Wednesday, January 28th
This article reframed how I think about the new, innovative kinds of technology and AI in our world. Before reading the article, I didn’t distinguish between different kinds of technology. However, grouping technology into the categories of “cyborgs” and “rooms” and contrasting these categories forced me to think about how we want tech to be used and integrated into our lives in the future. While “cyborgs” are wearables that modify our senses and like AirPods, AI glasses, and other consumer products, “rooms” are more humane and social. They don’t change our physical senses, and we have more control over how we want to engage with them. I particularly liked the 2018 Dynamicland example of a programmable room where the physical space itself is a computer, and it serves as a community space and research lab. My biggest takeaway was that we should be more intentional about what we build and why, and instead of focusing so much on the individualized consumer products that are available to us today, we should also welcome how technology can change the environment to adapt to us.