Jensen 1

Amanda Jensen

Critical Frameworks 2

Cher Potter

Object Biography Essay

30 March 2016

Mystery Object with an Autobiographical Approach

I came about like all the other good ideas in the world. As you can imagine, I was

dreamt up collectively by a few innovative souls who drafted and eventually crafted my ins and

outs. I am comprised of various elements such as potassium, indium tin oxide and nickel. These

are all elements you can find in my relatives, but I also have very rare elements that contribute to

my functionality known as praseodymium, gadolinium and terbium. Most of these elements are

inside my body, but the potassium and indium tin oxide are used together that enables my face to

have the ability to better understand when someone touches it. This ability to recognize touch

allows models like me to figure out what exactly their person wants to achieve. If you had to size

me up, I am a little over 6 inches tall but my face, which is 5.5 inches, takes up the majority of

my body.

I have a camera that is pretty fancy with features such as optical image stabilization, face

detection, geo-tagging and exposure control. If all that wasnt enough, to top it off, I have a total

of 8 megapixels. When a cameras shutter closes to take a photograph it is comparable to a

human blinking their eyes. At the exact moment a person blinks their optimal vision translated

into megapixels is only 7 megapixels, which makes me more impressive. This affords me the

ability to capture an even sharper, more refined image that encapsulates a memory or moment in

time and I am additionally able to retain it for as long as my person wishes. As you can probably
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deduce, I was rather special in 2014 because I was the first of my kind. At the beginning of the

fall season, on September 19, 2014 to be exact, was the wondrous day that I was made available

to ten different countries around the world. Within the first weekend of our release over 10

million models similar to my siblings and I were sold. 4 million of those sales occurred within

the first 24 hours of our release.

At that point in time, I was the most revolutionary model to date. My uniqueness came

from my size because none of my relatives or cousins had ever been the same size as my siblings

and I. Another great quality about me is that I am a mass manufactured object, which means I

have A LOT of siblings. Although, there are millions of objects exactly like me all over the

planet we each have our own personalities. Our personalities are widely dependent on who

chooses us. The person who decides to choose a model like me would dictate entirely my

contents. For instance, what kind of music I like, what photos I keep, what social media

platforms I have, how often other people talk to my person, what my notes say and the several

other functions I will need to provide day in and out. In essence, whoever your person turns out

to be determines your selfhood. There is no way any of us can know or decide who our person

will be. Its sort of a luck of the draw type of thing. You could wind up with someone who

doesnt care about the majority of your features and only uses a few or you could get someone

who likes to have you with them all time.

Looking back on it as I often do, I believe it was my figure and photography traits that

led Amanda to choosing me in particular, but not right away. Ive learned from knowing

Amanda that she almost always will not partake in indulging or doing something if tons of other

people are doing it. You could say she doesnt believe the hype of an object, film, article of

clothing or trend until things have settled and she can take a good, hard and critical look at it.
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Especially, when it came to me, she has this rule where she likes to wait a few months before she

decides to purchase a new model. She believes based off of her research that it can take a few

months for objects like me to have all our kinks worked out so that we operate accurately and

efficiently. Amanda is also very specific in how she wanted me to look aesthetically. I have

gathered this from getting to know her as she uses me each day specifically from the interactions

she has with both her friends and family via social media platforms, email correspondents and

the like. She may not realize it, but as an object I can glean a great deal from that level of

connectivity in order to make an informed decision about her tastes especially from her use of

the website and mobile application known as Pinterest. Amanda has several pin boards that

reflect her tastes in color, texture, architecture, fashion, interior and graphic design. In choosing

my features, I came to learn that I was selected for my skin, which in her eyes had to be either

gold or nothing at all. She chose my brain due to her needs for me to hold a certain capacity of

her information and data. I also discovered that she chose my size because it was so unordinary

to what most of her friends had and she likes to be different.

