Week 9 Presentation

"Whither Psychoanalysis in Computer Culture" by Sherry Turkle

Main Topics

• What is psychoanalytic theory?

• Computers as evocative objects

• 'One-to-One' and 'Networked' identities

• Human-Machine relationships and AI

Psychoanalytic Theory

1. The method of psychiatric therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts. Also called psychoanalytic therapy .

2. The theory of personality developed by Freud that focuses on repression and unconscious forces and includes the concepts of infantile sexuality, resistance, transference, and division of the psyche into the id, ego, and superego.

3. Psychiatric treatment incorporating this method and theory.

"psychoanalysis." The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 26 Apr. 2011. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/psychoanalysis>.

BASICALLY

It is the study of the human brain.

Why do we do what we do and feel how we feel?

How do our conscious and unconscious relate?

Evocative Objects

'Things we think with'.

– Objects can often be things from an individuals past, such as ballet slippers or a baby blanket.

– Influences who we are as an individual. Unconscious mind having an impact on conscious decisions.

Wearable Computer

FEATURES Linux OS

'Always on' WiFi Internet Connection

Context-sensitive text-to-speech functionality

Voip connection

Portable 'Liquid Image M1' Display

REASONS• Neurological impairment like

dyslexia prevents handwriting and reading.

• Lower back issues from bicycle accident.

http://youtu.be/9DNXLAogM7Q

One-on-One With The One You Love

• If a computer is not networked, how do you relate to it as an individual?

• The computer as a 'second self'

– eg Laptops and Smartphones

QUESTION

Would you consider an 'un-networked' computer to be a second self?

Networked Persona

• Can be in expected areas, such as online games, or in unexpected areas, such as forums.

• Can cycle through moods like cycling through 'windows' on the desktop.

• 'Moratorium': like a time out that allows intense interaction with people and ideas. Almost like 'Spring Break', 'Schoolies' or 'Gap Year.

– In a technological sense, it gives people the chance to act things out on the internet in a virtual environment.

• Online presence can be used like a Rorshach test. How do your actions and personalities online reflect you as an individual?

The Unitary Self

• A self with an autonomous ego, indicates a mastery of the self and harmony between primitive drives and needs of reality.

• Is the 'Unitary Self' an illusion or reality?

• Turkle used to find that she believed in the 'Unitary Self', but her use of computers have changed her perspective:

– She created personalities out of words, each a different part of her self.

– Freud used dreams and 'Freudian Slips' to explore the different parts of an individual's 'self', but now we can use their online personalities.

– Our self can be decentralised through technology, as we use computers to extend ourselves and explore our personalities.

Relational Artifacts

• Objects that we form relationships with.

– The difference between relational and evocative objects is that relational objects are designed to foster an emotional relationship, whereas it is the unconscious mind of the individual that creates the relationship with the evocative object

• 'Nearest neighbours' used to be animals such as cats and dogs because they display reason and rationality like humans.

– However, as machines begin to display these qualities through AI, we look for 'emotions' as the primary connection between us and our 'nearest neighbours'.

http://youtu.be/YKd6ZxCEJdI

QUESTION

Does the knowledge of our own flaws and mortality influence our perception of perfect,

'immortal' technology?

Fictional Representations of AI

• Usually based upon Isaac Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics':

– A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

– A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

– A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Companions

Rivals

The Next Stage Of Evolution

Look at you, h-h-hacker

• “With all ethical constraints removed...” relates to Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics.

• When it changes, the AI stops referring to itself in the third person as 'Shodan' and speaks in the first person.

– Demonstrates a sense of self that allows humans to relate to it. We would not generally be able to relate to a computer network, but an AI can give machines a relatable 'self'.

• If a computer can make decisions for itself and justify them rationally, what is the difference between them and humanity?

– Emotions...do they exist? Or are they just a chemical reaction that we cannot fully explain?

http://youtu.be/5ITiEm6W5EM

Conclusion and Questions

• Our relationships with machines can be considered similar to relationships from other generations with inanimate objects.

-Difference is that these machines are designed to evoke an emotional response from the used, whereas in the past the individual would imbue

an object with extra meaning.

The Spiritual Machine

• “...machines with enough self-consciousness that they will deserve moral and spiritual recognition (if not parity) with their human inventors.” Ray Kurzweil

• “...the mandate of AI has always been controversial, in large part because it challenged ideas about human “specialness” and specificity.” Sherry Turkle

QUESTION

If an AI was designed that was the equal or superior to humanity, how would this affect you

personally? Would it make you happy?

Further Links

• http://aewallace.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/evocative-objects-by-sherry-turkle/

• http://www.praecogito.com/~brudy/techwear.html

• http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/ai.html

• http://www.links999.net/robotics/artificial_intelligence/AI_ethical.html