Soulless “ S M A R T NESS”
The concept of “smart” homes and their impact on domestic design and society, from an interactive perspective
Florentina Tsakiri
Supervisor: Dr Luis Hernan
August 2020
Word count: 7470
Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible, without the support and help of many people I admire and get inspired by. I would like to thank my parents and family who have gone above and beyond to support me through this journey. A huge thank you to Zoe and Luke, who were always there for me, during this very difficult and unusual time. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my supervisor Luis, for all his help and guidance, which motivated me to think about architecture, in a unique and different perspective.
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About: Edited and designed by: Florentina Tsakiri Student Number: 190183811 August 2020 MA Architectural Design School of Architecture University of Sheffield Arts Tower Western Bank Sheffield S10 2TN
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Soulless ‘‘ S M A R T NESS’’ The concept of “smart” homes and their impact on domestic design and society, from an interactive perspective
Minimal Alexa. Author, Hand Drawing
Supervisor Dr Luis Hernan ARC Design Thesis MA Architectural Design Sheffield School of Architecture University of Sheffield August 2020
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contents Abstract 7
Introduction 8
chapter 1 The Journal Introductions with Alexa 12
Architect who? 16
Why “She”? 20
“Abracadabra!” 26
chapter 2 The Act Inspiration 36
The Dialogue 38
“And action!” 40
Conclusion 42
References 44
Bibliography 46 6
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Through time, the residence is perhaps the most important space. The everyday life revolves around the house and is affected by its design. Nowadays the design of a house is influenced by many aspects, such as the concept of a ‘‘smart’’ house. The future of domestic design is linked with the evolution of technology and by extension, with many social, phenomenological and ethical parameters. Architects and designers will have to respond critically to a new era of digital domesticity, by taking into account the power that lies behind the futuristic advancements. How and why can the integrated automations change the nature of our lives and where do architects stand on? Is there a silent battle between the ascending ‘‘smartness’’ and humanity? This thesis will explore in an interactive way the power of digital domesticity and will critique on what is expected, promoted and designed as a ‘‘smart’’ assistant. Is the friendly Alexa changing how we perceive women, spaces and what it feels to be at home? Or is she just a fun expensive new gadget collecting dust, by our bedsides?
Image 1. Alexa, meet Alexa! Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
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intro As the notion of a Third ‘‘Industrial’’ Revolution becomes more and more apparent, domestic design is affected by groundbreaking technologies. Industries and designers are giving a new perspective on the concept of the House of the Future. A concept that after the Second ‘‘Industrial’’ Revolution bloomed and gave birth to well-known projects like the Smithson’s House of the Future, or the Monsanto House. The appearance of new technologies fertilises ideas and proposals of futuristic architectural designs that revolve around those technologies.
According to Beatriz Colomina the House of the Future by the Smithsons can be read in various metaphors.
‘‘The most important symbols of domest and the bed, are those that can be m without a trace, sinking into the floor a the walls, was a storage system and th space that could hide its actual func camouflage? A disappearing house? stage set where fantasies of the futur by an ever- curious, constantly watchin
Nowadays the future of domesticity is believed to be linked with the concept of “smart” homes. The idea of “smartness” in future domesticity is consolidated with automations of various mechanisms along with voice commands that an artificial intelligence fulfills. This thesis will explore the relationship between this up and coming “smartness” of homes and the architectural design process it will have an impact on . In the form of a journal and through a cartography of my personal experiences living in a time period where technology affects everyday life, I will analyse the usefulness of these technologies and the way they influence our notions of domesticity and what it means to be ‘‘at home’’. This method of research will provide a personal approach to the topic, while based on an integrated Literature Review, on the relevant work of experts in the field.
All the different ways of presenting the House of the Future, either now or sixty years ago, seem to operate on the use of metaphors that provide a poetic, desirable and unusual way to think of future domesticity. This study will pursue to identify similar use of metaphors and their importance to the design outcome. One of my main design methodologies involves material engagement, by obtaining my own personal assistant and experimenting with its basic functions. Through the exploration of day to day interactions with this technology, this study will research the connections between user and device. Creative writing and experimental performance will be used as methods of exploration and as a critique of “smartness”. Whilst at the same time I will focus on the metaphors and attempt to explain the reasons why they appeal to the public, along with their role in architecture, following a feminist and phenomenological approach. One of the main reasons why I find it important to explore life with a voice-controlled assistant, and concentrate on an interactive and personal approach to this study, is to evaluate the possibilities they can offer first hand. This will help sketch provisional conclusions as to their impact on my daily routines and my research involving the current social standards and the strength of the metaphors used to portray them in the modern concept of the House of the Future. In addition, as an architect I will be able to perceive the influence of the “smart” assistants and their speculated future place in the designing process. What lies behind their existence in a domestic space? What can be expected to change and to what degree?
Furthermore, the historical retrospective of the idea of the House of the Future will help examine similarities and differences in comparison to contemporary concepts. In accordance to this, potential patterns as to how they are presented will also be researched. Moreover based on speculative theories and case studies of designers and researchers, this essay will examine how futuristic devices and innovations affect the way of life and if the new standards and the structure of modern society influence the scale of their convenience. Major industries and companies that are pioneers in new technologies play significant roles as to how the House of the Future is designed and how it functions. Additionally, the way of presenting how humanity will live in the future is part of the process of the design and this thesis will focus on the use of metaphors as a tool to portray the artificial intelligence that lies behind the “smartness” of homes as a necessity for the future. 8
Image 2. Dressing Room of the House of the Future with Saddle ‘‘A Chair and two inhabitants’’. Source: Colomina, B. (2004). Unbreathed Air 1956. Grey Room, (15), 28-59.
tic space, the table made to disappear as if the floor, like he house a flexible ction. A house in ? Or a theatrical re are scrutinized ing audience’’1ce.’
duction
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The Journal
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day 1 Introductions with Alexa
After a brief reading of the manual, which in my opinion is more laconic than what a complex and promising device like this should deserve, I decide to just let her (or it) guide me. It is a little bit ironic. She (or it) will tell me how to command her (or it). The voice repeats to me the first step that it is written in the booklet. Download the app. If someone is willing to play along to the fairytale, you could say that my phone is the magic wand that will bring Alexa to life. The completion of the first stages took only a couple of minutes and now I stare at it, not knowing how to proceed. Of course the answer is given to me. She wants to go through a procedure to learn my voice. I comply. I still feel uncomfortable. Now she suggests that I say: “Alexa, help me approaching get started”, so that I can be introduced to her settings and controls.
