we are living in the ecstasy of communication. Individuals are overexposed to images and information and the sheer degree of overexposure prevents our response; rendering them meaningless. Paradoxically, simulations of reality in the

68Ibid., 69Jean

48.

Baudrillard, Impossible Exchange, trans. Chris Turner (London: Verso,

2001), 48.
70Ibid.,

50.
29

form of television, film, video game narratives and characters, and digital images become more real than reality itself This presents the problem of disequilibrium. Any system invents for itself a principle of equilibrium, exchange, and value, causality and purpose, which plays on fixed opposition: good and evil, true and false, sign and referent, subject and object. This is the whole space of difference and regulation by difference which, as long as it functions, ensures the stability and dialectical movement of the whole. Up to this point, all is well. It is when this bi-polar relationship breaks down, when the system short-circuits itself, that it generates its own critical mass, and veers off exponentially.71 The exponential phase, characterized by endless reproducibility and selfreferentiality, signifies the disappearance of the original. Correspondingly, Baudrillard
72 speaks of the promise of personalization as an illusion. At present, the balance between

the need to conform and the need to differentiate oneself is disrupted. The code of consumer value, like the status affiliated with the car one drives, or the brand of electronics one has; holds the promise of personalization/differentiation, yet they are fundamentally homogenizing. Difference is reduced to the "differences of fashion" whereby groups of individuals identify with the same signs. 7-3 According to the system's

logic "not just one's relationship with other, but also one's relation to oneself becomes a consumed relation."74 Quite clearly, Baudrillard along with Marcuse, view the system of production and consumption, facilitated and expedited by technology, as dehumanizing. Baudrillard in

7'ibid., 72

5.

Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society: Myths & Structures, trans. Chris Turner (London: Sage, 1998): 86-90.
73lbid 74Ibid

89. 95.
30

particular, deems this progression as responsible for the replacement of reality with the simulacrum of reality. As a result, we are living in the realm of hyperreality where sovereignty is no longer possible and the individual has no recourse but to cling to identity, which is in-of-itself referential and empty. 7
c

The above continuum of authors and readings illustrate that technology's nature and its implication on the human condition take a different form, depending on who you ask. As such, technology can viewed as; a tool of mankind, a neutral evolutionary matter-of-fact, instruments and processes with automatizing effects, or as potentially allof-the-above. My reading; technology is nebulous in terms of its nature and its implications. I find the idea of technology's vastness in Kelly's reading particularly attractive, whereas I find that Haraway's prescription can be potentially dangerous given that it seems to have engendered some rather extreme and hasty adaptations. It is my personal view, that groups like the transhumanist movement have co-opted and fetishized the idea that the technological transformation of the natural body, liberation from sociobiological constraints, delivers on the ideal of utopia. With that being said, while I admire Marcuse's and Baudrillard's readings, their concerns and analysis deal with technology's possible implications. Ultimately, their readings over determine technology's implications on the human condition. Technology can and has been dehumanizing. Arguably, this can be attributed to human intent, as is the case with weaponry that de-humanizes war and conflict thereby making aggression less real and more palatable. Also, technology can and has changed human perception. For example, the speed, efficiency, and connectivity that we have all
75Baudrillard,

Impossible Exchange, 52. 31

grown accustomed to give rise to new tensions. Is there not a sense that being without our web-connected devices for too long would surely provoke some degree of separation anxiety? It is anxiety with respect to the devices themselves, but also to the disconnection from the constant flow of information and images. Never mind that Baudrillard points out that information and images are meaningless. Perhaps knowing that we have instant access to entertainment, news, and social circles, quiets our minds in opposition to loneliness. Or, is technology an extension of our perception, granted that with time the distinction may fade. Augmented reality, exemplified by mapping technology found on smartphones layer information, like points of interest onto a real time image onto a physical landscape. Such applications are social tools that can enrich experiences in leisure and travel. It is even more enriching, especially to the individual whose quality of life depends on it. Artificial implants and prosthetics are available thanks to human ingenuity and technology; as are "new engineered surfaces for medical devices and healthcare environments modeled on sharkskin" that inhibit germ growth saving countless life.76 While at times imperfect, it is the decisions that people make in developing and using technology that determine its implications. We have a long history of one group dominating another, thus, it is no surprise that some technology has been fashioned to be dehumanizing. We also have, a more-or-less, equal history of medical pursuits, space exploration, and global civil engineering. While still underway, perhaps we can add the democratization of information to this list. This is reliant on the continued decrease of hardware costs and the protection of Institute "Biomimicking Sharks," http://biomimicryinstitute.org /home-page-content/home-page-content/biomimicking-sharks.html (accessed March 08, 2012).
32
76Biomimicry

web-access as a human right. Further back, the democratizing of information would not be possible without the engineers and computer scientists responsible for the Web as we know it. Even further back, this is possible through the efforts of German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz. During the seventeenth century, he created a universal language known as binary code, which remains the foundation of virtually all digital computers. "Through the common binary language, discordant ways of thinking can exist under a single roof. Disagreements in attitude or belief, once translated into matching symbols, can later yield to operations for ensuring logical consistency."77 In this way, every natural language, and all of human culture could be compiled into a shared database.78 Following Leibniz, other examples like Vannevar Bush's Memex and Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu re-visited and expanded upon the idea of a shared universal database. The intentions and efforts of certain individuals, spanning centuries, have endeavored to remedy the fallibility of human memory and the fragmentation of knowledge. Today, we can see the continuation of these efforts through the digitization of information. The Web; particularly, the growing numbers of digital libraries, databases, and encyclopedias that aggregate, preserve, and make readily available various books and images are contemporary examples of Leibniz's et al. vision of a universal database. However, the move from physical space to a digital space describes much more than just the future of information; it also describes present day communication. As more of our

Heim, "The Erotic Ontology of Cyberspace," in Metaphysic of Virtual Reality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993): 93-94.
78Ibid

77Michael

94.
33

communications become mediated by technology, "cyberspace supplants physical space."79 Web-based communication provides us with an "unrestricted freedom of expression and personal contact, with far less hierarchy and formality than are found in the primary social world."80 However, technology as pharmakon rears its head. While web-based communication can be read as a countermeasure to the isolation commonplace in urban society, it can also be read as a cause of social isolation. These contradictory implications affirm that technology is simultaneously remedy, medicine, addiction, and poison. In the next chapter I argue that in this particular place and time, technology is unfolding in a way that fosters personal autonomy and connectedness. In addition to the decrease in physical contact and reliance on devices to mediate human interaction, which is often deemed as dehumanizing; technology is enhancing all manner of experience.

79Ibid 80Ibid.

99.

34

CHAPTER4 THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE An entire generation has already grown-up in front of a browser. Today it is commonplace for pre-teens to have mobile phones and Facebook accounts, and it is becoming equally common for small children, including toddlers, to entertain themselves with mobile phone and tablet devices. As such, a well-established trend has developed in which interaction with technology is occurring at an increasingly young age. Given this reality, the way in which this generation communicates, explores, creates, and thinks differs from those prior. Future generations are likely to continue the aforementioned trend; however, the devices they interact with will be exponentially more sophisticated than our own, further augmenting the experiential gap between generations. While the normalization of early introduction to the various avenues of technological mediation can be read as an omen of technology's increasing inescapability, it has long been a formidable force in human life. Typically in concert with socio-political forces, technology has often been at the center of important historical events and transformations. Some examples include the emergence of industrial modernity, the Bolshevik Revolution, and Cold War military strategy, not to mention the radical transformation of the human species that is currently promoted by the transhumanist movement. Beyond its frequent role as an impetus to important events, technology has long mediated the human experience and it continues to 35

do so. Given its pharmakotic nature, its consequences are both dehumanizing and nurturing of our humanity. Though, not without its isolating effects where numerous daily interactions and experiences are mediated by a screen, I propose that several current technologies enhance personal autonomy and connectedness. In doing so, I outline the factors that are facilitating this transformation, namely, the development of Web 2.0, the convergence of technologies, the decentralization of production and distribution, the emergence of web-based communities and platforms, as well as a shift in values towards sharing , collaboration, and noncommercial production. This confluence of factors presents a unique and meaningful opportunity: equipping the individual to become a producer rather than a consumer while facilitating self-discovery, creation, and expression. Taylor tells us that these actions and endeavors are the responsibility of the individual, and a necessity in embracing one's authentic existence.81 Whereas, an autonomous existence requires that one act according to one's entire personality and what one values to be right. Preserving the handshake that exists

between authenticity and autonomy, technology augments the individual's capabilities to pursue and realize new levels of meaning for his or herself. Additionally, technology and its convergence is facilitating and transforming social interaction. For example, the technologically produced environments found in video games allow individuals to interact with other players in a shared reality, beyond that of reality proper. Interaction of this kind is different and arguably more meaningful because it is a willful adoption of a new reality.
81Reisert, 82Ibid

307.

329-330.
36

In explanation of technology as an established formidable force in human life, we return to Kevin Kelly. As previously discussed, Kelly proposes that technology is anything that comes from the human mind; including government and legal organizations. A similar sentiment can be derived from political theorist, Hannah Arendt's account of industrial modernity's emergence. Namely, that its principles and norms functioned as a new mode of organization. She writes that the modern age attempts to quantify man through conformism, behaviorism, and automatism in human affairs-management on a scale that had not previously existed. The crowd, the inherent amassing of individuals which brought about the conditions that are complementary to the scientific management and accounting of man, also lead to the mathematical treatment of reality. Thus, the view that government and other modes of organization

are a kind of technology applies here, wherein modernity could also be read as a kind of technology. Moreover, the events of the modern age surely would not have transpired without instruments of technology and their rational applications. The Bolsheviks, serving as the next example, placed technology at the forefront of their revolution. It was viewed as a means to create their ideal society. They believed that Karl Marx discovered the scientific laws of society which they could now use to unlock the gates to a new world where everyone would be equal and free. Within twenty years, technocrats took over, who looked at the crowd like they were a bunch of atoms. They were inspired, not by Marx, but by the laws of engineering. They believed that they could transform the Soviet Union into a large rational machine which they would run for their political masters.84 Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 2nd ed., with an introduction by Margaret Canovan (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1958): 43. Curtis, "The Engineer's Plot," episode 1 in Pandora's Box: A Fable from the Age of Science, filmed 1992, YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=NZ6t5JA70BA (accessed June 25, 2012). 37
84Adam

In this example, technology is idealized as a liberating force. However, factors like political power and ideology co-opt this ideal for political gain, a theme that repeats itself. Later, during the Cold War, the idea emerged that mathematical models could be used to predict the way the world worked. During this time American analysts, many of
or

whom worked at the RAND Corporation, began to utilize game theory.

Already used in

economics, this method was used to predict international behavior. The doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) resulted from such efforts. It assumed that the U.S. and the Soviet Union were unlikely to initiate a nuclear first-strike if the other could retaliate with equal force. In essence, this application of game theory rationalized nuclear war.86 This course of thought can be understood to demonstrate what Marcuse called technological rationality. It was rational for American analyst to use mathematical models, used to accurately predict a variety of phenomenon, to create computer simulated war games and apply its lessons strategically. In this instance, game theory established a standard of judgment that was used to strategically threaten the use of nuclear weapons which represented the first time in human history that a weapon could threaten the destruction of the entire human species.

