[Synapse elist] cultural conformity and drifting metaphors

[W Shawn Gray]

G'day Erika Lincoln & Stelarc et al,

Following on from Erika's & Stelarc's thread.
This has been an interesting and somewhat surprising discussion for me
to follow over the last month. covering material about self image
versus the public perceptions of disability that I kind of expected.
What has surprised me most is what has not percolated up into the
discourse. Nothing from the numerous exploration in science fiction
literature. A couple of which I like to raise at the end here.

"Snowcrash" Neil Stephenson's 1992 classic envisaged 'The Street' an
alternate world in cyberspace ( the information super-highway and the
collective memory of networked computers) a virtual reality community,
such as "blaxxun" and "second life" are examples of today. In the
story the virtual world and the real world are inter-woven. The bit
relevant to this list concerns people referred to as gargoyles who by
the aid of head-mounted system with goggles providing live feed
display of the virtual world participate simultaneously in both the
real and virtual worlds. Technologies like Bluetooth and augmented
reality (AR) are evening now allowing such superimposition of the
analogue reality with the digital realm in some industrial complexes
today. There is already concern among psychologist and sociologist
that the ever rising pace of modern living fueled by fashionable
multitasking strategies means that stress levels increase as we spend
ever longer being less effective at a lot more. Thus if we enhance our
physical form with technological extensions how are we to utilize
those same extensions effectively and efficiently so that the required
extra cognitive load of having such addition is not in the final
analysis to make the owner less-effective than before the addition of
the "enhancement".

Ian McDonald's 1994 story "Necroville" ("Terminal Café" in USA ) along
with Neil Stephenson's 1996 "The Diamond Age" are exploration of
nanotechnology worlds. Both these books play with ideas of the
rebuilding of humanity through various nanotech driven social change.
As also eluded to in Stelarc's posts and the Chimera paper. But before
we get to the likes of Nanobots the not so tiny resent developments of
wearable technology embedded in smart-fabrics will give many an
inkling of one way how enhancement maybe enjoyed in the future without
an additional cognitive undertow of extend concern to oversee the
enhanced capability.

Unlike the discussion in this list to-date in all these books the
characters celebrate, even reveling in the difference of their
augmentations. Could the current concern not to stand out in the crowd
be more a reflection of how far the existing prosthetics fall short of
the desired design and utility, rather than any desire of those so
augmented not to stand-out? As my disability is an acquired brain
injury (from a virus) I am not in a position to comment one way or the
other on those with physical challenges. But for my case wearable
computers embed in smart-cloth would be most welcomed augmentation,
no-matter how outlandish it maybe seen.

All the best, W. Shawn Gray

<<
2008/5/24 Erika Lincoln <fur_princess at yahoo.ca>:
>
> Stelarc---"Anyway, insect or animal-like exoskeletons
> that significantly extend operation or disturbingly alter appearance would cause
> problems of functioning in social spaces. Our architectural spaces
> are made for bipedal humans so any multi-legged locomotion systems
> would be clumsy in confined spaces but also would, most likely, be
> scary in their speed and strangeness."
>
> I certainly agree with this point, It makes me think
> of integration and how prosthetics and devices really
> are about conforming then they are about enhancing.
>
> I also wonder if this may not be addressed enough in
> the art/tech arena?
>
> Stelarc, I am not too sure about your statement about
> "That electronic circuitry externalizes our nervous system...",
>
> Yes it is a metaphor, but I think that the use of
> metaphor at times gets taken literally.
>
> Erika
>>