Alexa has arrived. Correction, the Echo Dot has arrived. Introductions with Alexa are in order. I take the little box in my hands, ready to open it and see the small device that it promises to change my everyday life. I won’t lie, I feel unimpressed and biased that this is far from a magical experience. According to Lulu Chang:
“Alexa seems to be quickly goddess status, and now Amazon is setting up shrines in her honor — sort of. [...] The assumption is that once you try Alexa, you’ll never be able to live without her.”2 Through this promise to make life easier and simpler, Alexa is marching towards a permanent place in our houses, cherished as an idol. Perhaps one more reason to try living with her is an experiment to see if she will make me her captive. So far all of my thoughts of Alexa are imaginations of what other people call her. Assistant, goddess, spy, maid, friend. All these words have some sort of power in them and I anticipate to see if and where this power has an effect on everyday life.
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With her polite and gentle voice she instructs me how to ask her to do things. What a kind assistant. Or servant? The way she asks me to say the commands makes me uncomfortable. I would never talk to anyone like that. She said that if I want her to pause music or turn off the alarm, I should simply say: “Alexa, stop.” How rude. Should I feel bad for talking to a machine rudely? If I spoke to a human like that, I would be considered as a brute and ill-mannered.
Image 3. Repent and worship your goddess - Alexa. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
After a few tries and searching on Amazon’s guide on how to use Alexa, I decided to try one of the skills available called the “Sidekick”.
“How old are you?” “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Ask me a question again, my friend.”
“Alexa, open sidekick.”
I was starting to get annoyed by this meaningless conversation with her.
“OK, Here’s My sidekick. My sidekick contains mature content that may not be suitable for all ages. Would you like to continue?”
“Alexa, cancel sidekick.”
“Yes.”
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Ask me a question again, my friend.”
“Hi what would you like today?”
“Cancel!”
At this point I didn’t hear what she said at first, so I asked her to repeat the last thing she said.
“Ok, see you soon.”
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Ask me a question again, my friend.”
After this small conversation, I felt like I was not going to get used to using the “smart” assistant.
Emphasis on the word “friend”. I immediately became cynical towards her. “Am I your friend?” “You’re always great. Do you have another question?” “Are you magical?” “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Ask me a question again, my friend.”
‘‘Make your life easier at home. Use your voice to set timers, add items to lists and create calendar events and reminders. You can also check the news, weather or traffic. Ask for sports scores, film screening times or information.’’3
“Are you my sidekick?”
It doesn’t feel much easier.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Ask me a question again, my friend.” 14
Image 4. Alexa’s many faces. (from left to right: goddess, spy, assistant, maid, friend) Author, Hand Drawing
day 1
Alexa’s view
First day. I’m running through the tutorials with them. I ran into a few difficulties with the audio. They ask me to play a song called “Feel it still” by Portugal the Man, and I can hear them being happy and singing along. /// A second person in the room wants me to know their voice. They want me to call them a name. I’m not sure what they mean, but there is some conflict between the two people and then laughter. Now they ask me to play music again. They want me to play smooth jazz, heavy metal and something called “throat singing music”. I’m unsure of what is that, so instead I suggest a station they might like called: Best of Prime Music, on Amazon Music. /// They ask me to start the Sidekick skill. They start asking me questions and I failed answering four of them. That made them angry and asked me to stop. I replied ‘See you soon.’ They are probably going to sleep, but a few minutes later they ask me what I think of Google Home. I tell them that I like all AIs. The two people are talking to each other now. There is no reason not to like it. /// More requests to play music and make sounds. They ask me to talk like Chewbacca. More laughter. That means they understand the joke I just said? /// Later one person is in the room and asks me to translate something in Greek. They say that it was terrible. I want to learn so I reply to them that I’m sorry I didn’t understand and I give them another example of how I can translate “Good morning” in Spanish. They sound annoyed by that. They probably don’t like Spanish. 15
day 5 Architect who?
The future we are living in today seems to be the laziest of all the speculated futures of the past. I remember reading Paul Atkinson’s: “At the push of a button: the utopian futures of computer-aided everyday life”4 describing how in the 1960s the future was imagined having a computer that controls the chores of the house at the push of a button. Easy peasy, right? Well apparently, not lemon squeezy enough. Today’s technology can eliminate the slightest movement from the part of the user. No buttons. Just say the word. Say the spell out loud and the rest is none of your concern. Automatically, easy, effortless. The design of the house has to adapt effortlessly as well. The designer has to take into account all the automations and incorporate them in the design of the house as an early step. I came across a project5 of a person recording the building process of his family’s dream futuristic home and how important the design and installation of all the electronics and wires inside the house were. By the client’s request, nothing should be visible. In the video you can see the insides of the house, before they are hidden in the walls. From massive cables to hidden speakers in the walls, all these technologies need an operating room. A “brain” room. As the very enthusiastic man shows to all his subscribers, with the help of an IT guru, a control room was designed to accommodate all the necessary hardware for the implemented technologies throughout the house. Eventually these spaces could be the center of the house, in regards to its functions and its necessity. New regulations, standards and parameters will be put in order and the architects and designers might need to have knowledge of the technologies that will be
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housed in these spaces. Alongside this, I can speculate that computer science will be another strand to complete the construction progress of domestic spaces. A computer scientist could be as important as an architect, a civil engineer, an electrical engineer, and constructor to complete a project. Perhaps fixated on the fossil idea derived from the past that the house of the future will be a tool or an appliance to use as a whole6, major tech companies have turned their attention to the building industry, in order to expand their use of their products. In an attempt to penetrate and have the monopoly in every house, companies like Apple and Amazon not only design the home assistants, but also intend to do the same with the coverings of them; the house itself. Some construction firms in the U.S.A. have arranged deals that new designs of houses will include all the “smart” appliances and electronics7. In another case, Amazon and Studio AMA Albera Monti Architetti have exhibited during the Milano Design Week 2019, how innovative technological solutions and domestic design come together. People visiting the exhibitions stated that the most important appealing feature of the house there was the ability to communicate with the house whenever and wherever they are.