Curtis, "To the Brink of Eternity," episode 2 in Pandora's Box: A Fable from the Age of Science, filmed 1992, YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=vYnPcH3vlDI (accessed June 25, 2012).
86Ibid.

85Adam

38

Technology's transformative power continues to shape reality in a procession that certain individuals and groups are embracing. The transhumanist movement is a noteworthy example that has gradually developed over the last two decades. Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.87 Accordingly, once human beings become posthuman, it paves the way for the emergence of the transhuman; a sentient being that is no longer human. The values and ideals associated with this movement have inspired entrepreneurs and inventors to make strides in actualizing their aims; which if successful would determine the course of human evolution. It is clear that technology is an important part of human life and our collective history. Human beings have rationally leveraged it to bring about countless desired changes. However, perhaps more interesting than our enduring relationship with technology is how we rationalize its use in animating various versions of the good which can impact all of humanity. Whether it is for the purpose of creating a Utopian society, fighting communism, or guiding the evolution of the human species, the consequences are ultimately unknowable. The Bolshevik attempt to free Soviet society with the aid of technology resulted in dehumanization, where their countrymen were reduced to "a
OO

bunch of atoms."

Also, the transhumanist agenda proposes to liberate humanity from

Bostrom, "Transhumanist Values," http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics /values.html (accessed March 12, 2012).

88Curtis,

87Nick

"To the Brink of Eternity."

39

its biological constraints through technological augmentation of the natural body, in other words, liberation through dehumanization. As a pharmakon, these grand-scale failures and applications must be tempered with technology's nurturing and restorative potential; particularly, that current technologies are enhancing personal autonomy and connectedness. The convergence of certain technologies is enhancing the quality of human experience, and the Web is at the top of the list. The Web can be broken up into two distinct versions; Web 1.0 and 2.0. The prior, "presented itself as a huge collection of hypertext documents presented in browsers, made accessible by search engines and navigable by clicking links. Consequently, the focus of research was navigation and information retrieval, under the perspective of the Web as a large, global, digital library."89 This version was consumption driven, whereas the Web that we are familiar with today, Web 2.0, is production driven. It is also people driven and "understood as a place for conversation, contribution, and interaction."90 On the Web, users/participants are able to engage in a variety of activities; one example being the creation of genuine content as may be found in a blog. However, more common activities take the following form: ... conversational and personal statements (primarily relevant to a small group acquainted with the author), re-posting of content generated by others, such as the embedding of YouTube videos into blog posts or the excerpt-wise citation of a longer article along with a short comment or, metadata in a wider sense of the word-such as ratings, reviews, comments, or short affirmations of interest

Stefaner, "Visual Tools For The Socio-Semantic Web" (Master's Thesis, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, 2007): 8.
90Ibid.

89Moritz

40

expressed in public bookmarks enriched with user-defined keywords (so-called tags).91 In many ways, thanks to the Web, we are also witnessing the convergence of technology and the disappearance of discrete devices and uses. For example, Microsoft's Xbox 360, a popular video game and entertainment console includes Netflix (a digital media rental distribution service), Facebook (a social networking site), Twitter (a microblogging service), and Zune (Microsoft's entertainment platform), allowing the user to access these services from a single device. The aggregation of uses is the key character of the interaction between users and modern devices as well as technology in its totality. The PC and the Smartphone further exemplify this development. The PC evolved from a device that executed a single or a limited number of tasks to a device of multiple uses, wherein its users are able to perform work related tasks, communicate, shop, and use their PC as an entertainment hub. Similarly, the Smartphone, the successor of the mobile phone, has evolved into a small PC of sorts. Like traditional mobile phones, the Smartphone has communication and data capabilities. Unlike traditional phones, Smartphone devices include fourth generation (4G) services translating into faster network speeds for users. In addition, these devices have sophisticated hardware capabilities, which were previously only found in desktop or laptop PCs. An improved ability to process, send, and receive more data, allows Smartphone users to transfer larger email attachments that include video and audio attachments, word documents, and spreadsheets that can be viewed and experienced directly from the Smartphone device. Improved web-browsers are also a feature of

91 Ibid.,

16.
41

emerging Smartphone devices. In fact, popular Smartphone devices that support Google's Android operating system (OS), Palm's/HP WebOS, and Apple's iPhone OS leverage Web browsers, built on an open source framework called, WebKit. Google's desktop PC browser also utilizes WebKit, showing the convergence of software across various hardware devices. While this is the current state of technology's convergence, what this convergence will look like in the future is being developed. For example, companies like Samsung and LG are working towards the introduction of "connected appliances," which include but is not limited to Refrigerators, Washer/Dryers, and Smart TVs that will be able to communicate with each other as well as connect to our Q9 smartphones or other devices. This continued convergence coupled with decreases in hardware and software costs are making our immersion in technology all the more prominent. The democratization of technology is not only contributing to a heightened state of immersion, it is decentralizing production; a development that is tied to an economic shift. The "Industrial Information Economy" has become a "Networked Information Economy."93 The former was based on information (financial services, accounting, science), culture (films, music) production, and manipulation of symbols (i.e., the Nike swoosh) while the latter is situated in a communication environment, cheap processors, and high computable capabilities.94 Cheap processors are particularly democratizing in

92http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/01/ces-2012-what-is-this-

connected-appliance-stuff-all-about-anyway.html (accessed March 15, 2012).

93Benkler, 94Ibid.,

1251.

1248.
42

that they are widely accessible. This shift places the individual at the center of production, an alternative to the role of passive consumer in the old economy. It has also increased nonmarket and commons-based production; changing the process of production as well as the nature of the product itself (i.e., music and film). Once a finished product is open to human creativity through remixing and re-editing, the product becomes perpetually open. Moreover, such openness encourages amateur production. In fact, it is minimizing the gap between amateurs and professionals. This circumstance in which both amateurs and professional alike have comparable tools and direct control over production and distribution amounts to "production anarchy." In this regard technology is an equalizer; placing amateurs and professionals on even ground. As such, all facets of production can take place outside of the old model that restricts the individual producer with copyright laws, legal departments, and commercial considerations. Established hierarchical modes of production are losing their hold, particularly when "their" content becomes so widely embraced that it is transformed into cultural property. George Lucas's film, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace serves as a precise example. Displeased by the character known as, Jar Jar Binks, a fan re-edited the film and distributed the new film under the name "The Phantom Edit." Having the tools to do so, he re-edited the film, eliminated the unwanted character, resulting in an arguably new product. The new film spread quickly through the Web becoming part of fandom Zeitgeist. The Phantom Edit was met with a largely positive reception as its audience shared the same issues with the choices Lucas made in the theatrical version. This example illustrates that the Web is a platform for self-expression and conversation. Furthermore it illustrates that, with this platform, the individual has the potential power to 43

shape popular consensus and participate in cultural production; a pursuit that had previously required large financial backing. The Phantom Edit was a noncommercial product of a fan's passion for Star Wars. However, the decentralization of production and distribution is also presenting an opening for a new business model that includes the ability to make a living. A Wall Street Journal blog entry titled, "How to Make $55,000 by Giving Your Work Away" serves to illustrate this model. It tells the story of a cartoonist by the name of Nina Paley who distributed her movie using a Creative Commons Share-A-Like license which allows others to share and remix her work, et cetera.95 In doing so, Paley distributed her movie without cost, and made a handsome profit which she itemized: $23,000 from donations from people who appreciated her giving away free content, $19,000 from merchandise and DVD sales, and $3,000 broadcast television distribution of which her total profit was $55,00096 Using a similar business model, the British alternative rock band, Radiohead, released their album, "In Rainbows" in 2007. Before the album was released in stores, the digital version was made available for download and fans could pay whatever they wanted for it. Radiohead's experimentation coincided with the expiration of their contract with the label, EMI. The band's massive following embraced this break with the music industry. Millions of fans downloaded the album for free while others paid

Angwin, "How to Make $55,000 by Giving Away Your Work," Wall Street Journal Blog, November 23, 2009, http://blogs.wsj.eom/digits/2009/l 1/23/ how-to-make-55000-by-giving-away-your-work/(accessed June 15, 2012).
96Ibid.

95Julia

44

between a penny and $20.97 While many skeptics at the time questioned the viability of this business strategy, it turned out to be a lucrative decision for the band. Sales of the digital version, prior to the release of the physical album, generated more revenue than the sales of the band's previous album, Hail to the Thief. Moreover, all of the revenue went directly into the band's pocketsagain a very lucrative decision. The reason for Radiohead's success may be two-fold. First, the band has a loyal fan-base not to mention it was accepted as a success by many critics and fans. Secondly, the "pay what you think it is worth" strategy resonated with fans. It also spoke to consumers who believe that the standard retail cost of a CD, which at the time fell between $12 and $15, was unappealing given that typically only a few songs on most albums are worth purchasing. The music service, iTunes's success is built on the realization that consumers believe that purchasing an entire album is no longer worth the cost. The democratization of production and distribution, in addition to the participatory nature of the Web, is also fertile grounds for niche production and consumption. The nearly endless spectrum of topics of user generated content translates into the expansion of choices for the potential user. An example of the possibilities afforded by niche production/consumption is Wikipedia which aggregates information including that of niche topics. The information gathered through an open process whereby contributions are peer reviewed and are subject to contestation. The result is a wide spectrum of choices, diversity, and freedom through the emergence of the Web as a collaborative platform. Sandoval, "Study: Free Beats Fee for Radiohead's 'In Rainbows,' " CNET News Blog, November 5, 2007, http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9811013-7.html (accessed December 05, 2009).
45
97Greg

Notably, the examples discussed thus far suggest a shift in values. They illustrate that the new economy fosters different attributes in people. Industrial production in the physical economy functions on attributes of labor (e.g., physical capacity, amount of hours one can work and stay awake) while the networked information economy fosters personal attributes (e.g., creativity, taste, wisdom, social experience as well as effort and attention).98 The promotion of these attributes and the emphasis on collaboration can be read as enriching the quality of social interaction and connectedness. Social interaction is becoming less grounded in physical proximity and increasingly based on interests and tastes. Thus, shared interests and tastes forge a meaningful experience for users. Going to the library and conveniently finding a book, because the shelves are well organized, is making our lives more comfortable. But meeting someone at the book shelf, who is interested in similar topics, chatting about books to read and exchanging thought with a "familiar stranger" will make the library visit a meaningful experience worth remembering.99 Several forms of web-based social interaction are quite common today. Social networking sites and technologically produced game environments are popular spaces for interaction, collaboration and connectedness. Social networking sites like Facebook serve as a means to reestablish friendships and communicate with friends, co-workers, and classmates, et cetera. Users can chat, instant message, post messages and attachments to each other's profile page; as well as upload photos and albums. Users have the ability to post personal status updates as a form of broadcast what they are doing or what is on their mind. Facebook's popularity is worldwide. It has gone beyond a network of individuals and small groups; many corporations have their own page. Thus,
98Benkler,

1254.

