#digitalskins17

[colabpixelpusher]

Today we visited the textile labs to look at possible knitting and printing technologies that we could incorporate into our costume. Above is one of the stunning digital prints on show. I was really impressed by the detail and vibrancy of the prints. It was also interesting to hear that the print is soaked into the fabric, before being washed off, and as a result there is no layer of paint or ink on the fabric. There is no texture or elevated surface, the print is part of the fabric, rather than on the fabric. More on fabric soon :)

So, last week our group worked on the character of our garment. Sophie wrote an excellent blog post that compiled our ideas from the week and it explains that our character is almost a form of deity. It can see more than others and so believes it is above others and God-like. Along with developing the character we were working on developing the actual costume itself. A few of our concept sketches can be seen below.

We had plenty of ideas, but were struggling to form a complete concept. It became clear that talking about it and brainstorming even more was not helping our cause, and we were told to simply start making something and let the idea develop through the process. So we began sorting through the sample boxes again, before heading to the labs to look at digital print and machine knitting.

The trip was quite inspiring actually. I really loved the machine knitting samples as they create great patterns and textures. They are well constructed and you can incorporate a lot of detail and colour easily. There is potential to knit the patterns and images on our garment, or play with the elasticity of the fabrics to reveal images. The struggle will be finding UV materials to use in the machines.

We also saw how the machines can knit directly from a drawing. The above photo shows the drawing and below is the knitted version. It was about a meter squared and only took about 40 mins to knit. This process is very detailed as well as fast. I think this technique could be very effective for our project as we could draw and design whatever we want to see on the outside/fan/cover of the garment and then knit it all in one go.

The screen printing seen at the very start of this post also got us thinking about fading the patterns through gradients of colour. If we fade the edges of our garment it will disappear into nothingness on stage and it will become almost impossible to tell where the garment ends and the environment begins. This interaction with the environment and how a being views/experiences the world around them is another aspect of the umwelt that we want to incorporate.

By the end of today’s lesson I feel like we are far closer to a complete concept. We are concrete in our theme and the basic structure of the garment. Currently the plan is to develop a fan-like garment that opens to reveal/see more.

We still haven’t decided on a final design for the fabric on the ‘fan’ however the plan is to use what we do have, and begin constructing. I’m excited to see how the garment/character develops through the process of making rather than thinking. I’m feeling a little frustrated and exhausted by the thinking process as often little progress is made. Building will be a nice change of pace.

[kellyroseleecetechnologies]

12.3.17 - Downloadable Personalities?

Now that we’re really buckling down and getting stuck into the ideation process for our projects, I’ve decided to join up with two third year students - Sophie and Katriel - to produce a submission to the World of WearableArts competition. During our discussions (which will be shared soon and I will link it here when I post it), we decided to focus our attention onto a specific concept suggested by Posthumanism theorists; the belief that eventually, humans will be able to download their personalities and memories into a hard drive. Katriel mentioned that she had stumbled upon this theory during her research last year and we were all intrigued.

At this point in time, it appears that Google is already exploring the possibility of bringing this concept into reality. According to Stephanie Awronski from the online magazine, Plaid Zebra, Google acquired a patent for robotic personality technology in April 2015 and updated it in February 2016, confirming their intent (2016). How is this relevant to Posthumanism, you may ask? Well, Awronski elaborated on the patent, sharing that;

“This new patent ascertains that a user of the robot would be able to download a personality in the same way that we would download an app for our smartphones. We could download our own personalities, perhaps a friend’s, or even more shockingly, one of a deceased individual” (2016).

This patent, if it ventures into the world of reality, would mean that personalities would no longer be a unique trait to every individual human. You want a robot that behaves exactly how you do? No problem. You miss someone on the other side of the world and want to talk to them? No problem. 

Amanda LeMind of The Mind Unleashed adds further insight, explaining that “personalities will be stored in a cloud [which] means that their lifespan will basically be unlimited” (2016). This opens an ethical argument; is this truly immortality and if so, is it morally acceptable to tether people to life forever? This argument could be interesting to consider when working on our design.

At this point in time, I believe we are all interested in exploring the implications of manipulating downloaded personality data. From here, we need to consider what these implications may be and how to translate them into a design.

References

Awronski, S. (2016, February 16). This new technology will allow us to download a dead person’s personality into a robot. Retrieved from http://www.theplaidzebra.com/this-new-technology-will-allow-us-to-download-a-dead-persons-personality-into-a-robot/

LeMind, A. (2016, February 25). It May Soon Become Possible to Download Dead People’s Personalities into Robots · The Mind Unleashed. Retrieved from http://themindunleashed.com/2016/02/download-dead-peoples-personalities-into-robots.html

RT Television Network. (2016, June 21). Downloadable personalities will make us immortal, according to expert. Retrieved from https://www.rt.com/viral/347653-downloadable-personalities-eternal-life/

[smythiecreativetech]

1 Week Until Deadline

I haven’t been posting much recently because we have been flat out on the construction of our wearable but heres a short clip to show that we’re still working hard and smiling while we do so!