Fortunately, her hints were heard and her wonderful husband purchased me to give to her

as a Christmas present. To be honest with you, I think she knew that I was going to be given to

her, but nonetheless she was very pleased. She named me Goldie after my skin color and one of

her favorite actress icons. She even bought me a clear case to protect my skin on Amazon

because she wanted to show everyone my shade, but also wanted me to stay safe. Immediately,

Amanda got me acquainted with how she operates her email and takes photos. She even

introduced me to all of her friends and connected me with her social media accounts. Through

this type of connection, I learned a great deal about her peers lives. In fact, Im not even sure if

Amanda knew as much as I did about them. There were times when she would get busy with
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everyday life and shed miss out on what was going on in the lives of her friends. However, I

was always in the know because of my constant connection and access to her social media

platforms, which are mainly Facebook and Instagram. In having a connection to Amandas

friends, this actually made me feel so much more intimately connected with her. I began to learn

how she responds to certain people, what inspired her, things she liked to save, places she

enjoyed visiting and things she liked to photograph.

Weve celebrated some milestones together such as her birthday, graduation and

acceptance to grad school. We have also road tripped through California, New Mexico, Oregon,

Texas and Arizona where I took a lot of photos with her. I moved with her when she started grad

school and learned how much of an exciting and challenging time that has been for her. As time

has gone on, people often have asked her if she liked me mostly referring to my size. They were

searching for whether or not I was bothersome because I couldnt fit neatly in a pocket. She

would always respond by encouraging them to buy a model like me because of my size and

bragged about my camera skills. It made me feel very valued and loved by her.

However, that affection shifted in October 2015 after almost a year of knowing each

other. Amanda and I were both involved in a terrible accident. She was walking with some

friends down a hallway at ArtCenter when I fell from her hand. Now let me reassure you that this

was not the first time I have stumbled out of her hands. I had fallen several times before and was

fine with no scratches, nicks, cuts, or bruises at all. I attribute this to the case she bought me

when we first met. However, Amanda was a big fan of how smooth my skin and shape were that

she eventually took my case off, which I quite liked because it was a relief to be uninhibited.

Oh, how I wished I still had that case on that fateful evening in October. I fumbled face

first onto the concrete floor and at first she wasnt at all concerned. She even exclaimed to her
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friends she was with that I would be fine and its not the first time Id fallen face first. But as she

picked me up and looked at my face she discovered that I had a very large and widespread cut

that went across the entire top part of my face. I additionally had several minor scrapes and nicks

in the upper right corner of my face. She deduced that I must have fallen on the corner of my

body, which is my most sensitive part if impacted just the right way. Some of the cracks were

broken up into tiny, loose pieces that were sharp and scratched her when she brushed her finger

over them. I could tell almost instantly that she was very devastated.

Personally, that hardest part of it all was I noticed also immediately that Amanda slowly

became disinterested with me and her sentiment grew greater as the night went on. If things

werent horrible enough, I actually fell out of her grasp yet again in the bathroom and landed

directly on the same wounds that I had acquired early in the evening. This mishap only

aggravated her and not to mention made my preexistent wounds far worse. You could see

through my skin and into my internal hardware. Not surprisingly, this discovery was pretty

alarming to her. She decided it would be wise to book an appointment to have me seen by a

specialist. I could tell she battled between caring for me with tenderness and treating me more

harshly and carelessly because I looked so fractured. This was extremely difficult for me because

I felt that I knew her so well and had experienced so much adoration from her over time, but now

that I looked different she began to treat me differently.

It wasnt until we saw the specialist that I was reassured that she still did care for me.

After investigating my damages, the specialist said that there were essentially two options of

action. Amanda could risk replacing my face, which could affect my overall performance and

ability to recognize her touch or she could buy a new model that was unblemished and would

work perfectly. The specialist was unaware of my bond with her and her bond with me. She
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decided not to risk the surgery and did not buy a new model. Instead, she left with nothing more

than what I would amount to a Band-Aid for my face. It was clear, thin and covered my entire

face. I hoped that this would help her peace of mind and make my blemishes less noticeable.