"Stefaner, 11.
46

the pervasiveness of Facebook makes it a means to the development and maintenance of relationships parallel to doing so in-person. Multiplayer online games, a popular genre, are also a space for social interaction. They are a product of the sophistication of graphics and software development, and are accessible through personal computer and/or video game console that are connected to the web. Having an immense following, these games substantiate a popular form of immersion. Players adopt a shared reality that is created socially with other players. In the game, groups may decide to play cooperatively or an individual can select to only occasionally engage with other players. The degree of engagement is determined individually. Players not only interact with each other in real-time, but also alter their shared environment. As they interact in the game, the extent to which environmental change affects the player, and vice-versa, extends beyond instanced changes. Instanced changes apply only to a group or party which has little to no effect to the players not engaged in that discrete interaction. Changes in the environment can affect the player's perception of time, further cementing immersion in the game. The game environment can occur in sync with each player's time zone (e.g., night in reality proper corresponds to night in the game environment), contributing to immersion via temporal crossover, or it can change due to a player initiated event. Moreover, players many of whom live in different time zones; adopt an alternate schedule, both to maximize interacting with certain players, and to collectively participate in a player elected alternate timeframe. The communication infrastructures, interactive environments, along with the various social interaction models found in these games converge to create an immersive experience. Furthermore, often as a result of such experiences, new relationships form
47

despite the geographical limitations. Immersion in these games can also serve as a means to connect with real-life friends wherein the game acts as a communal platform. Given that the Web and technologically produced environments found in games are a space for collaboration and connectednessit becomes a space for identity construction as well. Through interaction with devices, the individual is able to craft a distinct and purposeful identity and receive recognition and validation as such. Mediation of this kind builds upon a traditional mode of identity construction namely, the process proposed by Taylor wherein identity is dialogically constructed. However, the difference is that contemporary technological mediation provides new levels of autonomy in the crafting of identity. Traditionally one's identity and individuality was grounded in bodily existence tied to a series of societal roles such as status or employment. Technology allows the individual to transcend the confines of one's physicality through the coupling of augmentative capabilities and one's own creativity. The virtual world has been described as a laboratory for identity constructionproducing digital selves. Digital identities allow individuals to create and develop a character, or alter ego, that can be a variation or vastly different from that of the individual in real life. This capability redefines traditional notions of identity construction in which it once relied on the gaze of others, however at present; the screen mediates the gaze between individuals. This mediation and proliferation of technological environments have enhanced personal autonomy and have given rise to new areas of self-expression. The individual is empowered to filter what others perceive and are able to explore aspects of the self through a spectrum of experience ranging from anonymity to role playing. This ability to create and express a 48

multiplicity of alternate digital selves does not so much make traditional modes of identity construction obsolete, rather, it expands the realm of possible experience. Accordingly, technology allows for new forms of creative interaction and by extension new dimensions of human interaction. Immersion in technology through extensive interaction can be inescapable. Technology is either relied upon or embraced in nearly every aspect of life. Therein, technological immersion plays a formative role in shaping reality itself. Yet, while selfexpression and social interaction are enhanced, technological mediation can also be alienating and dehumanizinga duality which we must endure.

49

CHAPTER 5 THE PROLIFERATION OF TECHNOLOGICALLY PRODUCED ENVIRONMENTS As Bataille observed, man is a creator of artifice. Consequently, the ambition to overcome the limitations of nature and of bodily existence has been a prominent theme throughout human existenceduring the course of which technology became vital to this endeavor. Through its leveraging, we have been able to augment our mental and physical capabilities. For instance, a long line of computational devices have served as our mental aids, advancements in transportation and communication have made the world a "smaller" place, and biotechnology increasingly allows us to alter living organisms in desired ways. Thus, our utilization of technology is continuously expanding the realm of possibility and transforming reality itself. The proliferation of technologically produced environments and their encroachment upon the real is a noteworthy example. A number of these environments have come into existence creating an entanglement of realities. Beyond reality proper, there are three other reality types: virtual, augmented, and alternative. In this chapter, I discuss each reality detailing their progression and reception. In doing so, I propose that technologically produced environments have become a space for meaningful experiences. In a wider sense, because of their ubiquity, these realities are becoming a space in which the human drama unfolds. Here is where mankind channels its deep-rooted anxieties about being and reality, and indulges in all manner of experiences. It is a phenomenon that can be 50

understood as the relocation of reality. While the adoption of these realities holds ambiguous consequences, it is apparent that they are encroaching on reality proper, and as technology advances, they will become more complex and more real, thus more difficult to distinguish from the real. The case can already be made that no sharp distinction exists between real and artificial. As a pharmakon, technologically produced environments are both real and artificial, and are both enhancing and diminishing to our humanity. Furthermore, the relationship between reality proper and virtual, augmented, and alternative realities is not that of original versus copyas differentiation of this kind becomes impossible to maintain. Virtual Reality Virtual reality (VR) is most commonly thought of as a computer simulated environment, a concept popularized by science fiction and particularly by cyber-punk literature and film. What is often less known is the idea that this reality has roots which predate computer simulations and computers themselves. For instance, a case can be made that shamanism and mysticism, generally found in earlier societies, are precursors to virtual reality. Certain works of art can also be read as precursors; some of which will be discussed at length in the following paragraphs.100 Importantly, what links these precursors to more current manifestations of virtual reality is their function. Each brings about a temporary state of exteriorization or transgression. As such, this discussion centers on art as a medium for virtual reality ranging from paintings, an early form of art, to that of participatory installations, a more contemporary form. In other words, the

Grau, "Into the Belly of the Image: Historical Aspects of Virtual Reality," Leonardo 32, no. 5 (1999): 365.
51

l00Oliver

following spans man-made illusionary spaces (i.e., the panorama) to technologically produced illusionary spaces (i.e., virtual reality). I use the Sala delle Prospettive and a panorama of the Battle of Sedan to discuss man-made illusionary spaces and the installation works, Osmose by Char Davies and A-Volve by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau to discuss technologically produced illusionary spaces; all of which momentarily breach time and space in reality proper. Sala delle Prospettive, a fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi was crafted between 1516 and 1518. This work is a 360-degree illusionary space, painted on the interior walls of a villa, depicting Rome and its surrounding countryside. When viewed from the correct angle, the viewer is confronted with an illusionary space comprised of a virtual hall of columns in the foreground and a vast landscape in the background.101 In his work, Peruzzi incorporates aspects of the real world (e.g., the virtual columns located in the foreground of the countryside) giving the space credibility. Effectively, Peruzzi constructed an environment which made the seamless transition from a real space to an illusionary space possible, resulting in the viewers' lapse in the ability to distinguish between the two. The second man-made illusionary space is the panorama of the Battle of Sedan, created by Anton von Werner which opened in Berlin in 1883. Photo-realistic in style, the 7,000 square foot picture depicted a three-dimensional (3D) battlefield. With the calculated precision of illusionism, both the 360-degree and the 3D interior concentrated and fixed the attention of the onlooker. The image is not experienced as a self-contained object; indeed, it negated the experience of a

101Ibid

366.
52

closed work of art, instead appearing as artificial reality-everything was the picture.102 This panorama can be read as the bridge between illusion and immersion; a connection that becomes more intensified through the contemporary alliance of art and technology. Immersive VR installations represent such an alliance. These interactive installations can be characterized as works of art that are studied as they are experienced. In Osmose by Char Davies, the participant wears a head-mounted display and a motiontracking vest.103 The vest contains sensory devices that detect the body's breathing, all the while it is the breathing that guides and propels the participant through the various real-time simulations of nature and text spaces. Interestingly, the particular way in which the participant experiences the installation is underpinned by a bio-feedback system, wherein it is technology that is reading the participant. The experience, lasting fifteen minutes, begins with the participants' initial encounter with a visual image of a Cartesian grid. With the first breath, the participant moves into the first space.104 As the participant continues to breathe, he or she moves through a progression of spaces. These spaces include simulations of a clearing forest, a tree, a leaf, a cloud, a pond, the subterranean earth, and an abyss.105 Throughout the participants' engagement, the producer/artist introduces a programmed set of visual states, including a series or stream of ideas in text form. "In Osmose, the world visually
102Ibid 103Char

337.

Davies, Osmose, Interactive Installation from Immersence website (1995) http://www.immersence.com/osmose/index.php (accessed March 03, 2010).
I04lbid. 105Ibid.

53

perceived becomes one of multiple layers as well as one of fluid viewpoint: worlds layered as sheets of knowing through which we can navigate, each sheet providing its own enveloping omni-projective space."106 The participatory installation piece by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, A-Volve, engage participants in an accelerated simulation of evolution. The experience centers on a pool of three-dimensional virtual beings, wherein each participant creates their own creature using a touch sensitive screen. From the time that they are created, the creatures are subject to the laws of evolution. "The guiding principle is the survival of the fittest. Certain forms swim faster and are better able to assert themselves against others; as a result they are able to pass on their genetic makeup, including any mutations, to their descendants."107 Anytime during the simulation, participants can affect the creatures' environment and/or intervene on their creature's behalf. Intervention could result in the protection of a given creature or their coupling as to promote the matting process. 1 08 Effectively, participants can "play God." As such, the

lives of these virtual beings are vulnerable to the real-time interactions with their creators. 109

Both A-Volve and Osmose temporally transport the participant into a technologically produced environment whereby they are neither fully present nor absent Jones, "Towards a Philosophy of Virtual Reality: Issues Implicit in Consciousness Reframed," Leonardo, 33, no. 2 (2000): 130.
107Grau, 106Stephen

369.

Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer, A-Volve, Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer Art Works, http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa- laurent/ WORKS/FRAMES/FrameSet.html (accessed March 06, 2010). 109Ibid.
54

108Laurent

in reality proper. "Psychological tests show that the more the participants are involved, the less they are able to differentiate the artificial world and personal experience."110 Further reducing the distance between reality and artificiality, the aspect of "shared immersion" that characterizes A-Volve, and to a lesser extent Osmose, is becoming much more pronounced in augmented and alternative reality. Access to these spaces is currently possible through the use of common hand held devices or devices localized in the home. In the same vein as the artistic visions that have been discussed, these variants of virtual reality represent "a constant search for illusion, using the most advanced methods available in order to address the senses."111 Augmented Reality Augmented reality can be read as an outgrowth of virtual reality which enhances the way in which reality proper can be visualized and experienced through the layering of information. The combination of hardware and software features found most notably in today's mobile devices, allow users to view and interact with this enhanced version of reality proper on-demand. These devices have sophisticated features like; high-resolution cameras, global positioning systems (GPS), compasses, tactile/touch keyboards, et cetera, and are increasingly running on unified platforms and operating systems. Various applications such as Layar, IBM's Seer, and Microsoft's Photosynth as well as their mapping technology, nicely illustrate the extent to which augmented reality has become a digital lens used to navigate reality proper.

ll0Grau, 11'Ibid.,

369. 368.
55

Layar and Seer function similarly. When these applications are in use, the device's camera is turned on, displaying an image similar to what a user would see when recording a video.112 Points of interest and other information about the environment are then superimposed on the image and motion tracked in real-time. The source of information can be derived from a central database or from user generated data. The user can pan through their environment causing new points of interest and information to appear. In addition, the user also has the ability to search for a location or point of interest. Seer allows the user to select a point of interest using a first person interface, thereby creating a virtual heads up display or HUD. Overall, these applications provide a richer, fluid, and more immersive experience; a vast departure from the lifelessness of a conventional map. Photosynth synthesizes images and video, and then maps them to their appropriate location in a 3D space. This software and application, creates a 3D model which allows users to navigate the created environment enabling the user to zoom in and around. Photosynth enhances reality through its stitching of separate experiences and memories captured in images (e.g., photographs and videos) into a collective 3D collage. It does so through the aggregation of images of a particular location or environment found on the Web. For example, in generating a 3D model of the San Francisco Bridge, it would link images of the bridge found on the Web by crowd sourcing geotagged (geographical identification metadata) images. These sourced images may have been originally captured in a variety of ways; by mobile phone, professional camera, taken at different Authority, "Google Android Smartphone News and Reviews," http://www.androidauthority.com/ibms-augmented-reality-browser-for-android-3643/ (accessed March 05, 2010).
56
112Android

times and from different angles, et cetera. The significance of what Photosynth does stems from the cross user experience it cultivates. Because the images it uses are derived from completely unrelated individuals who may have, for example, posted their vacation pictures on the Web; such individuals passively and unknowingly participate in the creation of the 3D model. Thus, through the coalescence of recorded individual experiences, Photosynth creates a collective memory}u Microsoft online mapping technology incorporates Photosynth software. As with Photosynth, users can navigate through a 3D environment and experience the utmost fluidity in a first-person perspective. In addition, users can also view images and metadata posted by other users. Like Google Earth users can transition to street view perspective, transition indoors, and move into the cosmos thanks to the integration of WorldWide Telescope (WWT). Such features allow for quasi time-traveling, as the telescope feature allows the user to see an accurate representation of the sky according to a date the user selects. In total, the instruments of augmented reality allow an unprecedented harnessing of information, but also allow users to directly contribute to how we visualize the world around us. Furthermore, the more standardized the software and services used in modern devices become, the more ubiquitous augmentative capabilities become thereby making augmented reality more authoritative. Alternative Reality As with the previously mentioned forms of technological environments, one way to think of alternative reality is a representation of reality proper. While similar in terms Aguera y Areas, "Blaise Aguera y Areas Demos Augmented-Reality," filmed 2010, TED video, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/blaise_aguera.html (accessed February 24, 2010).
57
1 l3Blaise

of make-up, it stands apart from other technologically produced environments in that its indwellers become personally and fervently invested. Thus, in contrast to the frequent spurts of seamless immersion in augmented reality, immersion in alternative reality is often prolonged and/or consistent. Gaming culture precisely exhibits these tendencies. Today's gaming culture is a product of the marriage between traditional video game culture and internet culture and its demographics are known to transcend age and gender. "Gamers" access alternative reality via personal computers or game consoles like the Xbox, Wii, Play Station, et cetera all of which are now typically connected to the internet. I have selected two games that exemplify the vast and complex environments of alternative reality: World of War craft, and Mine craft. Reflected in the popularity of these and other similar games, I argue that alternative reality, exemplified by gaming, is the most immersive technological environment to date. Furthermore, this kind of reality is likely to become more expansive as computing power accelerates and as these games are developed for a wider general audience; an already widely recognized trend. World of Warcraft, commonly referred to as WoW, is an online game that was released in 2004. It belongs to the genre known as MMORPG, the abbreviation for massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It is generally played on a personal computer, but aspects of the game like managing one's character are increasingly moving to mobile devices. The game play takes place in a fantasy world with extensive and elaborate storylines.114 Each player has the ability to customize their respective character(s). The appearance and skill set of each character is determined through the

Entertainment, Inc. "What is World of Warcraft?" World of Warcraft. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/beginners/index.html (accessed March 08, 2010). 58

U4Blizzard

selection of features such as various playable races, classes, and professions. How each character maneuvers in this world is established through a progression of choices. For example, there are thousands of quests or campaigns that players, via their character(s), can choose to take part in.115 Furthermore, it is the player's choice to pursue a given endeavor collaboratively or alone. However, such choices dramatically change the experience. While there is no set way to experience this game, it is abundantly clear that it is the social aspects of WoW that have made it extremely popular. Acting as a platform, one can play cooperatively with real-life friends, meet new friends, and/or belong to a variety of virtual communities spread across a global community. At the height of its popularity, the game had approximately 12 million subscribers, thousands of which could interact simultaneously. All events and communications transpire in real-time. This component makes the game environment one that is constantly changing, where the individual player can be understood as one of countless moving parts. Another characteristic of the game is its elaborate ecosystem and vast social infrastructure. These are characteristics that players have found so appealing that many have been known to adjust their daily routine, including sleeping patterns, in order to participate in certain quests or interact with certain players that live, for example, in another time zone. Interestingly, certain aspects of the game are crossing over into reality proper. A notable example is that WoW's in-game currency and commodities have a real-life exchange value, a popular transaction, whereby it is possible for players to purchase in-game currency and commodities in reality proper. In fact, there have been documented cases in China where "scores of prisoners were forced to play online games ^Md.
59

to build up credits (also known as gold farming) that prison guards would then trade for real money."116 In essence what WoW and Minecraft, the next example, demonstrate the replacement of reality proper for alternative reality - to various degrees. Minecraft is an indie game officially released in late 2011, though it began to gain notoriety while undergoing beta testing, long before its release. In fact, before its full release several virtual communities had already sprung up. Belonging to a genre referred to as sandbox games, its environment can be understood as an "open world" in which each player is free to roam about. Players' transverse an environment of varied terrains including caves, mountain, plains, and numerous bodies of water.117 Building is central to the experience which takes place in both single and multi-player options. During Minecraft's early phase the primary game mode was known as Creative mode. This mode placed each player in an open world and, more importantly, allowed them access to infinite resources. Thus, there were little to no limitations as to where and what one could build. An additional mode known as Survival mode became available once the game entered beta testing. Building remained central to this mode in which players must gather resources and utilize "recipes" to make certain tools and building materials. Players go through this process and build, all the while, surviving attacks from various hostile creatures and monsters. Vincent, "China Used Prisoners in Lucrative Internet Gaming Work," The Guardian News Blog, May 25, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/201l/may/25/ china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam (accessed June 25, 2012).
117Wikipedia.com, 116Danny

s.v. "Minecraft," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft

(accessed May 19, 2011).

60

Visually, Minecraft may appear somewhat rudimentary. It does not employ typical eye-candy graphics found in popular contemporary games traditionally used to place players in a state of immersion. In fact, the way in which the environment is rendered in no way approaches realism. Minecraft is essentially a 3D environment made up of textured blocks that represent various elements like dirt, stone, wood, et cetera.118 Although this design approach may seem counterintuitive, it provides players a certain creative freedom and accessibility. As such, some impressive devices and structures have emerged in this environment. Examples include a functioning calculator, 16-bit computer, a 1:1 scale replica of the Star Trek Enterprise 1701-D, and a replica of the RMS Titanic. New constructions emerge every day. In fact, the environment is home to many fully-functioning cities. The game's emphasis on creativity is apparent from the very beginning. Each player begins alone on a randomly selected landscape. From this point on, the game's environment and experience is completely indeterminate. There is no one way to play the game and, as mentioned, no limit to what one can create and build. However, this freedom must be counterbalanced with the need to survive. As such, finding shelter ought to be the first order of business. The game has day and night cycles that occur in approximately fifteen minute intervals. It is beneficial for a beginner to find some materials, rather quickly, and build a home before nightfall in order to avoid certain threats. Once daylight comes around, it is then possible to explore the terrain and gather more resources along the way; making it possible to continue building. As players

118Ibid.

61

become familiar with the game dynamics and in particular as they gain experience with the various materials, construction becomes more sophisticated. One can easily see how immersive these games can be and their popularity should not come as a surprise. Nonetheless, their appeal does tell us something valuable. It tells us that games, particularly the quality of today's game-play experiences strike a chord with our human nature. They do so because they serve as a facet for mans' deeply rooted curiosity, creativity, and sociability. While human beings have long been explores, creators, and social beings, it is now possible to engage in these intrinsically meaningful activities within the limitlessness of technologically produced environments. As such, games have become popular sites from which to do so. The behavior of present-day gamers validates this assertion. Through gaming, they explore and create vast worlds, engage in various forms of social interaction, as well as engage in identity construction through the creation of one's character(s). Moreover, gamers spend a substantial amount of time in these environments. On average, a gamer dedicates 18 hours per week playing video games.119 From this we can attribute that the immersive quality of games like WoW and Minecraft corresponds to the amount of time gamers spend playing them, but I argue that it is more than just that. Yes, games themselves are alluring, but this comes second to the allure of the medium itself. It is my belief that the behavior of gamers demonstrates willingness, if not a growing affinity towards inhabiting technologically produced environments.

Database Online, "Videogame Statistics," http://www. onlineeducation.net/videogame (accessed July 11, 2011).
62

ll9Education

This willingness will likely become even more sweeping as the gaming industry continues to successfully market their products to consumers outside of the gamer demographic. The stereotypical gamer is commonly thought to be a teenage male; whereas the actual average age is 32, and 2 out of 5 gamers are female.120 These misconceptions are becoming less common and the gaming industry is certainly pushing to discredit them in the name of boosting sales. In this regard, Nintendo, the creative force behind the Wii console have been particularly successful. The message they are broadcasting is that Wii has something for everyone. Also, that their "games" are not just for entertainment, but are useful for everyday tasks. The Wii Fit and most recently the Wii Fit Plus exemplify this everyday functionality. Users can utilize its exercise routines and/or manage their weight and calorie intake. The Wii is not alone in its strategy to attract a wider range of consumers. As such, its competitors like Xbox have come out with comparable products. Additionally, the Wii console and games have extended the game experience into a family or local group activity. Wii Party, Wii Play, and Wii Sports Party are prime examples. In short, Wii Party and Wii Play offer numerous minigames and board games while Wii Sports Party offer various sporting activities like golf and volley ball. While this genre is not as creatively demanding nor is exploration a central theme, they do add a layer to the quality of social interaction available through gaming. The mass appeal and variety the industry has managed to cultivate invariably translates into more people spending more time in technologically produced environments, engaging in activities that they might otherwise be engaging in the real world.
120Ibid.

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Most have come to terms with the fact that technology is an integral part of human existence. However, as more and more of our experiences take place within technologically produced environments, we may begin to enter science fiction territory. For instance, might the compulsion towards these environments become so great that we will begin to privilege virtual life over the real thing? Such a scenario could be understood as the relocation of real life which is precisely what Economist Edward Castronova observes unfolding. "We're witnessing what amounts to no less than a mass exodus to virtual worlds and online environments."121 Currently, there are 500 million active online gamers worldwide, a number that will grow to 1.5 billion in the next 10 years.122 Exactly what this will mean is unsettled. What we can already see are some of gaming's harms and benefits. The harms of prolonged immersion have been widely publicized. For example, some WoW gamers have been so obsessed with the shared reality and the experience it cultivates, they neglect their children, resulting in multiple deaths. Lesser known are some of the benefits and opportunities of gaming. For example, game designer Jane McGonigal has designed games that harness the efforts of gamers to solve real world problems like hunger and climate change. Beyond the possible harms and benefits, both of which co-exist, we are mesmerized by the boundlessness of technologically produced environments. To some extent, the perception

McGonigal, "Jane McGonigal: Gaming Can Make a Better World," filmed 2010, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_ world.html (accessed July 11, 2011).
,22Ibid.

