The Human Computer
Steve Mann wears an EyeTap digital eye glass in 2003. The computer engineer and inventor has been wearing some form of digital imaging device on his person for decades. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)
It was also the first point at which I could see definitive links between the technology as no longer a tool of neutrality, rather a powerful intervention in a learning setting and potentially an invasive intrusion if repurposed by corporations run by powerful family cartels for capturing metadata or indeed harvesting raw data. The human computer interaction premise had then become a reality and it was at that point I could also see how humans as computers or at least humans enmeshed in computing as having a marked impact on others humans around them.
In mid 2011 the term ‘cyborg’ had become a reality for me.
With all my readings from the Michael’s and the realisation of what Mann, Ferenbock, Bostock et al. were up to realised that by my very actions of always having an ‘always on connection to a GSM network meant I was a carrier of that network, like a virus, catalyst and that to some of the cultural communities I was working with that this was an unwelcome intrusion. I did not at the time see the connection though between how my own need for capturing place, things, people and so mattered in the bigger scheme of my interactions with others.
I think I am still only coming to grips with that now.
