Beyond the Quantified Self: Thematic exploration of a dataistic paradigm

Abstract

This article investigates the metaphor of the Quantified Self (QS) as it is presented in the magazine Wired (2008–2012). Four interrelated themes—transparency, optimization, feedback loop, and biohacking—are identified as formative in defining a new numerical self and promoting a dataist paradigm. Wired captures certain interests and desires with the QS metaphor, while ignoring and downplaying others, suggesting that the QS positions self-tracking devices and applications as interfaces that energize technological engagements, thereby pushing us to rethink life in a data-driven manner. The thematic analysis of the QS is treated as a schematic aid for raising critical questions about self-quantification, for instance, detecting the merging of epistemological claims, technological devices, and market-making efforts. From this perspective, another definition of the QS emerges: a knowledge system that remains flexible in its aims and can be used as a resource for epistemological inquiry and in the formation of alternative paradigms.

The computational therapeutic: exploring Weizenbaum’s ELIZA as a history of the present

“…But this injunction has changed. Forms of work on the self that focus on self-labour as a desirable priority are being replaced by explorations of the potentials of direct modulation of the self by a third party-increasingly via computational processes that require neither 'work' nor 'expertise' on the part of the human (Ruckenstein 2017;Schull 2016), but demand only the submission, of the human, to the process. This is the context in which a revisionist form of behaviorism may re-emerge and make claims for legitimacy.…”

Shifting metaphors in direct-to-consumer genetic testing: from genes as information to genes as big data

“…Further, 23andMe envisioned genetic data as part of a broader discourse on digital health or Quantified Self (Ruckenstein & Pantzar, 2015), whereby individuals continuously collect, store and analyse a variety of data on themselves, as explained by Wojcicki:…”

“…It has been noted that scientists use metaphors to popularise their findings (Nelkin, 1994) but, as pointed out by Lakoff and Johnson (Lakoff & Johnson, 2008), metaphors are not innocent but typically legitimate specific agendas, such as bids for funding scientific projects, such as the Human Genome Project (Nerlich & Hellsten, 2004), or the creation of markets, such as the creation of data-driven markets for health (Ruckenstein & Pantzar, 2015). …”

Visions of Illness, Disease, and Sickness in Mobile Health Applications

“…Furthermore, such accounts may support technological and social divides, thus promoting specific political agendas that are increasingly persuading patients into tracking and monitoring the body [13,14]. According to Hofmann [4], digital health technology alters the responsibility of humans and institutions.…”

“…Much like the medical instruments, self-tracking and self-measurement technologies are perceived as offering insights that are objective and factual, rather than embodied and situated [13,15]. Perhaps this reflects the dominant understanding of science among the general population in Western societies, which is based on "disembodied scientific objectivity", which Donna Haraway describes as "visions from nowhere" [21].…”