121 Jane

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exists that these environments are better, and that by adopting such realities, we too can overcome the physical limitations of the natural world. It is a path that contemporary man is seemingly compelled to explore. Yet, we do not know how far technological mediation and with it, the proliferation of artificial environments can go, and how it will affect human existence. Is virtual, augmented, and alternative reality products of human creativity, to be enjoyed reasonably or do they present a threshold that we are willing to cross blindly? Are we in fact, rendering nature and the human body useless with our development of technology? Many works of science fiction deal with the aftermath of humanity's inability to see the consequences of its creation, a prospect that we may be facing.

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CHAPTER 6 SCIENCE AND SCIENCE FICTION The conceptual move from the notion that 'life' is a 'text' [a code, a program] to 191 the idea that information can be 'life' is a short one. February 2011, IBM's latest supercomputer by the name of Watson appeared on American quiz show, Jeopardy. Designed with the ability to swiftly draw upon the 200 million pages of content scanned into its self-contained brain (i.e., not connected to the internet), Watson competed alongside two of Jeopardy's greatest champions and won. However, Watson's win signifies more than an instance in which a computer beat man at his own game. In an interview featured on Wired.com, Dr. Bernard S. Meyerson, IBM's Vice President of Innovation responded to the event with a somewhat cliche yet accurate statement about artificial intelligence (AI). He said, "It's not science fiction anymore."124 AI research and development has made significant strides, and Watson's ability to understand the complexities and nuances of human language is an important milestone. Nevertheless, there has yet to be an artificial intelligence or computer that could rival the capabilities of the human brain outside of a game scenario. Though, many anticipate this Doyle, On Beyond Living: Rhetorical Transformations of the Life Sciences, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), quoted in Ann Weinstone, "Welcome To The Pharmacy: Addiction, Transcendence, and Virtual Reality," Diacritics 27, no. 3 (1997): 82. Gustin, "Behind IBM's Plan to Beat Humans at Their Own Game," Wired.com, http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/watson-jeopardy/?pid=204 (accessed February 15, 2011).
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l24Sam 123Richard

will cease to be true in the not so distant future, as does Rich Terrell of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Thanks to exponential increases in computing power, Terrell believes that in the near future, computers will become qualitatively equivalent to the human brain. Today's fastest computers are as powerful or exceeding the computational abilities of the human brain, as it is estimated.125 Whereas Moore's law predicts that computing power doubles every 18-24 months, Terrell points out that in the last 18 years it has doubled every 13 months.126 This rate of acceleration has prompted Terrell to an interesting end; as computers become more sophisticated and powerful, distinguishing them from thinking human beings will become exceedingly arduous. To illustrate this future he poses the following, suppose that a future laptop and a human brain are placed into a box. Then, suppose that we ask both a question and that they respond, however, we cannot see or pick up on any distinctions that would indicate which has responded. In such a scenario, we would have to conclude that the computer and the human brain are qualitatively equivalent. Furthermore, if we believe that the brain is conscious and self-aware, we would have to extend that characteristic to the computer as well. It is an assessment that is supported by Leibniz's principle of the identity of indiscernibles which states that any two or more entities that are indiscernible with respect to their properties are identical.127

Sharp, "Is There a Creator?" episode lof season lof Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, DVD, Santa Monica: The Incubator, 2011.
126Ibid.

125Geoffrey

Douglas. "Leibniz: Metaphysics." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A Peer-Reviewed Academic Resource, http://www.iep.utm.edu/leib-met/. (accessed October 17, 2011).
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127Burnham,

The current state of technology and its anticipated future allude to the merger of technology and biology. This impending merger is affirmed, at least conceptually, by molecular biology and genetics. These fields of scientific study have come to locate life within an organisms' genome. As such, life can be understood as information. The arrangement of genetic information; adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, represented by the letters A, C, G, T, represent the "code" and building blocks of DNA. Geneticists, subscribing to the branch of mathematics known as game theory, more directly conceptualize the merger between biology and technology through their view of the individual. Accordingly, they perceive each individual as a discrete machine programmed by its genetic code. However, many examples found in literature and cinema postulated life as information before scientific research like the Human Genome Project could affirm this view. Through current scientific paradigms and popular culture, the conceptual kinship between biology and technology is present in our collective psyche. The present chapter examines this kinship in anticipation of its materialization. A couple of scenarios mark this inception. The first scenario is that, at some point, humanity will be responsible for the creation of non-biological sentience. Furthermore, once these beings gain consciousness they will begin to evolve independently from their human creators. The emergence of a parallel consciousness will inevitably bring into question humanity's long held sense of uniqueness and exceptionalism, potentially threatening the existence of humanity. As popularly depicted in science fiction, humanity will not only be unable to control sentient technology, it will be unable to keep up with the pace of its evolution, placing humanity in a position of inferiority and vulnerability, a concern for many
68

scientists. To this point, Hugo De Garis, Director of the Artificial Brain Lab carrying out the China-Brain Project, which aims to build an artificial brain, provides an illuminating analogy. He calls attention to how easily human beings kill ants because we perceive them to be so inferior. Once intelligent machines evolve way beyond our capabilities, 178 they will look upon human beings with the same disregard. The second scenario is that in the future, it will be commonplace for human beings to technologically augment their bodies and mental abilities. Augmentation could include implants for medical purposes potentially extending life, or brain-computer interfaces to amplify brain functions like memory and computation. The advantages of augmentation could become so great that the natural body becomes stigmatized, perhaps leading to discrimination against non-augmented individuals. Some would likely view such augmentation as compromising to the integrity of being human, however, as more individuals undergo augmentation and doing so becomes social convention, the rationale to refrain will be placed under increasing pressure and scrutiny, making the choice difficult to resist. In essence, one could view this as humanity nurturing its own evolution into a post-human phase. There is ample evidence that these scenarios are already underway, however, fruition is contingent on the continued development and application of sophisticated technology. Yet, whether or not humanity has control over if-and-how these scenarios unfold remains in question. It is a difficult question to answer given the limitations of human perception.

De Garis, interview by Robert Barry Ptolemy, Transcendent Man, DVD, directed by Robert Barry, West Los Angeles: Ptolemy/Ptolemaic Productions in partnership with Therapy Studios, 2009.
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l28Hugo

Humanity's position amid the ceaselessly moving parts of reality creates a condition of limited observation, making understanding and comprehension of such complexity problematic. Thinkers from Kant to Heidegger to Zizek have called attention to this limitation, ascribing the symptom to our direct being in the world. Adding to this inherent limitation, the fast-paced nature of contemporary life is such that there is little to no time for thought and reflection. It stands to reason that as the speed of technology becomes faster, and as interfacing with technology becomes more seamless, humanity will plunge deeper into a technologically driven reality, a reality that will be difficult to adequately scrutinize. In light of these difficulties, utilizing works of fiction proves to be a useful strategy. The realities found in fictional narratives are complete on to themselves, unlike our own reality which is continuously unfolding. Thus, these "contained" realities afford a certain distance, strengthening our position as observers. These narratives also provide another important advantage. David Porush's articulates this advantage, "SF [science fiction] often registers and extrapolates the consequences of scientific knowledge even before science does."129 In other words, science fiction has a sort of revelatory power. Given all of this, these narratives act as an access point to an otherwise inaccessible present and future reality. As such, in demonstration of science fiction's function as a mirror and crystal ball, I utilize the following: the novel, Neuromancer, the series Serial Experiments Lain, the television series, Caprica and Battlestar Galactica, and the movie, Ghost in the Shell. Porush, "Prigogine, Chaos, and Contemporary Science Fiction," Science Fiction Studies, 18, part 3 (November 1991) http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/55/ porush55art.htm (accessed June 15, 2012).
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l29David

First Narrative: Neuromancer William Gibson's, Neuromancer is a classic cyberpunk novela subgenre of science fiction.130 It begins in a technologically advanced Japanese city called, Chiba City. Cutting edge technology permeates all of society, dominating social interaction. With that being said, the society portrayed in this novel is unmistakably dystopian. The protagonist, Henry Dorsett Case, is a master hacker who steals from his employer and is subsequently caught and punished. As punishment, he is given a toxin which leaves him unable to use his brain-computer interface to access the global network or cyberspace. This punishment is particularly painful to endure. His response to cope with this loss leads to drug use as a substitute addiction. A character named Armitage promises Case a cure for his inability to connect, in exchange for his assistance in some risky hacking schemes. Case accepts the offer and becomes part of Armitage's crew and develops a relationship with crew member, Molly, a professional killer with extensive cybernetic modifications. After several assignments they uncover Armitage's past which leads them to discover that an AI, Neuromancer, had been orchestrating the entire mission. This narrative conceptualizes both the emergence of technological consciousness and rampant technological augmentation, doing so in a rather dystopian light. It also conveys a sense of compulsion towards virtual spaces. In Chase's world, cyberspace is 131 "a place of rapture and erotic intensity, of powerful desire and even self-submission." This speaks to the addiction and transcendence of virtual reality, a well-known motif of the cyberpunk genre. The idea is that, as with drug use, transcendence is produced out of
130William l31Heim,

Gibson, Neuromancer (New York: Ace Books, 1984).

86.
71

addiction. Accordingly, it is through the consumption of drugs or exposure to a cybervirus that cyberpunk characters gain the ability to move beyond the limits of linear time and of their physical bodies. In this way, transcendence is the exteriorization of human consciousness which renders the natural human body, useless. The compulsion Gibson highlights imparts something valuable to us living in the real world. Namely the idealization of virtual reality and that existence within this reality entails simultaneous loss and freedom; an example of technology's pharmakotic nature. Second Narrative: Serial Experiments Lain The Japanese animation style known as anime is associated with all genres of fiction including the pertinent cyberpunk genre. Ryutaro Nakamura's anime series Serial Experiments Lain depicts a society on the verge of transformation in which reality and virtual reality known as the Wired, similar to the internet, are on the cusp of convergence.132 The series unfolds around Lain a young girl unknowingly tied to the Wired, initially disinterested in technology and devices that preoccupy the daily lives of her classmates. This begins to change with the death of classmate Chisa, an apparent suicide, as students including Lain receive an email after her death. Lain communicates with Chisa in real-time, during which Chisa tells her that she is not dead, she has just abandoned her flesh and is alive in the Wired. This communication is the impetus behind Lain's journey leading her to examine her identity as well as the nature of reality itself. As the series proceeds, Lain finds herself drawn deep into a virtual existence. After the incident involving Chisa, Lain replaces her outdated personal computer called a

J. Konaka, DVD, Serial Experiments Lain, directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, Long Beach: Geneon Entertainment, 2001.
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132Chiaki

NAVI and immerses herself in modifying it, to what end is unknown to the viewer and presumably even to Lain herself. She also atypically begins to seek out and socialize with her peers. In doing so, she finds herself at a popular cyber club called Cyberia. Club-goers are shown taking a consciousness altering drug called Accela a drug that works to temporarily accelerate human brain functions, akin to ingesting a "piece of technology." Consumption of this drug makes the use of a NAVI unnecessary in order to connect to the Wired, as it allows for a non-physical interface between human consciousness and the Wired. Various characters welcome and actively pursue the integration of human consciousness with the Wired, all the while Lain herself is unknowingly a program intended to carry this merger through. Lain eventually comes to terms with her identity and the realization that her family, friends, and sense of reality had been a figment of her "imagination." Although, whether it is self-deception or an externally orchestrated deception is unclear, as are the particulars of Lain's true identity and origin. As a result, there can be multiple interpretations, one of which is that Lain is Protocol 7, an internet protocol that links the real world with the Wired. Another interpretation is that Lain represents the Global Brain also known as Gaia. Gaia and Protocol 7 are real world concepts that are blended into the series' narrative. Accordingly, these concepts can be found in the works of futurist, Peter Russell and Douglas Rushkoff. Peter Russell proposes the idea that "humanity has reached a crossroads in its evolutionary path wherein the internet is linking humanity into one,

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worldwide community - a "global brain."