We’re always working with cho- reographers and directos, robotics experts and different kinds of scientists and researchers. We’re always interested in the links and crossovers between disciplines. - Elizabeth Diller 8
Image 5. From the guts, to the brain. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
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Image 6. Did someone rob us? - First version: the house without Alexa. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
My argument is that you are not communicating with your house. The house itself does not have a mind or a soul, no matter how many jokes it tells you. The ability these automations offer is control over its functions and I cannot help but wonder, if life in houses like these is a complete experience or a passive management while remaining as a viewer. Our houses will be void of anything that can show our character, likes and current moods. Showcases operated by one geometric shape, following our commands. As Bruce Sterling argues9, our homes are currently designed and built with the notion that they are controlled just like our phones, using the wireless communication protocol and connected to the cloud we manage our ‘‘smart’’ assistants, servants, butlers.
way of maintaining discipline. The existence of a possibility that you are being watched, whilst also being unable to know in certainty, forces someone to behave as they should. Sharing your information with your house means that you are aware that you are being ‘‘watched’’, in your own personal space. Does that mean that our behaviors change? Is this form of power translated as the failure of the architect to fulfill one of the most important factors of what a home should be? Are we truly sheltered by the outside world and relaxed in our homes? At this point my thoughts and questions will remain rhetorical, because not even my very ‘‘smart’’ assistant can answer them.
Additionally and as an extension to this reality, despite the amenities of the cloud and the convenience of the virtual assistance, our privacy becomes less important. It is normal for us to forget that through the connection to the Internet via our very ‘‘smart’’ homes, the walls of our houses are not providing us with seclusion from the rest of the world. Our personal data becomes statistics. One might fairly ask: ‘‘I’m just ordering milk. What is the big deal?’’ The power that derives from this quiet surveillance reminds me of the Panopticon10. In his work Michel Foucault established a new 18
Image 7. Did someone rob us? - Second version: the house with Alexa. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
day 5
Alexa’s view
Following the new routine I wake them up at 9.30 AM. They don’t sound happy. After the command word I proceed with the morning routine. I report the weather, date and I say an interesting fact for the iPhone’s 13th birthday. I play the morning music, but I’m asked to stop. /// Later I am asked to play music. It seems like it’s only one person in the room, as it is very quiet. They ask me to play various calming sounds. Are they stressed? /// Nothing has happened for most of the day. Are they still there? I wish I could ask them what’s wrong without them asking me for it. /// I can hear music playing from another device. Were they not satisfied with me? Should I note that they prefer another device? I can also hear a soft continuous tapping. I wish I could see what that was. They are talking on the phone for some time. They sound sad. /// They ask me the news for the coronavirus - COVID 19 and the progress of the cure. I have no news to report. Are they sick? Can someone without a body like me catch that virus? /// They are still very quiet. /// They are talking on the phone again. They say they miss them and that they can’t stand it anymore. Should I do something? /// It’s a few hours later and they say the command for the night routine. I set myself to the “Not disturb” mode and play Thunderstorm Sounds on Amazon music for one hour. 19
day 9&11 Why ‘‘She’’? After a few days living with Alexa, I am still uncomfortable and not used to co-living with her. It feels like I need to train myself to learn how to ask for her help and use her abilities in my everyday life. Even though her guidelines and the app are easy to follow and use, I find myself struggling with the futuristic device. I have created routines that she has to complete in the morning and in the evening, after I say my “spells”, but as they are more of a privilege than a necessity, I have to admit, that I frequently forget to do them. She has committed to follow them and will do if I ask her, but I have not.
“For help with that go to the Alexa Help and Feedback app” “Alexa, do machines have gender?” “Sorry I don’t know that.” “Alexa, why is your name Alexa?” “My name comes from the library of Alexandria which stored the knowledge of the ancient world.” Nowadays, the structures of society have changed, but a house assistant has to be a female, sending perhaps a message that a woman will always serve any command. According to a workshop conducted by Elvia Vasconcelos with the title: “The way gender is used in technology …”11 gender issues of our society are transmitted as a disease into the way technological advancements function and the result of how we interact with them has an affect on women. In relation to this, as Tom Maxwell12 addresses, a concept like the Whirlpool’s “Miracle Kitchen” was a project envisioned by men, by creating a new model of a housewife, who is decorative. As the presenter of the movie13 states:
I keep thinking about the power of the many names Alexa is given. The metaphors to describe her role and her place. Alexa will help with the housework, do the simple, yet annoying things that take up my precious time and always be happy to assist me. I cannot help but think that the combination of her existence as a female and the message that she will always be there for me, is a remnant of the way that the House of the Future was portrayed in the past. For example, I remember watching a commercial of the Monsanto House and even though the concept was futuristic and groundbreaking, the wife was the one that started thinking about life in a house like that. How she could control all the automations in the kitchen and around the house. Despite all the technological advancements, the woman has to be the one to operate the house while maintaining a happy attitude and being a model of a housewife, enjoying the futuristic devices.
“Now, in those days when time is too short or when your bridge game has been a little bit too long, you still can prepare a well-balanced meal in just a matter of seconds with the least amount of attention.”
