Subjectified: Re-emphasizing the Human in Human-Computer Interactions

(commentary to come. Enjoy!)

Objectified: Our Environment, Our Merchandise, and Ourselves

The documentary Objectified by Gary Hustwit is the first modern film I've become aware of that comprehensively explores our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. In addition to watching a screening of this documentary, it would be beneficial for many people to look deeper into the next generation of products and product designers coming out of world-class schools like Stanford's School of Design, the "D.School", established by the founder of IDEO.

Grow It Like a Salamander!

...and shake it like a salt shaker. In recent history, we've made astonishing advances in three applications of genomics, one of the holy grails in understanding and manipulating lifeforms as we know it:

• limb regeneration in vertebrates
• creation of synthetic lifeforms
• commercial human genome sequencing
  

In late 2006, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies discovered that we could reactivate the regeneration gene presumably innate in vertebrates though only still naturally found in frogs, zebrafish, and salamanders. Lead author of the original report, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, then declared "By changing the expression of a few genes, you can change the ability of a vertebrate to regenerate their limbs, rebuilding blood vessels, bone, muscles, and skin - everything that is needed." Although limb regeneration to date is primarily the practice of engineers simulating natural mechanics, culturing of skin to treat burn victims and early stage experimentation such as the aforementioned suggests I will see a human limb regenerated before I die.

Today, Craig Venter, known for sequencing the first human genome in 2000 in partnership with the Human Genome Project and founder of Synthetic Genomics, is working to create the first synthetic lifeforms. His immediate goal is to develop a controllable alternative source of biofuels, but the potential purposes of future synthetic lifeforms goes far beyond alternative energy.

In parallel, many commercial companies are attempting to make it cost-effective for consumers to purchase the data to their personal genome sequence. Currently, companies like 23andme, Navigenix, and deCODE can only measure roughly 500,000 points in the genome out of 6,000,000,000 in the entire genome and report on 23 genes for about $1,000. Look forward to the points mapped rising, and price falling.

The vast majority of people I have spoken with firmly defend the position that new knowledge of your genome is problematic. I believe, like the first telephone, automobile, plane, email, cell phone, and twitter, it will simply be a new paradigm that the wealthy and progressive will leverage to their benefit in our collective evolution. Conceptually, it's unfortunate that we as a global society would drive ourselves to essentially "defining" people - your baby, sibling, spouse, or parent. However, the reality is that it has great promise of being the most effective measure for preventing diseases, enabling early detection of them, and possibly altering outcomes long before they could ever appear. It could also be a source of individual empowerment by allowing people to focus on their inherent strengths instead of struggling their entire lives making choices that exacerbate their "inherent deficiencies" (for lack of a better term) of which they would otherwise be unware.

The benefits of understanding even the limited repertoire that we can understand from Craig Venter's genome has been reinforced time and time by the man himself. And the challenge is not going to be a scientific as much as a social one. We live in a society that prefers to deal with disasters after they happen instead of preventing them from happening. We have a stock market that's managed by the quarter, a government that only thinks in terms of elections, our youth that lives by semesters and seasons, but we need to pick our heads up and look further into the future to address potential genetic misfortunes. Craig concluded himself that the primary way shepherd society toward that paradigm is "to convince 3rd party payers and insurance companies that they're going to make more money by preventing diseases than treating them after the occur."

There is still time to debate this topic but time is running short as advances in technology continue to accelerate development in the groundbreaking field of genomics. The one caution I offer is to move forward with consideration of all lifeforms not the human-centric world we live in day-to-day. Otherwise, the majority of what life has to offer will go unobserved and, more importantly, unappreciated.

Second Skin - Behind the World of MMORPG

I love hulu and the auteurs. My friend, Jason Mueller, recently sent this to me and I thought it was, again, worth sharing. Check out Pure West for more amazing digital stories! And then there's more geekdom from my friend, Dan Lovera. Apparently you can better Understand the World of Warcraft using Super Mario Brothers. Spare time to write posts since my move to San Francisco three weeks ago has become more precious as it is in far shorter supply than in the suburban Rochester, NY.

Ray Kurzweil on how technology will transform us

Old one but comprehensively insightful. Some thoughts I had while reviewing this TED Talk are as follows. If technological power and pervasiveness is growing exponentially and becoming further integrated into biological functions, particularly in humans, won't that create a supremely unfair and possibly insurmountable advantage to the privileged? One might state that secondary markets will prevent the gap from becoming too great, which is what happens today. However, two postulates come to mind that contradict such an assertion:

• the growing difference in performance between each subsequent technological iteration will inherently create a greater gap in one respect.
• the nature of that performance will become more valuable as we progress from the information age, to understanding, to knowledge, to wisdom, thus creating a greater gap in another respect.

As the velocity of life in general accelerates - commerce, communication, travel, and so on - and access to resources, particularly natural resources, becomes increasingly controlled by humans, a moral dilemma arises between the Haves and Have-nots. This moral dilemma is the diminishing of human will for the sake of societal progress. Fewer and fewer aspects of life on Earth exist outside of humanitarian constructs over time. As a result, the ability for any creature (including humans) from surviving and thriving becomes less about what they are able to will upon themselves and more about what those in "power" will upon other creatures, the global society. For the sake of progress we as a society are subjecting ourselves to an advanced system beyond our practical comprehension and beyond our control in many respects. The concept of subjugation is no longer a matter of obvious brute force but rather subtle deceptions of truth. Who, ultimately, will have the power to do so? Politicians and technologists? Executives? I leave that to you...