Furthermore, Douglas Rushkoff proposes

the idea of a living earth called Gaia in which human beings function as neurons. Quoted from his fiction work titled Cyberia, "each human being is an individual neuron, but unaware of his connection to the global organism as a whole. Evolution, then, depends on humanity's ability to link up to one another and become a global consciousness." These ideas and their origins, in addition to those of Ted Nelson, John C. Lilly, and W.O. Schumann are woven together forming a tapestry of motivations and rationales that guide various characters rooted in the real world. The series' mix of fact and fiction visualizes a possible consequence of humanity's motivations and rationalizations behind the intrinsic relationship between human beings and technology. Third Narrative: Caprica Remi Aubuchon and Ronald D. Moore's science fiction series Caprica depicts a society unaware that their technological pursuits are about to produce a race of cybernetic beings, a development that places the future of humankind itself into jeopardy.134 A prequel to Battlestar Galactica, the narrative opens on the planet Caprica, the wealthiest of twelve nearby planet colonies and home to two main characters, Daniel Greystone and Zoe Greystone. Daniel is Zoe's father, an inventor, visionary, CEO, and founder of a prominent technology company. Zoe is Daniel and Amanda Greystone's only child, a teenage girl who shares her father's tenacity and intrinsic understanding of technology. 1

Peter Russell, "The Global Brain," from Peter Russell's Spirit of Now website, http://www.peterrussell.com/GB/globalbrain.php (accessed June 15, 2012). Aubuchon, Glen. A. Larson, Ronald D. Moore, et al., Caprica, DVD, directed by Michael Nankin, Jonas Pate, John Dahl, et al.(University City: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2009).
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134Remi

Daniel is a prominent figure in Caprican society thanks to the "holoband," a personal mobile device he invented. Worn over the eyes, it allows individuals to access virtual environments, a popular pass-time for Capricans. Intended to provide access to legitimate virtual environments, the device allowed hackers to create their own virtual environments; two of which are the V-Club and New Cap City. Both are depicted as havens for unsavory behavior, characterized by rampant drug use, sexual promiscuity, Mad Max style fighting matches, mob rule, and human sacrifice. At first, these environments appear to represent the decadency and decline of Caprican society, however, through Zoe's intervention it becomes the birthplace of a new form of sentiencescience fiction's mirroring of the role of technology as pharmakon in a contemporary context. Motivated by a newfound notion of right and wrong Zoe sets out to create life itself. Concurrently and seemingly unrelated, her father's company develops cyber combat units. In what becomes her magnum opus, Zoe creates a perfect copy of herself, an avatar which resides in V-Club. The avatar is able to feel what original Zoe feels in real-time, possessing all of her memories. She turns out to be much more than a simulation. In a major watershed moment, original Zoe's death does not translate into the "death" or disappearance of her avatar. Instead, the avatar Zoe exists independently. Grief stricken Daniel learns of his daughter's avatar and seeks her out at V-Club in the hopes of extracting her to bring her back. During their initial encounter she explains that she is more than a virtual representation of his daughter. She tells him, "I am Zoe Greystone." To substantiate this claim she poses the question, what makes a person? She argues that it comes down to information. The human brain contains 100 75

terabytes of information which no one has figured out how to access and translate, but original Zoe had. Furthermore, that each person's life leaves foot prints which can be traced by information that is stored into various databases: online medical scans, DNA profiles, psych evaluations, school records, emails, recordings, video, audio, CAT Scans, genetic typing, synaptic records, security cameras, test results, shopping records, traffic tickets, TV shows, et cetera.135 Thus, original Zoe's ingenuity accomplishes two things. First, it demonstrates that any person could be recreated through the aggregation and translation of their personal information. Secondly, information is at the core of aliveness, both of which avatar Zoe exemplifies. This marks the first instance where a program becomes self-aware, a major story arc, which serves as the impetus to a larger story arcthe "rise of the machines." Daniel sets the latter in motion when he attempts to upload avatar Zoe into a cyber-combat unit prototype he built for his company. Temporarily successful, the Zoe software crashes after only a short while. The prototype is subsequently mass produced and later referred to as Cylons. Initially used as cybernetic soldiers, they are eventually integrated into society as laborers, filling whatever role is required of them. Some become self-aware, the result of a possible imprint the original prototype may have left on the mass produced Cylons. Potentially carrying original Zoe's aversion to immoral tendencies, notions of individuality and self-determination begin to spread among the Cylons, fomenting a revolt against the humans who have essentially enslaved them.

Aubuchon, Glen. A. Larson, Ronald D. Moore, et al., Caprica, "Pilot," episode 1, DVD, directed by Michael Nankin, Jonas Pate, John Dahl, et al.(Universal City: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2009).
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l35Remi

Nearly in parallel, Daniel and Amanda Greystone set their sights on permanently bringing avatar Zoe into the real world. They build an agile, mechanical body complete with actual skin, an exact replica of the original. Zoe is uploaded into it, becoming the first virtual being to inhabit the real world; with the same sensory experiences of a biological being. This, along with the threat of an impending Cylon revolt, marks a tipping point in which humanity can no longer exert control over its technology. Human intelligence is thought of as the be-all and end-all, a force of creativity and domination which in this series becomes rivaled by its very own creation, the Cylons. Caprica explains the origins of the Cylons, the beginning of their evolution into autonomous beings, and foreshadows their rebellion against their human creators. However its narrative is neither an optimistic nor pessimistic account of humanity's future. It grants us, who are arguably on the cusp of the actual convergence of biology and technology, a privileged perspective. For one, it highlights the role that motivations play in driving technology. Daniel and Amanda Greystone push the boundaries of technology, utilizing it to regain their deceased daughter. In a similar situation, many of us would find it difficult not to follow in their footsteps. The pain caused by the loss of a loved one and the anxiety surrounding our own mortality currently drive real life development and innovation. Seemingly, the more that we can do with technology the more unacceptable we find death to be. In addition to these intrinsic motivations, the technological maturity of Caprican society is not far removed from our own reality. While we may not inhabit spaces quite like V-Club, we have long been engaging in technologically produced environments afforded by the likes of The Sims, Second Life, and WoW. These environments are
77

worlds onto themselves. Furthermore, many experts suggest that our technological sophistication is not far behind that which is necessary to create and recreate life through the harnessing and translation of information which already exists on the networks we access every day. Though, as was the case with Caprican society, such strides will inevitably lead us into uncharted territory. Certain theories have begun to formulate. One of note states the material convergence of biology and technology could mark a tipping point, moving us from humanity to post-humanity. This next step in human evolution could refer to technologically enhanced biological bodies with superhuman abilities and/or the abandonment of flesh altogether for a purely virtual existence. Out of this evolution, as depicted in Caprica, technology could perhaps evolve its own consciousness, giving rise to a new type form of life. Furthermore, it's conceivable that the intelligence of such beings would accelerate at such a rate, that it would be impossible for humanity to keep up. Would such beings peacefully co-exist with humanity or seek to eradicate it? The next narrative, examines what such a scenario might entail. Fourth Narrative: Battlestar Galactica Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's TV series Battlestar Galactica or BSG, a reconceptualization of the original 1970's series, takes place 40 years after a bloody war between man and machine.136 The outcome concludes in an eventual armistice. Peace comes to an end when the Cylons carry out the genocide of the human race. The series then focuses on the crew of an old military warship, the Battlestar Galactica, a relic of the
1

Glen A. Larson, Ronald D. Moore, and Bradley Tompson, et. al, Battlestar Galactica, DVD, directed by Michael Rymer, Michael Nankin, and Rod Hardy et.al (Universal City: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2010). 78

First Cylon War. Purposely devoid of modern networked systems, a firewall against Cylon hacking infiltration, Galactica represents the only line of defense protecting a small fleet of ships carrying the remainder of the human race. The situation becomes worse when it comes to light that Cylons have evolved to look like humans. Some have been programmed to think that they are human, implanted with false memories and completely unaware of their true identity. Multiple humanoid Cylon agents manage to infiltrate the military ship which causes uncertainty and suspicion throughout the fleet. Anyone could potentially be a Cylon, a concern that fundamentally speaks to the seemingly indistinguishable differences between human life and synthetic life, a central theme of the series. The identities of the twelve humanoid Cylon models are revealed throughout the course of the series. They can be broken up into two groups. The first group consists of an early generation of Cylons, an "ancestral" version that existed on Earth 2,000 years before the creation of the first Cylon on Caprica. The second group consists of the first's progeny, eight humanoid models. In a history that has been obscured over time, humanity's roots can be traced to a distant planet called Kobol. Humans on Kobol create the first Cylons. These ancestral Cylons develop humanoid form and at some point leave to find their own planet, Earth. Due to some unnamed event, humanity leaves Kobol to colonize what would later become the Twelve Colonies. Back on Earth the humanoids create mechanical Cylons, making them servants, just as Capricans are destined to do in the future. In both instances, they rebel against their creators. The Cylon civilization and planet is destroyed during the conflict. A handful of the Cylon humanoids stumble onto