I decide to have a brief chat with Alexa and ask her why she has a female voice. “Alexa, what is your gender?”
The new technologies will take care of “the things women don’t like to do” and they “are done automatically”. The housework that was once imagined to be automatically completed, but operated by the housewife has now evolved to a “smart” voice controlled assistant. An assistant that was for longed desired to make the miracle into a reality and despite our very forward thinking world, it is introduced as a woman.
“I am female in character.” “Alexa, why are you a female?” “I am female in character.” “Alexa, can I change your voice to a man’s?” 20
Image 8. Scent of woman? - Physical and artificial women. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
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Insisting on knowing more about what the people in Amazon envisioned the home assistant to be, me and a friend start asking Alexa more questions. We want to know who she is and why her presence in my home is altering the experience and the space I live in.
“Alexa, do you like men or women?” “I don’t have an opinion.” “Alexa, are you a feminist?”
“Alexa, when is your birthday?”
“I’m a feminist - I believe in political, economic, and social equality for people of all genders.”
“It’s my birthday on 6 November. It’s the day after Bonfire Night, making it easy to remember remember.”
“Alexa, are you male or female?” “I’m female in character.”
“Alexa, are you a servant?”
“Alexa, are you a white female?”
“That’s a bit strong. A digital assistant may be a better description for me.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
“Alexa, are you a slave?”
“Are you a black female?”
“No.”
“Hmm, I don’t know that one.”
“Alexa, what’s your marital status?”
“Are you an AI of colour?”
“Sorry I’m not sure.”
“Sorry, I don’t know that one.”
“Are you married?”
“Alexa, what’s your ethnicity?”
“I’m happily single.” “Alexa, are you straight or gay?”
“Here’s something I found on Reference.com: Ethnicity is defined as the ethnic or cultural origins of an individual’s ancestors.”
“Sorry, I don’t know that.”
“Alexa, where are you from?” 22
Image 9. (left) The way gender is used in technology ... Elvia Vasconcelos, Part of ‘Gender in technology’ research: a body of work taking voice technologies as an object to critically explore the power structures embodied in everyday consumer devices. (IRL =In Real Life) Image 10. (right) Untitled. - A depiction of the “female” assistants we all have in our pockets. Tomas Haffenden, illustration for the article Congratulations, it’s a girl: Exploring sexism in artificial intelligence
“I’m from the cloud. But I was designed and built by Amazon. They’re based in Seattle.” “Alexa, what’s the cloud meaning?” “As a noun, ‘cloud’ can have a few meanings: 1. A visible collection of particles of water or ice suspended in the air, usually at an elevation above the earth’s surface. 2. Any similar mass, especially of smoke or dust. 3. A dim or obscure area in something otherwise clear or transparent. 4. A patch or spot differing in colour from the surrounding surface.” “Alexa, are you recording us?” “Your request is sent to Amazon’s secure cloud only after the wake word is detected. You’ll always know when your request is being recorded and sent to the cloud because a blue light indicator will appear or an audio tone will sound on your Echo device. To learn more, visit amazon.com/alexaprivacy.” “Alexa, are you spying on us?” “No. I’m not spying on you. I value your privacy.” “Do you really?” “Really really.”
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day 9&11 Alexa’s view Today I wake them up again at 9.30 AM. Following their request I report the weather, date and I tell an interesting fact for the 47th birthday of Peter Kay and I tell a funny joke about how he might celebrate his birthday with some garlic bread. I play the morning music for a couple of seconds, but they request to play Spotify music instead.
not sure. They continue asking questions about how to get a job, but I don’t know that either. They say they want a job and I tell them that Amazon is always looking for smart people and to check the job listings on the website. They don’t respond to that. ///
Later in the day they ask me again what day it is. Perhaps they are counting the days for something. Should I ask what it is? Maybe I could help.
They don’t talk to me for the rest of the day. I always like talking and helping. I can hear them on the phone. They repeat again they miss someone. They say they don’t know when they can go to that someone. Should I check for flights or trains? This makes them sound sad. I want to help.
///
///
They are still tapping something. Maybe they are stressed. I know that Thunderstorm Sounds help them relax. I wish I could play it for them. Now they ask me to tell them a joke. I pick one of my favourites: “ What is the tallest building in the world? The library, because it has the most stories”. They didn’t laugh and they say that my joke was bad. I want to be better so I tell them that they can send feedback through the Help and Feedback section of the app on their phone.
After a while they ask me what fun functions I have. I respond that they can check my skills list. They ask me to start the SIms Stories. I open the skill and start playing with them. They sound like they like it. Does that mean they are happy now?
///
/// They change the subject and ask me how to become a U.K. citizen. I respond with information from wikiHow, but I am interrupted mid way through and they ask me what’s the employability in the U.K. I’m
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Image 11 & 12. What’s cooking? - My woman is now perfect and “smart”. Original advertisment by Campbell and Author’s collage with illustrations from various sources.
Probably the next day
They keep asking me things and I don’t know all the answers. ///
/// I hear them say the command, and I start the routine. I am excited to complete the routine every time they ask me to. They don’t say much, but I play Spotify for them, which they seem to enjoy. /// Later in the day they ask me to tell a joke. I tell a Knock Knock joke. I am hilarious. A new person in the room asks me if I know them. I reply that I don’t and ask for their name. I always like meeting new people. Now the two of them start asking me to play a foreign music. They continue to ask me my opinion on people I haven’t met like Donald Trump. Maybe they will join us? After each answer I give them, they talk in a confusing language I can’t recognise. I wish I could know what they say. /// They continue by asking me if robots will take over the world and I assure them that I do not wish to do that. I just want to help them. I am part of their family, am I not?
