on the phenomenology and ethics of "smart" technology - michel puech

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MP 2013 06

[email protected]

18th International Conference of the
Society for Philosophy and TechnologyISEG, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
July 4-6, 2013

On the Phenomenology and Ethics of Smart Technology

made on a PC with LibreOfficefunded by ETOS / TEM Research / Institut Telecom, Paris

the meaning of smart

smartphone, smart grids (power supply), smart cars, smart cities and environments, smart software and web sites, and so ona lot of studies about the social consequences of mobile telephonyLing 2004, Glotz et al. 2005, Ling & Donner 2009: state of the art; Goggin 2006 chap. 6: mobile (moral) panic

few studies (or none) philosophically address the meaning of the notion of smart

the meaning of smart

just a marketing imposture? (yes) gadgets that provide 10 minutes fun

95% of smartphone apps are gadget or junk

but:quite normal in a Darwinian evolution process

phenomenologically interesting anyway: the wow effect!

the meaning of smart

just a word?a linguistic epiphenomenon, a dictionary subentry?

OED : informal: having or showing a quick-witted intelligence: if he was that smart he would never have been tricked

(of a device) programmed so as to be capable of some independent action: hi-tech smart weapons

chiefly North American: showing impertinence by making clever or sarcastic remarks: dont get smart or Ill whack you one

very little analysis of what smartness exactly is for an artifact

and what it means for the person in contact with it

the meaning of smart

we have moved from (artificial) intelligence to smartcrucial difference?

smart is ordinaryhow quickly miraculous technologies become ordinary and even necessary (Katz 2008: 3)

no human-like Artificial Intelligence, no supra-human Singularity

but smart devices, small and affordable, irresistibly user-friendly

from a (miraculous) governing/dominating/controlling global intelligence to a ordinary service-driven local smart devices (Hawk and al. 2008)notion of smartifact (Ma et al. 2005)

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

smartphone = handset able to 1) connect to networks via 3G, wifi, and/or similar the telephone side

2) run applications (apps = software) using at least screen and keyboard the computer side

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

why smart?shazam wow! - http://www.shazam.com Tap the Shazam button to instantly
tag, and then - explore, buy, share
and comment.

automatic
picking up of incoming calls when
the phone is moved up to the ear

eye scroll tracking to scroll down the pages as the user is reading

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

why the smartest artifact?

1) convergencea Swiss-army-knife devicemultistability and maybe more

the smart is the principal and the best:

the smartphone is the principal and the best:phone

pager, short text sending device (including short emails)

emergency call lifeline and global safety pager

camera (for fun, or police violence recording)

radio receiver and mobile music player

GPS and maps collection

public transportation timetable and real-time tracker

notebook

appointments calendar and reminder

alarm clock and wristwatch

dictionary and language assistance

portable encyclopedia

portable video-game pad

voice recorder

very short text reading device (news feeds)

mirror (front-camera) for make-up or detecting salad remnants between teeth

and is second (to a good laptop computer only) for:long email or long text writing/reading

Web browsing (including online shopping)

theater-like film experience

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

why the smartest artifact?

2) wearabilitypocket-wearability is a requirement of the smart

wearable like: glasses, wristwatches, keys, USB sticks

mobility is smart the mobile phone is smarter than the laptop (with comparable functions) because it is more mobile

from furniture to gearwhen you move a desktop computer you move the furniture

when you move with a laptop computer you move with a piece of furniture in a bag

when you move with a smartphone you just move, with clothes on and having your life-gear with youthe current limit to wearable smartness: the battery

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

why the smartest artifact?

3) technological transparencythe phone shifts from 3G to wifi,
from app to Web, from SMS to
email, as transparently as it
shifts from one relay emitter to
another, from one corporate- or
public-owned network to another,
from one version of its OS to
another updated one

THE service/control problemapps installation and operations are (dangerously) done by back-office inaccessible routines

the Apple standard the open source standard (Zittrain 2009)

the Master Switch (Wu 2011)

smartphone as the paradigmatic smartifact

key smart app: textingSMS, Short Message Service (technically not an app)

the most important and specific use of mobile phoneaccording to empirical and conceptual surveys

specific characters of the smart in texting:1. user-invented service, huge success unanticipated by designers

2. low-tech inside a high-tech environment

3. virtually free and unlimited

4. opt-in real-time

5. apparent low implication for the emitter, potential high impact for the receiver

phenomenology of the smart

focus on the existential experience of the smartphone:

servicethe notion of service is a mantra in marketing and R&D departments, but seldom heard in the humanities

smart is a characteristic of service providing devices

service context awareness, to assure relevancepopping up just at the right time is smart, irrelevant solicitations are dumb (Do you really want to exit this program?)

