Another aspect of my research was looking at the more conceptual implication of the digital. A big thinking point within sustainability is the interpersonal digital relationship between man and machine.
Blade runner explores the theme of identity under the digital. He depicts a cyberpunk world of high tech, low quality of life. Neon signs and digital adverts light the bleak streets. The rain is ever present and creates the effect of a filter. It’s an indifferent white noise. The android replicants who are central to the films plot explore the uncanny valley and the merge between man and machine, artificial intelligence and how memories formulate our identity. We sympathise with these androids because they have emotions such as empathy for one another and fear for their own destruction.We are left to question whether the films protagonist is a replicant which emphasises this message even further.
After looking at Text-based adventure games, I thought it was interesting that due in part to their technological limitation they created more immersion (which I experienced first hand). They become a spring board for the user to imagine a world around them from, to quote the infocom documentary, “It’s a virtual reality that exists in words”. Words have a real power and it reminds me of the ancient practice of telling a story that is handed down through word of mouth for generations. The fantasy settings often present in early text based adventure games means the digital interactions become associated with the magical, mysticism of this genre.
This video is really interesting, it shows the impact of one of these text-based adventure games. You can really see the humanity within this digital interaction.
I think it’s interesting that both fantasy and sci-fi are quite similar genres; making commentary on contemporary society but contextualising it in a completely different environment to our own. I think Dune which almost is a combination of these genres has a really interesting take on humanity and the digital. In Dune a robot uprising led to all computers being destroyed. Many years later humans evolve into pseudo-computer like beings with abilities such as extreme data processing. These computer-like qualities are seen as magic within this world.
I’m a big fan of the designer, technologist, creative thinker John Maeda and follow his work through his blog and podcast. He recently released a book called “How to Speak like a Machine” where he reveals some of the fundamentals of coding before delving into the more conceptual aspects of digital design.
I think he expresses a case study of the thinking I’ve accumulated from my research:
“In the old days we could easily feel superior to the technology we were using because it was so slooooow – like when you would type something into an early search engine in the 1990s, and you would need to wait a while. But nowadays a search happens so quickly because it predicts what you might want to be searching for.”
AIGA eye on design recently wrote an article spotlighting this book.
https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/designers-this-is-how-to-speak-computer-while-still-speaking-human/
When discussing the different thinking methods that man and machine have he gives the example of the “Power of Ten” a video piece created by famous designers Charles and Ray Eames.
For us the principle of this scale is vast, monumental – everything. It makes us question our own existence and purpose, for the computer it’s just adding another zero. These leaps are unfathomable. We need to decondition and perhaps not get lost in the emotional impact. In a subtle way, I think the digital (especially when it was in its infancy) encourages a sense of transcendentalist-like spirituality. Every element of the digital world is designed. This is a theme often present in Science Fiction which pairs technology with these wider themes.
I’ve always been fascinated with divine geometry, it’s a philosophy that explains that there is coding behind everything. Documentaries highlight the shared symbolism of cultures all over the world. Here for instance is the “Flower of Life”.
Supposedly “The oldest known depictions of the Flower of Life were found in the Temple of Osiris in Egypt and date back to at least 6 000 years ago, and recent research has concluded that they could not have been made earlier than 535 BC. These depictions of the symbol are fascinating because they were not carved into the rock, but rather burned or drawn onto the granite with red ochre with great precision. Some believe that the symbol could have been used to represent the Eye of Ra. Leonardo da Vinci was known to have studied the Flower of Life pattern and derived the five platonic solids, as well as the Golden Ratio of Phi, from the symbol. “
When you start seeing these proposed forumlas in natural forms, it really makes you think. On this train of thought it brings about the notion we could potentially be living in a computer simulation. Elon Musk describes this concept himself which would mean the digital and natural are more interlinked than we ever could of imagined.
This reminds me of an article I read on Michael Stipe and his artistic practice. He expresses “With digital technology we’re coming closer to nature. If you look at anything natural under a microscope, it breaks down into fractals”.
This research made me realise I need a grounding in the technicalities of coding to have a greater understanding of the interpersonal relationship that the digital can explore. For an understanding of sustainability, I need a wider more hands on understanding of the digital.
Cameron Aitken Graphic Design 