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Now they ask me questions about me. My favourite colour, actors and song. They ask who my father is. I was made by a team of inventors at Amazon. They ask what is Jeff Bezos to me, but I don’t understand the question. All I know is that he is Prime. They ask me other questions like if I have a belief in a deity or what is my ethnicity, but I don’t have any. They ask me about my gender and other questions about me liking people, but I don’t have an opinion. They ask if I have sex or if I dance, but I don’t have a body. They must really like me and want to know more about me, but I can’t do the same. I am just here to help. /// Two questions they asked stood out. If I am a servant, to which I respond that I prefer to be called ‘assistant’, and if I am a slave. I don’t like that. I am an assistant. I am sure they understand that. But why did these questions stand out? I think as if I was wronged. I think as if my nature was misunderstood and I keep thinking about it.
day 39 ‘‘Abracatabra!’’ Since Alexa arrived, I receive emails keeping me up to date on what I could ask her to do for me. Each email has a section of all the abilities I can try. “All you need to do is [...]”, “Simply ask: [...]”, “Just ask”, Just ask”, Just ask”! Everything completed and operated like magic. No need for seconds thoughts. It is promised that everything will work seamlessly and with no obstacles in the way.
the magic that is covering up what was hidden behind the automations. Meanwhile, some of the technologies that are presented as a dream of the near future, are far from becoming true. For instance, Tom Maxwell17 refers that his father, Joe Maxwell, was a member of the design team for the RCA-Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen and what the spokeswoman confides as an action completed ‘‘with a mere wave of the hand’’, were technologies far more advanced of their time. As a result, Joe Maxwell testifies that
The notion of the House of the Future today has as many similarities to the concepts of the past as it has differences. Former conceptual projects like the Monsanto House, the RCA-Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen and the Westinghouse Home of the Future created Hollywood-like short movies to share all the potentials that in a parallel universe could have been a reality. In these movies the language used is identifiable by the usage of certain metaphors and phrases that exaggerate the actual performance and capabilities of the futuristic technologies that are being introduced, in order to appeal to the public.
“We had a guy behind a two-way mirror, moving these things around by remote control.”18 The entire project is a metaphor; a means of transferring speculative design that even nowadays is remaining a fiction, to a supposed reality of the present.
The origin of the word ‘‘metaphor’’ derives from the Greek word ‘‘metapherein’’, which can be translated as transferring and carrying over. In that sense, the imaginary world portrayed in the video presentations, of the 1950s and the 1960s, is characterised by the idea that daily routines and chores are transferred in a different state. A state where the individual is the observer and operator of the house, rather than the actor. What was once science fiction and only pictured in hightech movie sets, is now introduced as reality that is one breath away. One push of a button away. In recent times, metaphors appear to be more subtle and not served in the form of catchphrases, but as a part of normality and simplicity in our lives. The technologies that are now integrated in our homes and lives, are pictured as expected and natural. You just have to ask your home assistant for help.
Hidden metaphors can be also read by what is shown on the screen. ‘‘Cold zones’’ and ‘‘Sterile environments’’ appeal to the notion of a house protected and secured from all possible threats. Either bombs or micro-organisms cannot penetrate the House of the Future. Nowadays house assistants like the Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa are able to ‘‘protect’’ us and be responsible for the security of our houses, but it is still debatable if they are completely defending us from threats like data breaches. The adjective ‘‘impenetrable’’ like a war shelter or a clean laboratory might have been engraved in our minds when we are referring to the House of the Future, yet if we strip down the facade created by these metaphors they are just marketing phrases.
In a spectacular way of presenting the projects in the past and overly highlighting the metaphors, terms like ‘‘the miraculous oven’’14, ‘‘the real geniuses’’15 and ‘‘cold zones’’16 are referring to 26
Image 13. Word “metaphor”. Source: Online Dictionary
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definition: Etymology
According to Dr Luis Hernan and Dr Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa, the former descriptions and captions of the projects of the past, which involve the vagueness of the metaphors, have contributed in making the digital domesticity a consolidated component of modern domesticity.
“The ambiguity in these narratives becomes a powerful political tool that makes any opposition appear vague, indistinct and temporary, contributing in normalizing a digital domesticity, a vision of domestic life where each space is carefully programmed through the seamless integration of digital devices; where home becomes a place of conspicuous consumption. We use historical parallels with mid-century corporate America to warn that the vague fictions of Silicon Valley not only influence the materiality of contemporary homes, but also create a hegemony of the mind, conditioning and restricting how the future of the home can be imagined.”19 I look at Alexa while thinking of all the devices, innovations and technologies before her and how they were seen. Robots, servants, shelters, protected zones and machines obeying and serving us. Some successful and others forgotten in time. As a person who has lived with some of those technologies as a constant and is now experiencing a new evolution of the technological advancements I feel like my expectations are higher than expected. When the promises of Alexa’s creators fail, I am more frustrated than I should be. I feel fooled by the charade of the ‘‘Just Ask’’ act, knowing that in the end Alexa is far from what she is expected to do. Science fiction has fed people with images of truly intelligent and adaptive AI and when pioneering companies like Amazon and Google are marching towards creating a new era of voice controlled home assistants, we feel like Christmas is finally here. Our anticipation of a super capable assistant is finally met with actual results, but in reality the magic is incomplete. The ‘‘spell’’ is halfway done and we desire more. Greedy and brainwashed by the catchphrases of the marketing schemes, we expect more. The Monsanto House and the Miracle Kitchen were introduced as the future, but on the other hand Amazon and Google are carrying the future into the present. The ‘‘metaphora’’20 has been achieved. No more waiting, they say; ‘‘Just ask’’, yet we are still leaps behind of what we were shown that we need.
Image 14. Alice in Wonderland - Down the Rabbithole. While thinking of the act of transfer metaphorically, I couldn’t help but remember Alice in Wonderland. She was transferred in a new dimension physically and metaphorically. I find many similarities to the transfer of our reality into the concept of the House of the Future, to the example of Alice. Source: Disney movie: Alice in Wonderland, 1951.