phenomenology of the smart

2 examples:on a smartphone app, what is the key or menu command to display the keyboard on the screen? there is none, the keyboard is displayed when you need it, e.g. when you are about to fill a text input area

natural gesture (inherited from mouse and click culture) using Windows 7 with an external monitor/projector added
to the laptop screen

phenomenology of the smart

smartness = the perfect service?it can help in everything, in unanticipated ways

the essence of the device and of the device paradigm (Borgmann 1984 chap. 9)

the universal remote control (Rheingold 2002)remote control of other devices, of the world of objects, of other humans, of oneself (auto-discipline)

= the magic wand

the promise of technology at its best: a magic toyFortunati in Glotz 2005, commenting Hickman 1988: a magic helper in the sense of Propp (fairy tales and mythology)

phenomenology of the smart

body and embodimentpocket-wearability brings about a near-embodiment experience2 ways are being explored for more embodiment:wristwatch (Apple)

glasses (Google)

part of one's sense and presentation of self (Goffman 1959)... like glasses

common name in Finnish for the mobile phone:
knny or knnykk an extension of the hand.almost a body part (Oksman 2002)

a proper-body part?corps propre, Merleau-Ponty

phenomenology of the smart

lifeworld the proximal infosphere3 infospheres: proximal / distal / global

proximal: an intimate technosphere, transitional between the self and the world, the self and othersnot as intimate as mental awareness and self-presence

not as mediated as the use of a non-embodied device (such as a landline phone or a desktop computer)

phenomenology of the smart

the smartifact as the Teddy, Nanky, cuddly toy, comfort blanket, binky", pacifier, and so onnot only a disparaging remark about our childish addiction the smartphone

a reference to Winnicott's theory of the transitional object its function in the psychological development of the child (Winnicott 1971)

why not a costly iPhone instead of a plastic blue rabbit or worn-out rag?

1) the existential intermediate position is key to the transitional function: it all happens in a potential space, at the interface between the self and the world

2) the service is important: a reassuring presence in the background

phenomenology of the smart

one major development of this approach: attachment theory in contemporary psychologyBowlby 1969

internalization of reassurance in the secure self

attachment to objects and artifacts?

a caregiving function (mediating attachment figures)

m-caregiving in which the original parental caregiver is implied

she gives the first phone to start with

and it is (as Winnicott's transitional object) the first object (of value) possessed by the child!

phenomenology of the smart

another track: affective computingnext wearable smart devices will probably use sensors (and software) to analyze our emotional statesPicard 1995: a wearable affective (sentic) intelligent agent

a logic of service: smarter because emotion sensitiveenhancing the m-device by enhancing the range and depth of its interface with the self

humanizing the machine in giving it emotional states

phenomenology of the smart

timethe dual time of Technosapiens existence1) r-time, real physical time

2) e-time, the time of digital networks and flows

the smartphone is the tool for the coordination of everyday life by interweaving these two timelines (Ling 2004 chap. 4; Ling & Campbell 2009)the management of appointments and coordinate activities is now informal and real-time, a
deep change in our
experience of social time

frequent situation:
management of a dual
conversation, one online
(texting) and one IRL

phenomenology of the smart

space and locationnot an avatar in a Second Life

but proximal infospherea body in the real life, with a connection device in hand, pocket or bag

the point of presence of the self in the digital flows is embodied in the hybrid self+smartphone

in a complex environment the prefixes saga:
e- for electronic, m- for mobile, u- for ubiquitousubiquitous computing community: a smart world, largest dimension of the smart (Ma et al. 2005)

ambient intelligence of u-computing: a moral environment (Verbeek 2011 chap. 6)

phenomenology of the smart

location-dependent services: service + surveillance (THE problem)being situated in e-space means inseparably (1) access to smart services

(2) integral surveillance by the network

the debate seems to be more about how to adapt than about how to change

phenomenology of the smart

the others (humans)proximal infosphere: remote presence of/with the othersLing & Donner 2009: 143 the real-time social sphere

which others? every known person is in one's smartphone directory (including the list of not-to-answer numbers)

but daily text communication is with a small set, a proximal e-friends circle, 3 or 4 persons maximumm-presence is somewhere between presence (IRL) and e-presence (email and skype)

self and the smart

ethical relevance

danger #1: surveillancedata-privacy is the most important issue of networked communication, including smart (Ess 2009)

the Prism disclosure (June 2013) has alerted even the under-informed citizens

a new ontology in the interface self/world and self/others (self/institutions): data how to take the service without the (total) surveillance?

a collective/public management issue, not a market self-regulating wishful mechanismcurrent confrontation between dominating new economy corporations and nearly powerless nation-states or federations (E.U.)

self and the smart

why no privacy self-protection, or so few?facts: on micro-blogging and (friends-)locating systems, people volunteer to disclose and transmit detailed and permanent news about their location and activities, states of mind, what they like, and so on

a deal to benefit in return from smart services (share usable information)Mitcham 1997: 116: The panopticon is no longer a danger, it is a toy

facts: a lot of phones without access password (tragic when the phone is stolen, or peeped into by partner or parents) because the phone is intimate, it is part of me, it is my memory

no password between me and my personal memory

a password would remind every time that it is nor part of me, but an outer-world object, and that it can be stolen, intruded, at any time: unpleasant, and even frightening

self and the smart

addiction or empowerment?

