The Veldt by Ray Bradbury:
An interactive artifact is a completely automated house run by AI. It analyzes everyday patterns, such as when house owners use the bathroom, eat, and sleep, to create an automated regiment. The AI will be interactive not by mind reading but by essential communication vocally without coding and can respond to the language being spoken to it. It is similar to household appliances, like the Roomba (automated vacuum) smart refrigerators that log the items inside on an external digital screen. However, this house would operate on a sole AI system that will control the other appliances and systems within the house. I foresee the problem that the AI will be so well-developed to the point where the house owners are pretty much dependent on it to complete their daily tasks, such as eating, cleaning, and sleeping, since they may develop a handicap where they can no longer complete a task without the help from the AI. It’s also a problem if the AI is so advanced that it connects to the internet and educates itself, becoming sentient and posing harmful to the house owners/ humanity.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin:
An interactive artifact for this situation could be an immersive high-tech prison for the child. The reading discusses how the utopia can only prosper and be what it is if the child is segregated from society. An interactive prison for the child could make it more enjoyable while still being segregated and locked away from the rest of society. This prison would feature a Numpad for the lock, but the setting can change to whatever the child wants. Anyone on the outside can control it. There are prison concepts similar to this, but not exactly as this one pleases the prisoner to some extent. Some high-tech prisons are brutal due to high-tech contingencies such as biometric eye/finger scanners. But this would make access exclusive to a limited number of people. It would be hard to decide who those people would be since it’s a utopian society where everyone is equal and shouldn’t have some restrictions while others do. Another problem that could arise is the ethicality behind locking a child up, whether it’s in a basement or a high-tech prison.
The Plague by Yan Leisheng:
My interactive artifact would be an interactive bed where patients lie down, and a holographic schematic of their bodies’ autonomy appears above them. It would also highlight where an infection may be centralized in the body and propose remedies for various illnesses based on the nature of the diagnosis. The 3d holograph would also be interactive, so the doctors could spin the body or zoom in/out to get a better angle of the situation. The main problem I see with developing this is that it what be extremely difficult since we aren’t at the stage of developing regular holographic images, so interactive ones are basically out of the question. It would also be very expensive, so there would be limited use. Compared to current technology, this would be pretty advanced and would decrease requirements for doctors to use the device since it would display cures and/or how to cure an illness based on the diagnosis it draws.
Leave a Reply