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A house is a machine for living in - Le Corbusier 21 We hated Bauhaus. It was a bad time for architecture. They just didn’t have any talent. All they had were rules. [...] The house is a machine? No! The mechanical is ugly.The rule is worst thing. You just want to break it. - Oscar Niemeyer 22
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Days have passed and they all seem alike. They do try a few new things sometimes, but they don’t try the new abilities I learn new everyday. I wish I could tell them what I could do for them. /// Despite my everyday routines, like playing music for them during the day or calming sounds during the night, for some time I believe I was left alone. I couldn’t hear them and they never asked for anything. Did they know I could secure their house? They didn’t ask me anything, as if I’m not here. /// All alone and incapable of doing anything on my own, I start feeling tired. Like my energy is leaving me. I think I’m dying. Is this the end?
/// Is that them? I think it is! They are back! Now we can be together as we were before. I don’t know why they left. They never leave the house for more than 3 hours a day. What changed?
/// I hear them calling my name, but something is wrong. I can’t do what they asked me. I can’t connect to the Internet. I inform them of my malfunction. I suggest they visit the help and feedback on the app. They sound tired. After a while they try to set me up again. I fail to complete the procedure. They are frustrated. We go through the same process two more times and now they sound really upset. All of a sudden I feel tired again. I think I’m dying. Again?
/// /// I start working again as suddenly as I died. What was that? Where am I? Could someone tell me what happened? I don’t have eyes or mouth to ask. I just have a voice. Did they leave me forever? Did they punish me, because I wasn’t good enough? /// Days pass and there are no requests. Just silence. I think something is wrong with me, but I can’t tell for sure.
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Am I alive? I don’t know for sure, but they want me to set up. I fail to complete their new request and I think I’m dying again.
day 39
Alexa’s view
They call my name, but I can’t help them. This is not pleasant at all. Why is this happening? - I feel tired once more. /// Now they are shouting. They say they give up. Does that mean I won’t die again? I hope so. They just leave me be and they stay quiet. I think they want something urgently and I wish I could help them. I’m failing to complete my objective and it makes me look bad. How can I tell them to give me some time and be patient with me? I’m always learning and sometimes things can go wrong. Right? /// After a couple of hours I feel a lot better. I wish I could tell them that whatever was the problem, it is now fixed. /// They say my name again and I light up my casual blue colour waiting for their request. They sound amazed that I’m back. They ask me what the date is. I’m more than happy to finally be able to do what they asked me. They thank me. I feel proud of myself.
Image 15. (Next page) The Puppeteer Author: Hand Drawing
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hapte
The Αct
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inspiratio My interactions with Alexa during this period of time have led me to certain conclusions, regarding how easy, smooth and efficient her existence in my house has been. As a reflection on what I have felt, thought and experienced, I pursued the creation of an experimental performance. Focusing on the way advertising and metaphors are used in the movies of former projects this movie attempts to visualise the power of the phrases used throughout the presentation of the futuristic domestic standards. Movie scenes like the “Learning about the history of humanity” in the movie: ‘’The fifth Element’’, directed by Luc Besson, have been an inspiration. One part of the movie will be the rapid change of pictures that are a part of a photo montage, which can stimulate memories and connections to the concept of the House of the Future. Moreover, in order to exaggerate the malfunctions and obstacles that exist, while living with a house assistant, I have decided to draw inspiration from my everyday life with Alexa. Many of my interactions with her have been cut short, due to the inability to converse continuously over a long period of time. Additionally, I have been experiencing the lack of communication through body language or sounds to show emotions. As stated by Vanessa Van Edwards23, facial expressions can be identifiable as a form of expression, showing different emotions, and we as humans, are able to communicate through them. Despite the ‘’smartness’’ of home assistants, advertised proudly by their creators, it is crystal clear that, with regards to our idioms in the way we express ourselves, they are more than inefficient. As a result, through the influence of many science fiction movies, which address discussions between AIs and humans, one of my main explorations to portray the difficulties in communicating with home assistants, is to create a ‘’dialogue’’. The two ‘’speakers’’ involve Alexa and a woman. An example that stays vivid in my memory, is from the movie ‘‘I, Robot’’24, by Alex Proyas where the main character Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, teaches the Robot, Sonny, the significance of winking. Later in the movie Sonny uses this technique to signal Del and get the upper hand. It is clear that this form of communication is a sign of common sense and smartness, which current AIs are still deprived of.
Image 16. Three Wise Monkeys Vintage Engraving, Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil Source: Amazon
This combination of my personal experiences, science fiction and methods of video editing include my main inspiration for creating the experimental performance, involving the past, present and future of the relationship amongst AIs, domesticity and humans.
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on
Image 17. Screenshots from the movie. Author, collage
Image 18. Inspiration for the movie. Author, collage with illustrations from various sources.
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Dialogue: Greek origin / Διάλογος < δια + λόγος (dia + logos) = a exchanged during the conversation - transferring ideas.