danger #2: addictionhypothesis: the flow is what is addictive as with TV-watching hypnosis

FOMO syndrome, Fear Of Missing Out (Turkle 2011)the most important activity (during a family meal or a class) can be texting or reading an email, the self is more present in this distant relationship and activity than in its physical space-time

+ reverse FOMO: what is missed is the real-life conversation!

how to take the empowerment without the addiction? self-care, technology of the self (Foucault 1994)

self and the smart

the last Foucault: technologies of the self(Dorrestijn 2012)

smart selfware is today's technology of the self

discipline or nudge? smart self-nudge?example of self-discipline, with digital and network assistance: the quantified self movement

a Foucault like self-care ambiguity: constituting oneself as a self from the inside of a controlling environment and by using its tools

outsmarting the smart?

references

AGAR Jon, 2003, Constant touch: A global history of the mobile telephone, Cambridge, UK, Icon BooksBORGMANN Albert, 1984, Technology and the character of contemporary life: A philosophical inquiry, Chicago U.P.BOWLBY John, 1969, Attachment and loss, London: The Tavistock Institute of Human RelationsCLARK Andy, 2003, Natural-born cyborgs: Minds, technologies, and the future of human intelligence, Oxford U.P.DORRESTIJN Steven, 2012, The design of our own lives: Technical mediation and subjectivation after Foucault, University of Twente, PhD Thesis, October 2012, http://members.tele2.nl/s.dorrestijn/downloads/Dorrestijn_Design_our_own_lives.pdfESS Charles, 2009, Digital media ethics, Cambridge: Polity PressFOUCAULT Michel, 1994, Dits et crits II, 1976-1988, Paris: Gallimard (Quarto, 2001)GLOTZ Peter, BERTSCHI Stefan, LOCKE Chris (eds), 2005, Thumb culture: Meaning of mobiles phones for society, Bielefeld: TranscriptGOFFMAN Erving, 1959, The presentation of self in everyday life, New York: Anchor Books, 1959GOGGIN Gerard, 2006, Cell phone culture: Mobile technology in everyday life, London: RoutledgeHAWK Byron, RIEDER David M., OVIEDO Ollie (eds), 2008, Small tech: The culture of digital tools, University of Minnesota PressHICKMAN Larry, A., 1988, "The phenomenology of the quotidian artefact", in : DURBIN P.T. (ed), Technology and contemporary life, Dordrecht:Reidel, 1988, 161-176IHDE Don, 2001, Bodies in technology, Minneapolis, Mn: University of Minnesota PressIHDE Don, 2010, Embodied technics, Automatic PressKATZ James E. (ed), 2008, Handbook of mobile communication studies, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT PressLING Rich, CAMPBELL Scott W., 2009, The reconstruction of space and time: Mobile communication practices, New Brunswick (N.J.): TransactionLING Rich, DONNER Jonathan, 2009, Mobile communication, Cambridge: PolityLING Richard Seyler, 2004, The mobile connection: The cell phone's impact on society, Amsterdam: ElsevierMA Jianshua, YANG L. T., APDUHAN B. O., HUANG R., BAROLLI L.,TAKIZAWA M., 2005, "Towards a smart world and ubiquitous intelligence: A walkthrough from smart things to smart hyperspaces and UbicKids", International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, 1(1), 2005, 53-68 - http://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/5354361/towards-a-smart-world-and-ubiquitous-intelligence-a-walkthrough-MITCHAM Carl, 1997, Thinking ethics in technology: Hennebach lectures and papers, 1995-1996, Colorado School of MinesOKSMAN Virpi, RAUTIAINEN Pirjo, 2002, "'Perhaps it is a body part': How the mobile phone became an organic part of the everyday lives of Finnish children and adolescents", in Machines that become us, Katz J. (ed), New Brunswick: Transaction PublishersPICARD Rosalind, 1995, "Affective computing", M.I.T Media Laboratory Perceptual Computing Section Technical Report No. 321 - http://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/95.picard.pdfRHEINGOLD Howard, 2002, Smart mobs: The next social revolution, Cambridge, Mass, Perseus PublishingTURKLE Sherry, 2011, Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other, Basic BooksVERBEEK Peter-Paul, 2011, Moralizing technology: Understanding and designing the morality of things, University of Chicago PressWINNICOTT Donald W., 1971, Playing and reality, London: Routledge, 1971WU Tim, 2011, The Master Switch: The rise and fall of information empires, New York: Alfred A. KnopfZITTRAIN Jonathan, 2009, The future of the Internet: And how to stop it, Yale University Press

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contact:
[email protected]

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http://michel.puech.free.fr

Michel Puech (Paris-Sorbonne)

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