A Phenomenological Analysis of the Posthumanized Future Workplace

Gladden, Matthew E.

doi:10.5604/01.3001.0012.7776

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…How would one go about making sense of such a VR-facilitated virtual world that is so wholly "de-anthropocentrized" and "posthumanized" (Gladden, 2018a) in its structure and dynamics?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Self-Revelation and Cognition of VR-Facilitated Virtual Worlds: Towards a Phenomenology of Virtual Habitation

Gladden¹

2020

AVANT

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In this text it is argued that immersion in virtual reality (VR) with the aid of contemporary VR equipment may offer access to novel types of virtual worlds that differ qualitatively from the "real" world and from other types of fictional worlds. The text begins by (a) distinguishing between VR systems, virtual environments, and virtual worlds; (b) showing how the virtual worlds facilitated by VR systems resemble and differ from the "virtual worlds" created in one's mind when, for example, reading a novel or watching a film; and (c) identifying necessary and optional elements of a VR-facilitated virtual world. Employing a phenomenological approach that draws on the thought of Ingarden and Norberg-Schulz, it is shown that a visitor to a VR-facilitated virtual world can (and frequently does) shift his or her conscious attention along three different "axes". First, one's attention can move "horizontally" between the media that disclose the virtual world through different senses. Second, one's attention can shift "vertically" between the virtual world's different ontological strata, including its layers of myriad atomic stimuli; distinguishable elements that possess spatiotemporal extension; assemblages of elements that have a context and relations but lack individual meaning; glimpses that build up a lattice of meaning and contribute to one's knowledge of the world; and the virtual world envisioned as a coherent mentally concretized whole. Third, one's attention can shift "interspatially" between the many different overlapping constituent spaces of the virtual world, including its perceptual, concrete, natural, built, identifiable, technological, emotional, social, economic, political, cultural, ecological, and possibility spaces. This triaxial phenomenological framework can shed new light on the rich and diverse ways in which VR-facilitated virtual worlds manifest themselves as emergent wholes constituted within human consciousness; also, it suggests approaches by which visitors might more proactively mentally explore and come to inhabit such virtual worlds.

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“…How would one go about making sense of such a VR-facilitated virtual world that is so wholly "de-anthropocentrized" and "posthumanized" (Gladden, 2018a) in its structure and dynamics?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Self-Revelation and Cognition of VR-Facilitated Virtual Worlds: Towards a Phenomenology of Virtual Habitation

Gladden¹

2020

AVANT

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“…In today's world, the processes of posthumanization are often identified with the growing use of social robots, autonomous AI, and advanced human-computer interfaces. However, if-as discussed above-posthumanization is understood simply as the processes by which a society comes to include members and participants other than just natural biological human beings (Gladden 2017(Gladden , 2018, then it becomes apparent that the use of emerging 21st-century technologies is not the only way in which a society might become posthumanized. This fact was hinted at by Clarke and Hansen, who suggest (Clarke and Hansen 2009, pp.…”

Section: Differentiating Technological From Non-technological Posthummentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Will Be the Members of Society 5.0? Towards an Anthropology of Technologically Posthumanized Future Societies

Gladden

2019

Social Sciences

Self Cite

151

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The Government of Japan’s “Society 5.0” initiative aims to create a cyber-physical society in which (among other things) citizens’ daily lives will be enhanced through increasingly close collaboration with artificially intelligent systems. However, an apparent paradox lies at the heart of efforts to create a more “human-centered” society in which human beings will live alongside a proliferating array of increasingly autonomous social robots and embodied AI. This study seeks to investigate the presumed human-centeredness of Society 5.0 by comparing its makeup with that of earlier societies. By distinguishing “technological” and “non-technological” processes of posthumanization and applying a phenomenological anthropological model, this study demonstrates: (1) how the diverse types of human and non-human members expected to participate in Society 5.0 differ qualitatively from one another; (2) how the dynamics that will shape the membership of Society 5.0 can be conceptualized; and (3) how the anticipated membership of Society 5.0 differs from that of Societies 1.0 through 4.0. This study describes six categories of prospective human and non-human members of Society 5.0 and shows that all six have analogues in earlier societies, which suggests that social scientific analysis of past societies may shed unexpected light on the nature of Society 5.0.

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“…According to the classification frameworks for research methodologies presented by Wilson (2010), this study employs an inductive approach, qualitative methodology, and phenomenologically based research philosophy. Its understanding of the relationship between human beings and their environment and of the nature of causal interaction is informed especially by the systems-theoretical philosophical anthropology developed by the Polish phenomenologist Roman Ingarden (1960Ingarden ( , 1961Ingarden ( , 1970Ingarden ( , 1974, which offers conceptual tools that are useful for analyzing human interaction with emerging posthumanizing technologies like those relating to the cyber-physical smart workplace (Gladden, 2018a(Gladden, , 2018b.…”

Section: Research Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel forms of “magical” human-computer interaction within the cyber-physical smart workplace: Implications for usability and user experience

Gladden¹

2019

IJRSM

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The growing use of advanced AI, ambient intelligence, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) technologies of the sort found within the emerging cyber-physical smart workplace has been described as enabling new forms of human-computer interaction (HCI) that are "magical" in nature. This study shows that from an anthropological perspective, such a workplace environment can indeed be understood as "magical"; however, that "magicality" is a double-edged sword that can potentially both enhance and damage user experience (UX) for workers and other occupants of such environments. First, by analyzing existing social anthropological and philosophical anthropological accounts of magic, typical elements of magical practice are identified. Using Nielsen's empirical analysis of HCI usability heuristics as a basis, a prospective heuristic evaluation is then carried out for the usability of a generic "magical" environment, in order to identify elements of magical practice that might be expected to enhance or impair user experience when they are required for interaction with the environment. A more specific heuristic usability evaluation is then performed for the "magical" aspects of HCI created by two kinds of constituent technologies that are typical for a cyber-physical smart workplace: those of (a) ambient intelligence and IoT-enabled systems and (b) AR and VR systems. It is shown that the magical aspects of HCI within the emerging cyber-physical smart workplace differ significantly in their potential UX impacts from the magicality involved with earlier forms of computing, and the implications of this fact for the management of future workplaces are identified and discussed.

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A Phenomenological Analysis of the Posthumanized Future Workplace

Cited by 4 publications

References 15 publications

The Self-Revelation and Cognition of VR-Facilitated Virtual Worlds: Towards a Phenomenology of Virtual Habitation

The Self-Revelation and Cognition of VR-Facilitated Virtual Worlds: Towards a Phenomenology of Virtual Habitation

Who Will Be the Members of Society 5.0? Towards an Anthropology of Technologically Posthumanized Future Societies

Novel forms of “magical” human-computer interaction within the cyber-physical smart workplace: Implications for usability and user experience

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