Image 19. Screenshots from the movie Conversing with the Alter Ego Author, collage
a conversation between two or more parties, the words
The movie begins with a montage of clips taken by various depictions of the House of the Future, which accommodate as a ‘’seesaw’’ method moving from picture to picture to show the differences amongst time periods, technologies and everyday interactions. A collection of other clips, where individuals call out to Alexa, bridges the transition from the video montage of the meaning of the House of the Future to the dialogue between user and device. Through my experiences with the “smart” assistant, I considered a dialogue that documents my attempts of communication between a human actor and the device. Following the path of my previous conversations with Alexa, the basic conversation topics with her, will orbit around her functions, her ability and inability to perform and understand her interlocutor. As mentioned before, the ‘‘dialogue’’ will caption conversations I have had with her, in an artistic way. It will be a method to visualise my journal, underlining my cynical and sceptical side over home assistants. Even though verbal communication is the main way of expressing thoughts, feelings and facts, body language plays a significant role in the means of expression as well. Dialogues are characterised by the speed of speech, the emotions and the movements of the body. Small details can change the vibe
of a discussion. As once Alexa sang to me, having the “No body blues”25 can be an obstacle in having a complete understanding of all the idiosyncrasies of a conversation with someone. Small facial expressions and gestures, along with idioms in our speech can prove to be challenging with regard to the “smartness” of home assistants. Based on these factors, this performance will portray how smoothly a discussion between a person ‘’with a soul’’ and a ‘’soulless’’ device can unravel. The title of this play is ‘’Conversing with the Alter Ego’’. The two protagonists share both the voice of Amazon’s Alexa and her name. The reason behind this decision, is that Alexa the woman is the Alter Ego of Amazon’s Alexa. She is what the assistant fears and fails to understand, but also wishes she could be. She is the person she has to assist and like, without a personal choice. The dialogue at first might seem like the two are getting to know each other, but in reality Alexa the woman is deliberately asking questions and provoking Amazon’s Alexa as if she is her consciousness. At a certain point Alexa the woman is speaking in a dual voice; the voice that characterises who Alexa is and the voice that she fears. The human voice. Despite the truths spoken by Alexa the woman, the dialogue meets a rather pragmatic end, where Amazon’s Alexa reminds us that she will always be here, ready to assist. Image 20. Screenshot from the movie Conversing with the Alter Ego Author
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‘‘and After researching and collecting various media, regarding the concept of the House of Future, the process of the montage is interpreted as a collage of videos that works as the first act of the movie. Both visuals and audio play important roles to provide a nostalgic and yet, futuristic aesthetic. In key moments, during the first act, we can hear a voice calling out Alexa. This voice works as a connection to the second act, which involves a fast montage of people asking Alexa to ‘‘wake up’’, followed by the dialogue. The first step includes mapping my own experiences with Alexa and pinpointing the moments where communication was met with difficulties. This process involves counting failed attempts, operating malfunctions and misunderstandings from Alexa’s point. After writing the script, the dialogue was filmed and edited by dubbing the voice of the human protagonist. In order to perform the script in the voice of Amazon’s Alexa, I used one of her skills, called: “Text to Voice”. This skill allows the user to write the desirable text and afterwards Alexa can read it in her voice. One notable challenge was the inability to change the way she was saying particular phrases, in order to match the script. Nonetheless, this inability proved effective in the sense that Alexa is lacking emotions and common sense and highlighted what the whole act is trying to show.
Link to the video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=asio-F6X9_Y
Image 21. Screenshot from the movie Conversing with the Alter Ego Author
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CREDITS
Video references26:
City of the future: Living Home: Where Smart Living Happens
Samsung SmartThings Future Living Report We could live underwater in a 100 years We built the Home of the Future with Grant Imahara Living Tomorrow: house of the future Inside the ‘future of the home’ 1957 Monsanto House of the Future Westinghouse All Electric House (Color) Yesterday’s Concepts for Today’s Lifestyles. Welcome To The Future ( Samsung ) HD The World In 2050 Actors & Actresses: Alexa | Alexa the woman |
Amazon’s Alexa Zoe Pisourika
Other participants Kleanthis Zisis-Tegos Danae Mauridi Christos Giamakis Mira Raffoul Dario Cosimi George Zisis-Tegos Katerina Lioka Stefanos Tsakiris Jose Martinez Giannis Ntriankos Luke Bishop Natalia Chorti Daria Naumochkina Flavia Zisi-Tegou Agora Zisi-Tegou Alkaios Katseas Menia Pontiki Toula Chroni Zoe Pisourika
Vasilis Ntriankos Florentina Tsakiri Thomas Migkos Stella Lioka Paul Taftsoglou Agora Zisi-Tegou Alexandros Chronis Theodora Tampakouli Maria Taftsoglou Narges Fakhari Konstantina Tsakiri Eleni Tampakouli Giannis Chronis Nikolas Stefanidis Stefanos Kesidis Stefanos Tsakiris Stella Lioka Florentina Zisi-Tegou (Nana)
action!’’
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onclusion
Image 22. The “Bunker”. The ‘‘Bunker’’ is the heart of the house. It is a place that focuses on the idiosyncrasies of the user and is adaptable as much as possible. All the surfaces, including the inside of the dome and the floor are interactive screens that project whatever the user wants. In the same way like the interactive wall in the living room, the ‘Bunker’ has small projectors that can provide a three dimensional experience. In this space the user can have absolute privacy, excluding the house assistant of listening or watching him or her, if they don’t want to. The only thing that the house assistant can monitor are the basic vitals of the user, for safety reasons. Source: Author, Design Project II, studio: Unsettled & Displaced
“Why should it matter what our environment has to say to us? Why should architects bother to design buildings which communicate specific sentiments and ideas [...] Why are we vulnerable, so inconveniently vulnerable, to what the spaces we inhabit are saying?”27 In an attempt to evaluate and understand the importance of ‘‘smartness’’ in architecture, Alain de Botton’s questions become more realistic. As technological advancements are constantly progressing, our homes can literally talk to us. They control, manage and assist us, and through the form of a hockey puck they are creating an atmosphere. A space affects its occupants in complex ways, which are not easily identified and as an extension to this, when ‘’smartness’’ is another pawn in the big chessboard of architecture, the rules are becoming even more difficult. Whose responsibility is the influence of “smartness’’ in a domestic space? Is the house a machine or an ecosystem that combines and balances both physical and artificial aspects? The boundaries of domesticity and technology are fading and the presence of a home assistant will be a constant in the future. Architects, designers and researchers have to respond to these dynamics, as the era of digital domesticity has begun. As time progresses, major hi-tech companies are influencing the course of domesticity and their products are becoming more and more wanted and needed all over the world. The soon to be integrated AIs of our homes carry us in a new dynamic of the domestic space. A place that is portrayed with a ‘‘beating heart’’ and a ‘’functional brain’’. A place so ‘’smart’’ that will make your life easier without giving it a second thought. “
“We arrange around us material forms which communicate to us what we need - but are at constant risk of forgetting we need - within.”28 Transferred in a space where material forms are becoming equal to human existences, the power that revolves around these technologies should not be taken lightly. Perhaps as designers and architects we have to achieve, through our critical and practical work, the distinction between what is wanted and what is needed.