[smythiecreativetech]

[colabpixelpusher]

Posthumanism

“Posthuman is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that literally means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human” (Posthuman, 2017).

“Many argue that these enhanced people might live better lives; others fear that tinkering with our nature will undermine our sense of our own humanity” (Roden, 2014).

Throughout last year I tagged posts with the hashtag #posthuman as I began to look into the future of the human race. As it turns out I was using this term too broadly, and my current level of understanding consists of 3 different concepts: Speculative Posthumanism, Critical Posthumanism and Transhumanism. It seems many people (myself included) don’t know the difference between these terms. Different articles seem to overlap and contradict each other, so I am still struggling to tell them apart. I have tried my best to summaries them below, however I have no doubt that in a few weeks I may have a completely different understanding of the concepts.

Transhumanism is about using the ‘NBIC’ technologies (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science) to improve human nature.  Transhumanists view “human nature as an improvable ‘work in progress’”(Sterling, 2014) and believe enhancements come with moral benefits. They don’t seem to be concerned with the ethical questions surrounding posthuman form, and rather aim to ‘perfect’ the human race. David Pearce, “argues that transhumanists are committed to the three ‘supers’, i.e. super-longevity, super-intelligence, super well-being. In other words, transhumanists are committed to using NBIC technologies to live radically longer lives, increase their cognitive abilities, and achieve higher states of conscious bliss and satisfaction.” (Danaher, 2015).

Speculative Posthumanism is less concerned with human development in the pursuit of perfection and rather develop to push the boundaries of what could be. A posthuman is a hypothetical being "whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards” (Posthuman, 2017). “Speculative posthumanism is committed to the notion that future technological successors of the human race could be radically alien and different.” (Danaher, 2015). Through technological change, posthuman beings may cease to be human, and so speculative posthumanism raises questions around the definition of a human.

Critical Posthumanism “challenges the view of the human subject as something that is unique and worthy of glorification” (Danaher, 2015). Humans are seen through the Cartesian view as a single, self-governing, rational entity that is seperate from the world. However, critical posthumanists argue the opposite and claim that humans have complex relationships with the world around them; relationships that are developed, enhanced and increased by technology.

Overall, each of these concepts explore the development of humans through technology is some way or another. Posthumans are an entity which are more than human, whether through a change in human nature or a change in our physical form, I am not yet sure. Our digital skins paper lends nicely to the technological developments to the human shell, as these developments have the potential to create very theatrical and expressive garments.

References:

LaGrandeur, K. (2014, July 28). What is the difference between posthumanism and transhumanism? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved from http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/lagrandeur20140729

Danaher, J. (2015, July 6). Humanism, transhumanism, and speculative posthumanism. Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved from http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/danaher20150706

Posthuman. (2017, February 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 1, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthuman

Sterling, B. (2014, February 3). The Manifesto of Speculative Posthumanism. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2014/02/manifesto-speculative-posthumanism/

Roden, D. (2014). Posthuman Life. United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis.

[smythiecreativetech]

Decisions Decisions

After my discussion with Maree, I have made some decisions. 

1.      Firstly, I will not have a digital form to ask questions. I drafted one so that I could show her the sort of questions that I was planning on asking but it won’t be something that I publish to the public.

2.      I will get in contact with as many people as I know from different places around New Zealand and ask them to nominate someone they think should tell their story. This way the stories will be more authentic and Ī will avoid show ponies that just want to talk about themselves.

3.      I won’t ask the question about a time of hardship or struggle. It is better to focus on the positive and anyway, most times of pride come from overcoming a difficult time.

4.      I will attempt to collect stories in person, from as many people as possible. The people who I can’t travel to, I will try and Skype or call them over phone. The latter aren’t ideal but will be more authentic than a digital form.

5.      I will focus on getting good, passionate stories that cover groups of people, rather than trying to collect heaps of stories from all over. I’m never going to cover all of the people in New Zealand so I would rather focus on getting good stories than lots of stories. 

What I still need to decide:

How many stories I want

How I will display the stories

What I will present at Open Studio

What I decide to present at Open Studio will affect what information I will collect from the storytellers. Ways that I could present include:

Video of the people with their voiceover of them telling their story

Book of photos and written stories

Mural or sculpture of the stories visually represented (possibly with voiceover playing in background

Mural with buttons to listen to specific audio

I will need to get names and photos if I will create a book or I will need to record them speaking if I make a video. I’m not worried that I haven’t decided what I will present for open studio yet because last year we decided in the last 3 weeks of the semester. I’m hoping that once I start collecting stories then I will find a way that best presents them to others.

[colabpixelpusher]

Extra arms anyone? These arms are clearly still in the prototyping phase, however it is amazing to see such proposed technologies coming to life. Although the arms might be difficult to control at first, the body adapts quickly and the brain learns how to interpret different signals (as explained by David Eagleman’s TedTalk from last semester).

[creativeiti]

Finishing setup for our projects