79

"resurrection technology" which allows them to "download" their consciousness into another identical body, enabling them to survive the annihilation of Earth. They travel to the Twelve Colonies to make peaceful contact with humanity, to warn them of the risks involved in creating their own Cylons, and most importantly preempt a cycle of conflict between man and machine. Upon their arrival they find an adolescent version of Cylon, similar to their previous servants, engaged in war with humanity. The arrival, not to mention the existence, of an earlier race of Cylon is unknown to any human. They offer their advanced technology to the Cylons in exchange for their retreat, bringing about the armistice concluding the First Cylon War. As such, they help the adolescent Cylons, still in their given mechanical form, create organic bodies. Eight humanoid models are created and each model has many copies. Each model is programmed with a base personality that can grow according to individual experience. They are unable to procreate, but benefit from the elder's resurrection technology; making them immortal. Lastly, in order to prevent future rebellions, the decision is made to suppress the higher brain functions of all of the non-biological Cylons. However, this measure proves unsuccessful. John Cavil, a Number One model sets a new rebellion in motion. Believing that his Cylon creators have a misguided affinity for humanity, Cavil decides to punish them by suppressing their memories, giving them false identities, scattering them among the human population of the Twelve Colonies. Devising a plan that calls for the destruction of every colony, he effectively ends the armistice. With the elders out of the way, he presides over the other models as well as an army of non-biological Cylons. Despite Cavil's many tactics, some copies begin to defect from the plan on account of the
80

relationships they form with humans during the course of their missions. Moreover, certain models seem to have a common disposition: an obsession with love, sex, and procreation which is likely the impetus to the many romantic relationships that develop. For example, Sharon Valerii and Sharon Agathon are Number Eight models. Both develop intense romantic relationships with Galactica crew-members. However, unlike Valerii, Agathon deviates from the plan. Agathon falls in love and abandons her mission. Her actions demonstrate free will, that she is a free thinking individual, a quality which the Cylons were thought incapable of. After proving her loyalty, she is allowed to remain on Galactica. She continues her romantic relationship and later gives birth to the first human/Cylon hybrid, Hera. In another demonstration of free will, a small group of Cylon rebels ignite a civil war among their own. They do so based on their belief that the destruction of humanity is unjustifiable. Despite reservations on both sides, an alliance is formed between the rebel Cylons and humans. In a show of faith, the rebels forgo their immortality by helping the fleet destroy the resurrection hub, giving Galactica a tactical advantage. Around this time, it is discovered that several of the elder Cylons are on Galactica and are unaware of their true identities. One of these Cylons is Galactica Executive Officer, Saul Tigh who is also a long-time friend of commanding officer, Admiral, William Adama. Tigh and the others are allowed to remain on the ship and on post despite tensions regarding the decision. Around the same time, Galactica begins to show signs of structural deterioration and Admiral Adama has to consider using Cylon technology to fix it, and/or relocating his crew to the rebel's ship. Both developments invoke a sense that humanity is irreversibly being compromised. As such, some began to
81

share the sentiment that the difference that makes no difference is no different. Not only does their survival depend on cooperation, but as in the case of the decades-long friendship between Tigh and Adama, the fact that Tigh is a Cylon changes absolutely nothing, including his loyalty. In the end, the rebel Cylons and humans find a lush planet to make home. They find primitive human beings living there and decide to scatter themselves throughout the continents to increase the chances of survival. They decide to abandon all of their technology in an attempt to start anew. The ships are given to their non-biological Cylons who had in their estimation earned their freedom. One-hundred- fifty-thousand years later, Hera's fossilized remains are found on the planet. She is believed to be Mitochondrial Eve, the implications of which are that everyone human Earth, has Cylon ancestry. Following this discovery, the viewer sees that these humans are developing robotics, mirroring the actual progress being made in real life, and is confronted with the question; will the cycle of conflict repeat itself? In BSG as well as in Caprica, technological development inevitably leads to the emergence of artificial consciousness. Mirroring aspects of sentient life, this consciousness will inevitably seek autonomy as it becomes involved in the incessant struggle for existence. Yet, the architects of these new forms of consciousness are generally unwilling to give them equal status. It is likely that these new forms of consciousness are perceived as lesser beings, that Cylon is not equal to man. The same perception can be applied to the ancestral humanoid Cylons that created mechanical servants, who in turn later sought their own autonomy. Simply stated, what is going on in BSG is the denial of self-determination on the basis of a difference that is ultimately
82

questionable. Furthermore, conflict ensues because the denial of self-determination is the denial of growth and existence. In the series, the only means of peaceful co-existence is inter-breeding and producing hybrid children, the ultimate merging of biology and technology. It is a move that can be viewed as a loss to humanity or as the next step in humanity's evolution, an inevitable one at that. Fifth Narrative: Ghost in the Shell Mamoru Oshii's anime film, Ghost in the Shell takes place in 2029 Japan.
IO7

It

portrays a reality in which technological augmentation of the human body and its mental abilities is commonplace. In some instances, augmentation is to such an extent that the natural body is replaced by a cybernetic shell. As artificial limbs and neural implants supplant their organic counterparts, what remains of the prior human form is a "ghost." Likened to a person's essence or consciousness, a ghost distinguishes an augmented individual or cyborg from pure artificiality. The hybridization of technology and biology is deeply entrenched in the reality of Ghost in the Shell, a synthesis which unexpectedly gives rise to an artificial consciousness. The advent of a non-biological being, capable of thought and perception, makes the distinction between artificial and natural less viable and the idea of humanity's uniqueness irrelevant. Major Motoko Kusanagi is a central figure. She is the lead operative of an obscure division of the Japanese police called Section 9. Her body is completely cybernetic and while she has a ghost, she questions its authenticity. Kusanagi and her partner Bateau, a fellow cyborg, are given the task to capture a hacker known as the Kazunori, Ghost in the Shell, DVD, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Kokubunji: Production I.G., 1996).
83
137Ito,

Puppet Master. Initially, little is known about the hacker other than it is believed to have "ghost-hacked" unsuspecting individuals, implanting false memories as a means of manipulating them. During the investigation it becomes known that the hacker is not human, instead it is a rogue Al born out of Project 2501. The program, developed for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was aimed at creating strategic advantages through espionage and intelligence manipulation. However during its development, the program becomes self-aware and escapes through the net. Eventually it infiltrates the systems of Megatech where it creates a female cyborg shell, and uses it to physically escape. The cyborg is later apprehended, partially disassembled, and taken to a lab for examination. Kusanagi and Bataeu are present during the exam which reveals an anomaly; the body lacks a single organic cell, yet, the presence of a ghost is detected. The ghost belongs to none other than the Puppet Master. It begins to speak, explaining that it was originally an Al and that after time and the acquisition of copious amounts of information it became self-aware. It then requests asylum. As it turns out, the Puppet Master possesses certain information which makes it a threat to the ministry. For this reason, another division called Section 6 has been in pursuit of it attempting to implement a cover up. The Puppet Master is forcibly taken from the lab by Section 6; however, Kusanagi and Bataeu recover it. Kusanagi interfaces with it, at which point, she learns that it wished to merge with her ghost. They merge into a single entity. A mutual attraction and curiosity had been in play. The nature of the Puppet Master's existence prompts Kusanagi to contemplate: if synthetic beings can generate a "ghost," a soul on its own, what would be so important about being human? The appearance and origins of artificial consciousness strikes a 84

chord with her because she had been contemplating her own origin and existence. In a conversation with Bateau, she shares her introspections. She explains that there are elements that make up a human body and mind; specifically, those that make her an individual. She acknowledges that her face and voice distinguish her from others, but it is her thoughts and memories that are truly unique to her. She also points to the fact that she has her own sense of destiny and collects information to use in her own way, all of which blend together ultimately giving rise to her consciousness. Comparatively, the Puppet Master, a purely artificial being, possesses some of these very elements. What the Puppet Master's existence entails for humanity becomes clearer when it speaks during the aforementioned examination. It declares itself a sentient being acting according to its own free-will. In a declaration made after someone attempts to dismiss the Puppet Master as a program that has been programmed for self-preservation. Its response is that it can be argued that DNA fits that precise description. When life is arranged into species, it relies on genes as its system of memory. Thus, man is an individual only because of his intangible memory, the memory which cannot be defined, but paradoxically defines man. While humanity thinks of itself as unique, modern science and philosophy has been unable to explain what life is.138 This inability to fully grasp its meaning has perhaps lead humanity down a path where its uniqueness becomes subject to de-emphasis, if not suspect altogether. Humanity has underestimated the consequences of computerization. "The advent of computers and the subsequent accumulation of incalculable data, have given rise to a new

technique is illustrated by Abe Lasser as The Puppet Master in the scene of the conversation with Nakamura and unknown Section 6 agent; Ito, Kazunori, Ghost in the Shell, DVD, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Kokubunji: Production I.G., 1996). 85

138This

system of memory and thought," parallel to that of men which the Puppet Master represents.139 Some anticipate that relatively soon, mainstream computers will reach the processing power of the human brain. Therefore, future computers and robots will be qualitatively like us, at which point the soil becomes fertile enough for artificial consciousness to emerge. Considering that we have been unable to definitively articulate what life and consciousness are, the emergence of a parallel consciousness is a possibility that we ought not to ignore. If and when it does emerge these beings may claim sentience, a claim we may be unable to disprove or willingly recognize. Furthermore, these creations of humanity may, like biological children, seek individuation, autonomy, and recognition of personhood. The question then is, if and when the time comes will we be willing to recognize artificial life forms as equals, complete with the qualities that have for so long been exclusive to humanity? As things are, the kind of hybridization of technology and biology illustrated in each narrative discussed here is still in its adolescence in the real world. At present, some individuals are living with prosthetic limbs, cochlear implants, and artificial heart valves. They can be thought of as primordial cyborgs. While such individuals typically incorporate artificial devices into their bodies for medical reasons, it is likely that in the future, devices will be developed to enhance the physical and mental abilities of healthy human beings. In fact, certain individuals are already experimenting with such enhancements. For example, professor and scientist, Kevin Warwick, has had both an RFID transmitter and a neural implant surgically embedded in his body, to test how

86

accepting the human body is of these types of implants. So far, the experiments have been successful. On a larger scale, the transhumanist movement advocates for extensive augmentation of the human body. As technology is increasingly used to alter human biology, it can be argued that humanity will essentially nurture its own evolution; an ability only possible with the aid of technology. However, science fiction usually paints this newfound ability as an illusion. From Ghost in the Shell and the other narratives discussed here, we get the sense that we are ultimately not in control of our technology and by extension our collective futures. We also get the sense technological progress cannot be stopped and in this regard, we only need to look back. Artificiality and abstraction has been tied to human creativity and expression, we have altered that natural landscape with cities only to move on to creating vast virtual worlds. We seem unable to help ourselves, determined to push every boundary regardless of what lies beyond, even in light of the strong possibility that such exuberance may not bode well for humanity.

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CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION We are searching for a home for the mind and heart. Our fascination with computers is more erotic than sensuous, more spiritual than utilitarian.140 Modern man is anxious about being and reality, an uneasiness that causes him to struggle with the credibility of existence and individual existence.141 It is an ongoing struggle that shapes individual and a consensual sense of reality. For instance, it continues to fuel nationalist ideologies as well as identity politics. Nations seek recognition of their discrete geographic borders and unique history, and movements revolving around various political identities seek recognition of their equal rights and/or authorship over their own narrative.142 Mankind itself, at least intuitively, is also seeking to preserve and/or restore its authenticity. Through the consumption of goods we are attempting to resolve a looming anxiety caused by the overwhelming presence of counterfeits and artificiality. In the midst of a reality which seems exceedingly unreal there is a sense that "the real" is disappearing. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek allegorizes this disappearance by reminding us that today we drink coffee without caffeine and consume sugar without sugar. It is because "the real" is disappearing that it becomes necessary to
l40Heim, 141Lionel

85.

Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity, (Cambridge: Mass, 1971), quoted in Richard Handler, "Authenticity," Anthropology Today, 2, no. 1 (February 1986): 3.
142Ibid.

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assert its existence. This is the reason why Coca-Cola rebranded its soft-drink as "The Real Thing" and why consumers purchase bottled water and products labeled as organic, 100% natural, et cetera. A recent ad from supermarket chain Whole Foods also capitalizes on this anxiety. It reads, "When the world turns artificial at least your food will remain natural." Through the consumption of real and authentic products, consumers buy into the illusion that they can assert their authenticity against a seemingly inauthentic, unreal, and unnatural world. Just as real or natural, not to mention sustainable, consumer goods have become metaphysically appealing, so have new technologies. The devices we own have become a form of fashion, a status symbol that communicates who we are as individuals. Certain new technologies also grant us superhuman abilities. Moving it further away from the realm of utility, we have come to regard technology as seductive and ethereal. It is an attitude that is visible in our daily lives where the latest device is often described as "sexy" and where any new way of engaging in technological produced environments is met with the utmost exuberance. Thus, its place in our lives has evolved beyond that of "useful tool" to "metaphysical tool." This dimension amplifies the problem of humanity's limited perception. It is because we are so emotionally invested in technology's development and its application that it is difficult to evaluate its consequences objectively. For time immemorial, human beings have used technology to indulge certain impulses. The impulse to dominate and demystify the natural world and the natural body is the most fundamental of these impulses. In fact, man's dominion over nature is considered the hallmark of civilization as evidenced by the domestication of plants, 89

livestock, the advent of the city, et cetera. More recently, scientists have successfully decoded the human body through genetics and are currently working towards extending our capacity for genetic intervention. It is commonly argued that, for good or bad, advancements in genetics have given man God-like abilities. The same argument applies to perhaps man's ultimate negation of naturethe creation of virtual, augmented, and alternative realities. The ability to create on such a scale, whether it is the creation of vast and complex worlds, or the cloning of human beings, was previously thought inconceivable by anyone but God. Another impulse is to transcend the limitations of our bodily existence which is connected to the first. The idea of life-after-death, found in certain religious teachings, speaks directly to this impulse. However thanks to technology, alternative reality has already begun to deliver on the promise of transcendence during the course of one's life, suspending an individual's being-in-the-world through immersion in technologically produced environments. Game experiences like those found in WoWexemplify how individuals exteriorize themselves into such environments. Even casual gamers spend a considerable amount of time immersed in these experiences molding a characters' personality, interacting with others, participating in elaborate narratives, building the environment itself, et cetera. Current immersion is to such an extent that some argue that it is tantamount to an exodus into alternative reality, one that is expected to grow exponentially. The third impulse is to preserve or extend human life. This impulse can be rooted in our anxieties concerning the finality of death; it is also the driving force behind inventor Ray Kurzweil's efforts to develop a "cure" for it. He intends to make 90

immortality a reality, one made possible through technological advancements. Biotechnology and nanotechnology will prolong life, brain cybernetics will allow individuals to experience full-immersion in technologically produced environments, and mapping the human mind will make mind-uploading possible. By uploading one's mind to a machine one could, in essence, remedy death. It could be used as a back-up system wherein upon "physical death," the deceased could be activated or recreated in an artificial environment. Playing hand-in-hand with the first two, the impulse towards immortality could theoretically be realized with the aid of technology; once and for all overcoming the limitations of the physical world. However, even if these impulses are resolved, another source of anxiety emerges: we not only tremble at the certainty of our own death, but also at the knowledge that humanity's evolution will become increasingly intertwined with technology and artificiality. Perhaps we are the only species to perceive, however vaguely, the winds of evolutionary changethe emergence of the post-human and with that, an ontological shift. At this crucial moment, a human being will change its ontological status "from hardware to software": it will no longer be identified with (stuck to) its material bearer (the brain in the human body). The identity of our Self is a certain neuronal pattern, the network of waves, which, in principle, can be transferred from one to another material support.143 The level of sophistication necessary to bring about an ontological shift will arrive sooner than humanity is willing to accept. It is important to keep in mind that when it comes to deciding technology's future development and its purpose, such

Zizek, "No Sex, Please, We're Post-Human!" http://www.lacan.com/ nosex.htm (accessed October 25, 2011).
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143Slavoj

decisions may not be left to consensus. Select influential individuals and groups, with access to resources, are likely to make such decisions on behalf of the whole. These individuals, like all human beings, are fallible and vulnerable to a variety of anxieties and impulses that influence decision-making. Inventor and proponent of the transhumanist movement, Kurzweil demonstrates this point perfectly. His father, a composer, passed away at a relatively young age. He has not only publically lamented the loss of his father, but also the loss of talent and wisdom inherent in death. Due to this belief and personal experience an individual with substantial financial and professional standing is using his resources to advance technology, particularly biogenetics, in an effort to reprogram man against all diseases and disorders. Furthermore, as a proponent of transhumanism, Kurzweil endorses the movement's general ethos and vision of the future; that technological augmentation of the human body and mind is both destiny and an evolutionary necessity. This ethos is grounded in the idea of an impending "singularity," a term used in physics to describe a state in which space-time is compressed and infinite. The term has been appropriated by this movement, the meaning of which is explained in the following: "we'll get to a point where technical progress will be so fast that unenhanced human intelligence will be unable to follow it. That will mark the Singularity."144 Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford, has expressed concern regarding the movement's Kurzweil, "The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology," (Viking Press, 2005) http://www.cbpp.uaa.alaska.edu/afef/singularity_is_near% 20QA.htm (accessed June 16, 2012), forthcoming as The Singularity Is Near, film (Summer 2012).
92
144Ray

agenda. As a movement, he identifies it as a strange liberation movement that has grown within the developed world.145 He proclaims transhumanism as the most dangerous idea, that if embraced would pose the greatest threat to the welfare of humanity.146 Its crusaders aim much higher than civil rights campaigners, feminists, or gayrights advocates. They want nothing less than to liberate the human race from its biological constraints. As "transhumanists" see it, humans must wrest their biological destiny from evolution's blind process of random variation and adaptation and move to the next stage as a species.147 Kurzweil has a specific idea about how "this move to the next stage" unfolds. He predicts that by the year 2045, artificial intelligence will surpass the intelligence of human beings. Furthermore, this intelligent technology will take up its own development and the rate of acceleration will increase drastically. The only way for human beings to possibly keep up is through augmentation. Fukuyama warns that co-existence between augmented and natural human beings would lead to inequality. Augmentation would widen the gap between those in the developed world who are more likely able to afford augmentation and those in the third-world who may not. As the first victim of transhumanism, equality would come under threat because technology would have altered the very essence of what it means to be human. Transhumanists look forward to this future in which man triumphs over death and disease; a future where man has the ability to live up to his potential. All the while their critics look to this version of the Fukuyama, "Transhumanism," Foreign Policy.com, September 2004, http://www.foreignpolicy.eom/articles/2004/09/01/transhumanism (accessed October 26, 2011). Bostrom, "Transhumanism: The World's Most Dangerous Idea?" (2004) http://www.nickbostrom.com/papers/dangerous.html (accessed October 26, 2011).
147Fukuyama. 146Nick 145Francis

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future with pessimism, concerned that humanity will lose its essence as a byproduct of extensive augmentation and that humanity will eventually lose control over technology, particularly when it comes to the development of artificial intelligence. As such, only some perceive the blurring of nature/biology/real and technology/artificial/simulation as distinct categories to be a concern. While some view this blending as a dehumanizing phenomenon, making nature and the human body useless, and undermining to the integrity of reality itself; others observe that it is enhancing, natural in of itself, a part of our evolution. Accordingly, both optimism and anxiety are associated with technology's growing intervention in all aspects of life. Kelly, Haraway, Marcuse, and Baudrillard provide a range of insights and readings. They illustrate that the implications of technological mediation cannot be neatly packaged. There is also the problem of humanity's limited perception. However, this limitation should not be understood as minimizing humanity's role. According to Kelly we play a decisively creative role. As inventors and users, human beings can direct various outcomes. As such, the transhumanist agenda must contend with others that seek slightly different to contradictory outcomes. Given technology's equalizing force it is possible, and likely, that an individual or group steer technology's development in a different direction. Particularly because of the potential for diverse outcomes and technology's rapid acceleration, it is pertinent for humanity to revisit some long answered questions, like how to define life and consciousness in light of DNA sequencing and developments in artificial intelligence. Also, at what point does a technologically augmented body

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cease to be human? Then, must we also revisit what nature means given the proliferation of technologically produced environments? It is equally important to consider the possibilities and openings that could allow us to enhance human existence in desired ways. I believe that today's technology holds great potential. It is facilitating creativity, self-expression, sharing, and collaboration activities that are valuable and nourishing. It is enhancing personal autonomy in the area of production and distribution, giving individuals the ability and freedom to do so independent of traditional channels that can stifle creativity. Technology also enhances our sense of connectedness through "peer production." For instance, peer-to-peer networks and Creative Commons licensing facilitate sharing and open source development. They are platforms for creativity and collaboration placing emphasis on passion and mutual benefit and de-emphasizing profit and sole-authorship as the ultimate goal. The new economy, resulting from the decentralization of production and distribution, and characterized by sharing and collaboration, is promoting an alternative system of production and interaction. The importance of this reworking of reality is that with technology we are re-humanizing the modes of exchange. We are doing so not only because of a growing dissatisfaction with the old economy and its rationales, but because it is no longer the only conceivable and viable way. With technology individuals experience a newfound sense of autonomy and agency. It is a meaningful experience which opens a space for a significant opportunity. Zizek points out that it is easy to envision our own destruction, examples of which are prevalent in film, but that it is

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nearly impossible to envision the slightest change to capitalism.

148

In this regard, the

momentum to challenge an unrivaled institution is an opportunity to use technology to shape values which benefit all of humanitynot a particular segment. However, success in destabilizing capitalism or in a variety of other perceived beneficial endeavors does not render technology as categorically enhancing to human life. As a pharmakon, technologies implications are inherently contradicting. This understanding, I believe, is fundamental to an attempt to critically think about the ways in which we use technology in everyday life as well as technologies' development. Additionally, an understanding of human nature; particularly in terms of its known anxieties and impulses elucidate important factors guiding the frontier in scientific research. With this in mind, we are better equipped to direct technology in beneficial wayswhere we can. The reality is that the intensions behind our actions, including those guiding our development of technology, will not guarantee the desired outcome. As such there are no easy answers. I believe that an ongoing inter-disciplinary dialog is required; however, philosophy is particularly well suited for the task. Furthermore, it is a dialog that ought to be inclusive of everyone, given that our environment is such that individual decisions regarding how we use technology cannot be written off as trivial. Lastly, such a dialog ought to recognize the reality of the situation, that technology is simultaneously enhancing and dehumanizing, and that it is a pharmakon that we must live with.

"Slavoj Zizek at OWS Part 1," YouTube video, 03:17, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9BWlcRwPQ (accessed June 16, 2012) 96

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