FaceOff: The World's First Face Transplant

Connie Culp's new face is an unglamorous yet significant icon for hopeful victims of deforming casualties. In 2004, Connie's face was all but completely destroyed by a gunshot. Until 2008, she underwent ongoing treatments as usual while she presumably endured much of the physical, psychological, social torment accompanied by such a tragedy. As an ideal candidate for a full face transplant, Connie now has hope of once again leading a life that at least has some semblance of how it was before her husband pulled the trigger. This breakthrough will undoubtedly spark international attempts to do the same as the U.S. continues to work on reconstructing Connie's past.


Watch CBS Videos Online

OVERLOAD: Twitter Contributes to Larger Moral Dilemma

I, like many, have found myself falling short of realizing the tangible benefits - financially, socially, intellectually, emotionally, morally, and so on - of the information revolution. In part, the value I've extracted from Twitter is not sustainable although Evan and Biz have created a paradigm shift, a new market (and secondary markets). I just hope the need to make money doesn't compromise the growth of an amazing technology and related services as it has with Facebook. 

Several years ago, I was determined to convert the Web into a hyperlinked CRM system embedded with the latest and greatest Web apps and 'widgets' - I even wrote a business plan around it. Through my quest to empower the individual, I managed to isolate that person (and myself) with a destination and tools that essentially objectified and over-simplified every Earthly thing. It's time to get back to my roots...for now.

ManChine: pick up a grape with the DEKA bionic arm

You must watch this video! (sorry for the 30-second commercial)

Covered several years ago by NY Times, All Things Digital, DARPA's DEKA bionic arm is a remarkable leap in technology and just one of the breakthroughs in a $100 million Pentagon program called "Revolutionizing Prosthetics." Due to the phenomenal mechanical complexity of the hand, greater strides have been made in legs and feet. The DEKA arm narrows this gap with thousands of engineers working diligently to make even further progress in the years to come. The next step, engineers claim, is tapping the body's internal signals by connecting robotic appendages to nerve endings. Your wishes undoubtedly shall come true. 

One of the greatest challenges in a biological-mechanical marriage is that "your body only has so much tolerance for gadgetry." The amazing progress that has been made in my 25 years reassures me that I will live to see the day when the difference between robotic and biological appendages seems trivial - at least I can hope.

The Office: Virtual Workspaces On The Fringe of Physicality

The virtual desktop's recent foray into the physical realm with BumpTop has merit (otherwise it probably wouldn't have made it to the TED stage), but still a few years to go. The 3D metaphor of your physical desktop takes it to some unnecessary extremes such as an overabundance of flashy gestures foreign to even the contemporary user experience - this will require a paradigm shift that is challenging on several levels, nevertheless feasible. It merits an applause for incorporating a physics model that includes gravity, velocity, mass, and the like. For other features, see the video.

ManChine: Prosthetics, Stem Cells Redefining the Body and More

Aimee Mullins, a 1996 Paralympic Games record-breaker, is a popular face of the next generation of prosthetics. Today, she has a dozen pairs of legs that grant her various advantages that she would not otherwise enjoy with her born legs: speed, beauty, height, and so forth. Through new innovations in prosthetics, she and other paraplegics redefine what the body can be through testament of their daily lives. They can transform their bodies through a growing variety of superhuman appendages which they often view as enablement contrary to societal precepts.

 

On a much more intimate level, stem cell research and innovation is doing the same thing - empowering humans to overcome natural detriments. Instead of attaching limbs when they are lost or broken, we can grow them. Instead of transporting a heart, spleen, or other muscle tissue, we can simply grow it. The possibilities of generation and regeneration are seemingly endless although strict regulation will undoubtedly curb naive or corrupt development in this industry.

Obama's recent executive order to overturn Bush's policy on stem cell research is unquestionably warranted, in my opinion, despite mixed reviews and will burgeon medical breakthroughs to cure universal ailments and defects, allowing everyone (or those who can afford it...for now) a certain standard of life beyond food, air, and shelter and someday education, community, Internet, and resources to start a business. We have come a long way and should not stop now; however, stem cell progress will come at a high cost along an extreme vein of lifeboat ethics or distributism involving once naturally selected traits that will soon to be cultured resources if not already. 

While I champion the benefits of prosthetics and stem cell research, I am aware of the dangers. Similar to the way prosthetic innovation seeded now cosmetic surgery involving collagen, botox, and silicone implants in every nook and cranny of our fleshly fabric, stem cell innovation has been likened to eugenetics and has a high potential of re-popularizing it to the detriment of humanity before we know it's too late. We face and have faced for some time similar tough decisions with respect to guns, drugs (notably prescriptions), sex, and so on. Stakes are higher with every decision we make and I do believe, to some extent, that individual empowerment has cheapened life for many. With a personal arsenal of assault weapons, a single person can take the lives of many in several hours. Within a night or over our lifetimes, we ingest myriad drugs that alter our body chemistry and could easily take our lives. And teen pregnancy, casual sex, extramarital sex, paid sex, virtual sex, and unprotected sex threaten the sanctity of human health, relationships, and romance. 

These stories are reported daily, sometimes even hourly or minute-by-minute. I cannot attest to the reason for this as I have no done the research. But it scares me. Worst case scenario, in our quest for a super-race and individual freedoms, we end up destroying ourselves and many others in the blink of an eye. But I'm an optimist and believe in the wisdom of our collective despite the daily instances of ignorance, neglect, disregard, and premeditated malice.