Having read the 3 fiction stories for Interaction Lab, I’ve brainstormed possible original artifacts that may be useful in the specified universe of the characters. Each of these artifacts are independently thought out based on the story. There has been an attempt to not replicate an idea already existing in the real world.
Newton’s Sleep by Ursula K. Le Guin is a short dystopian story that revolves around a society where reason and science drives the mindset and philosophy of society. The absence of nature and religious thoughts is one key feature in this novel. The main characters are set in a spacial setting called Spes which is very far away from Earth. This setting is stated to have no pollution with a population of intelligent people only. Seemingly a utopia, the society is not far from being described a dystopia as characters are portrayed to lose human sense and perception. Due to this, the story also brings into question the concept of understanding illusion from descriptions of interactivity as well as the question of the capacity of which empathetic knowledge can be applied. From these two conceptual mysteries, my concept of my artifact revolves around a linkage object that allows for individuals to share the same experience in hopes to truly gain empathetic knowledge. This artifact is original in the sense of the purpose, to gain common knowledge, however, it may have existing links to current research on neurotransmission and neuroscience. While it does have these links, no product has been successfully completed hence it is viable according to the prompt. Moreover, in this universe, the protagonist Ike fails to understand the hallucinations of others. A product that could link the illusion experienced would allow for common knowledge to be received in this society. Problems with this product would be the capacity of truly creating the same illusion that is experienced. I believe that independent experience may be hard to be replicated, especially if it revolves around imagery and psychological feeling. Because of this, the authenticity of the experience transferred may be quite a challenge. Furthermore, the existence of this product may also violate our current standard of human privacy in that thoughts, feelings, and etc. may be forcibly transferred to others.
Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang is a story that discusses Lao Dao’s experience of earning money as a Third Space citizen. The society represented in this experience is very systematic in time that can be actively experienced by others as well as divisions between civilians economically. This universe mainly revolves around the Change which is a pivotal cycle in the life of the civilians. The Change allows for some to experience life while others are closed off from their experience. It includes the shifting of architecture and geographic landscape where there is a transition period between two spaces. In the story, Lao Dao gets stuck between the Change where his foot is locked between two spaces. From this situation, I gained inspiration for my new artifact. Exploding Leg is the concept I came up with where something can be attached to the leg. It will explode, blowing up the lower part of the leg that is stuck before generating itself into a leg for the person to walk with and sealing the wood. While this is a combination of existing products on Earth such as an explosive and a bionic leg, the artifact can be used in this situation as a means of preserving one’s life if they are stuck between two objects. Many people choose to decapitate their limbs in this situation but are left with one limb only. This solution provides an artificial limb formed after the limb is lost. The Exploding Leg will also stop the bleeding from the area of limb that is lost and structure it’s size accordingly to the other leg to maintain the balance. Problems with this artifact would be the destructive nature it holds. It’s sure to cause harm to the human physically and may cause extreme injuries that may threaten life. Moreover, the product will cause a lot of human waste with the limbs being exploded. This may cause hygienic issues for society if human limbs are left to decay.
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang is a story that revolves around raising “artificial intelligence” pets from the virtual world and bringing them into the physical world. While the whole story involves a lot of transformation of the digients, I wanted to focus on the situation where Marco and Polo had a fight. I believe that in this instance a product which sounds an alarm when two individuals are within a close proximity can help prevent conflicts from continuously occurring. This product uses the existing concept of an alarm. It may be problematic in the sense that it may cause disruption in public spaces.
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