As a
result of the Internet of Things (IoT), human beings are becoming increasingly
connected to the different devices that surround them in modern technological
society. In the process of creating more
connections between these devices, humans themselves are becoming more
connected to all of them. And through
all these connections being created, these devices can more easily complement
one another and more effortlessly and more frictionlessly serve the humans for
whom they are working. Humans and their devices become one harmonious system.
One
of the main ways that humans have become connected to these devices is through
Alexa, Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence entity.
Tell Alexa what you need to get done and she takes care of it for you
through the connectivity of the Internet of Things. The connectivity seems to have been perfectly
ongoing for Alexa’s users with the exception of one small area of human
experience: taking a shower. Like with
most electronic devices, up until now, if you were to splash on the traditional
Alexa speaker, it would create problems.
So a person would have to go through temporary withdrawal symptoms while
cleaning up his body, exiling his Alexa speaker to some place outside of the
bathroom. But not anymore. Now there is a new splash immune device
called the Aqua Dew that can be used while taking a shower or, for that matter,
while taking a swim in a swimming pool.
You don’t put the device in the water, but you can leave the device near
the water. If the device gets splashed
on, there is no problem. Alexa will
continue to be the reliable companion that it is supposed to be.
This
is actually quite significant, because it means that a person never has to
disconnect himself from the system that comprises the Internet of Things. No longer does a person have the need or, for
that matter, the opportunity to be an organic human being with strong
connections to the natural world. And
this means that the person gets sucked into a system that diminishes his
capacity to make, preserve and receive organic imprints, have rich vibrant life
experiences, create meaningful life narratives, and develop a personal
surrogate immortality through the unique imprints that he preserves that allow
him to prepare for death. Maintaining a sustained interconnection with the
Internet of Things, how is a person supposed to have a meaningful effect on the
world, feel fully alive, maintain a sense of purpose and prepare for death in
such a way that he leaves something of himself on the planet where he is going
to die? In other words, telling Alexa
what to do and having Alexa manipulate everything for him puts a person into an
experiential vacuum, a bubble where he loses his immediate connection to the
external world. With Alexa, a person’s
connection to the external world is perpetually mediated.
There
has been a lot of discussion in this column about the effects of all the
mediating experience that has been created by the screen reality of movies,
television, video games, computers, smartphones and tablets. Recently the up and coming field of virtual
reality has been added to the modern mix of human experience. But Artificial Intelligence entities like
Alexa don’t influence human beings simply by creating separate new compartments
of experience that stand apart from external world reality. Instead, by taking over the daily human tasks
that are a part of the human participation in external world reality, they
transform what should be a direct connection with external world reality into a
mediated experience. They take away the opportunity for the direct primary
experience that is the foundation for strong life narrative, for strong organic
imprints and for secure surrogate immortalities.
And
the ultimate experience that is left to us by the utilization of an increasing
amount of Artificial Intelligence in our lives is the living death of
numbness. And this in turn leads to an
attempt to fight off numbness by activating ourselves to a different kind of life. We become more receptive to mechanical and
digital stimulation and model ourselves after the complex behavioral entities
in these arenas by becoming more like robots and avatars respectively. And this means the shrinking of our organic
coherent sense of self. Losing more of
our humanity.
Perhaps
this seems to be a lot to attribute to a splash-proof Alexa speaker. And although this article is about Aqua Dew,
the critique here is, on one level, directed against the Internet of Things as
a whole. Do we really want to pay the
price of a diminishing primary connection to the external world in order to
have easier more frictionless lives?
Yet,
on another level, a small change like that provided by Aqua Dew can be seen to
have an enormous effect just by itself.
Taking a shower has been one of the few areas of life up until now where
we have been able to temporarily separate ourselves from the Internet of Things
and its mechanizing effects. Now that
big hole in our fields of experience is closed.
And so many people will embrace
the closing of the loophole. They love the notion of detaching themselves from
their perishable organic senses of self in order to more easily connect up with
the seemingly more eternal mechanistic system represented by the Internet of
Things. Now, the only time from which we
will be separated from the Internet of Things is when we are asleep. Although maybe the next advance in
interacting with Alexa will be to find a way to have Alexa speak to us while we
are dreaming, as it lovingly sits by our bed.
One can never anticipate what is going to happen in today’s world of
perpetual innovation.
(c) 2018 Laurence Mesirow
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