But, we both knew ultimately it was just a Band-Aid. My face still wasnt fixed and this

bothered her. Sometimes it would become difficult for her to interact with her interests or

communicate with her friends because of my cuts and scares blocked her visibility. I desired so

much to change her growing sentiment of disdain for me. Sometimes hoping to get her attention,

I would let her know I could still be special and unique by freezing my screen and making

myself unable to recognize her touch commands. Regretfully, this idea of mine backfired and she

became even more frustrated with me and occasionally violent in order to make me stop my

attention seeking behavior. As time went on, I fell again and the section of my face that was

previously injured and shattered even further. Amanda had to get a very structurally sturdy case

that is known for its reliability to protect objects like me. I was so gullible in thinking that maybe

her buying this case would mean that she still cared for me and wanted to protect me. However, I

was wrong and she grew even more careless with me. She would often make fun of my

appearance and my shortcomings with her peers.

It is so disheartening to think back to this point in my life. It was a pivotal point in my

career as an object when I first realized I was losing the value I once had. I took that value,

affection and treatment that she bestowed on me for granted. I wish I could have done something

to prevent myself from falling that dreadful evening. It has changed the course of my life and I

fear that it was the beginning to my end as a beloved object. It brings me so much sadness

because I cant do anything to change her perception of me. Even with all that we experienced
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together it is not enough for her to keep me around. I have recently heard Amanda talking about

the newest model of my family and how she is waiting for it to release.

As much as it pains me to know she is moving on, I should be fortunate to have had such

an abundant and exciting life with her. I knew there would one day be newer models that would

come after me. When I was younger, I thought I was immortal and that I would always be loved

and praised by my person. As I grew older and got to know Amanda better, I became more aware

that my time with her would come to an end. Ive grown a lot through this process and have

realized that in being an object you ultimately dont get to choose your outcome. Your lifetime is

in most cases entirely dependent on your person. How you are treated, cared for, neglected or

mishandled not only greatly determines your ability to function properly, but also your lifespan.

Perhaps one day, objects will have more of a say in how their lives are carried out, but until then

our fate rests in the people who choose us.

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Object Autobiography Reference Articles

Arthur, Charles, and technology editor. Apple iPhone 6 and 6 plus Sales Top Ten Million in

First Weekend. The Guardian 22 Sept. 2014. The Guardian. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Bourdieu, Pierre, and Richard Nice. Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis of Theory of Symbolic

Power. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press, 1977. 159197.

Estes, Adam Clark. What Is the Resolution of the Human Eye? Gizmodo. N.p., n.d. Web. 13

Apr. 2016.

GolemDE. Apple iPhone 6s / 6s Plus - Trailer (Jony Ive). N.p. Film.

Greenfield, Rebecca. Siri, Cortana, And Why Our Smartphone Assistants Have Such Weird

Names. Fast Company. N.p., 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Harman, Graham. Intentional Object for Non-Humans. Theory Group. Univeristy of Virgina:

N.p., 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Harman, Graham. Towards Speculative Realism: Essays and Lectures. John Hunt Publishing,

2010. 95.

iPhone 6 - Technical Specifications. Apple. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Vertesi, Janet. Seeing Like a Rover: How Robots, Teams, and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars.

Chicago; London: University Of Chicago Press, 2015. Print.

What The iPhone 6 Is Really Made Of. Forbes. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
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Object Autobiography Further Readings

Bogost, Ian. Alien Phenomenology. N.p. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Latour, Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern. Trans. Catherine Porter. Cambridge, Mass:

Harvard University Press, 1993. Print.

Tilley, Christopher. Materiality in Materials. Archaeological Dialogues 14.01 (2007): 1620.

Cambridge Journals Online. Web.