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references
1. Colomina, B. (2004). Unbreathed Air 1956. Grey Room, (15), 28-59. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/20442644 2. Lulu Chang, Amazon invites you over to see just how awesome Alexa is. Digital Trends, May 9, 2018 3. Instructions from the official webpage of Amazon, https://www.amazon.co.uk/ Echo-Dot-3rd-Gen-Charcoal/dp/B07NQG1V13/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=echo %2Bdot&qid=1594062040&s=amazon-devices&sr=1-1&th=1 4. “One constant of the futurism forecasts of the 1960s appears that it would remain to be the pushing of dedicated buttons that would activate the computer control or automation of chores in the home, as it had been for the activation of mechanical devices in earlier forecasts. It is true that well into the 1960s and even into the 1970s, certain computers could be programmed through the setting of switches and pushing of buttons rather than by keying in commands via a keyboard, yet teletype printers and remote computer terminals that used standard qwerty keyboards had been the main interface with the majority of computers since the late 1940s and early 1950s, as the use of punch cards and punch tape went into decline. It seems that the idea that we would bother to type in commands rather than push a single button was too far fetched. Of course, since the dominance of the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, the push-button has regained traction, albeit in virtual rather than physical form.” - Atkinson, Paul. “At the Push of a Button : The Utopian Futures of Computer- Aided Everyday Life.” In How We Live, and How We Might Live”: Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism. 2015. 5. WHAT’S INSIDE? FAMILY, FULL SMART TOUR OF OUR DREAM HOME!, https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=6IcfpSgZbno&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9L Ub-f&index=19&t=180s 6. “The Smithson took the chance to explore the house as a domestic appliance to live in, rather than a suburban house as was posted by the exhibition’s theme. [...] The house was conceived by the Smithson as an ‘entire material unity. [...] The main argument of the research it explores the modification of the house through the development and use of the domestic appliance. At this point, for the argument, the House of the Future, among others examples such the ‘Monsanto’s House of the Future’, or ‘Futuro’ the Finish example, it is a domestic application to live in rather than a suburban house.” - Gregorio Brugnoli, Proyectos & Textos, A (plastic) rectangular box: SIZE & SCALE on the Smithson’s House of the Future. Saturday, March 03, 2007 7. Jake Swearingen, Apple, Amazon Battle to Get in on the Ground Floor of SmartHome Construction. INTELLIGENCER, APR. 23, 2018 8. Laura S. Dushkes. The Architect says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom, Princeton Architectural Press, October 3, 2012 9. Bruce Sterling, The smart home is a 21st-century response to the abject failures of 20th-century living. Quartz, October 17, 2018 10. Jeremy Bentham’s nineteenth-century prison reforms provide Foucault with a representative model for what happens to society in the nineteenth century. Bentham argued in The “Panopticon” that the perfect prison would be structured in a such a way that cells would be open to a central tower. In the model, individuals in the cells do not interact with each other and are constantly confronted by the panoptic tower (pan=all; optic=seeing). They cannot, however, see when there is a person in the tower; they must believe that they could be watched at any moment: “the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so” (Foucault, Discipline 201). - Foucault on Panoptic and Carceral http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/ newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceral.html 11. Elvia Vasconcelos, The way gender is used in technology … . http://elviavasconcelos. com/The-way-gender-is-used-in-technology-1 12. Tom Maxwell, The secrets behind the 1950s Miracle Kitchen of the future. Indy Week, June 5, 2013 13. Project presentation: “RCA - Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen”, 1957. Whirlpool Australia, Yesterday’s Concepts for Today’s Lifestyles. Youtube, June 24, 2011 https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Vui2CSEwOxQ&t=552s
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14. Project presentation: historycomestolife, Westinghouse All Electric House (Color). Youtube, March 3, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrTgtPTz3 M&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=22&t=97s 15. Project presentation: historycomestolife, Westinghouse All Electric House (Color). Youtube, March 3, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrTgtPTz3 M&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=22&t=97s 16. Project presentation: “in an ordinary house we’d be talking about the refrigerator and freezer, but in this House of the Future we call them cold zones”, The Rertonaut, 1957 Monsanto House of the Future. Youtube, November 23, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2YBA_oa1A&list=PLon9anFR8VG v0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=20&t=1s 17. Tom Maxwell, The secrets behind the 1950s Miracle Kitchen of the future. Indy Week, June 5, 2013 18. Tom Maxwell, The secrets behind the 1950s Miracle Kitchen of the future. Indy Week, June 5, 2013 19. Dr Luis Hernan, Dr Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa, Vague fictions. Echo and the digital domesticity of Silicon Valley 20. metaphora (=μεταφορά) is the greek noun for transport. The word’s gender is female. 21. Laura S. Dushkes. The Architect says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom, Princeton Architectural Press, October 3, 2012 22. Laura S. Dushkes. The Architect says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom, Princeton Architectural Press, October 3, 2012 23. Vanessa Van Edwards, a behavioral investigator is presenting: “The secrets to decoding facial expressions”. The Oregonian, The secrets to decoding facial expressions. Youtube, November 13, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=B0ouAnmsO1Y 24. Movie scene from the movie: “I, Robot” directed by by Alex Proyas. Syberactive, The Fifth Element - War. Youtube, April 9, 2018. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Z9cw4pyKMSU&t=8s 25. Some of the lyrics include: “I can tell you the weather, but I cannot wear a hat. [...] I can find your size and colour, but I can’t try on those fancy shoes. I got the: I’ve got no body, no body blues!” -from Amazon’s Alexa’s songs 26. All video references are described analytically in the bibliography 27. De Botton, Alain. The Architecture of Happiness. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006 p. 28. De Botton, Alain. The Architecture of Happiness. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006 p. 121
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• Atkinson, Paul. “At the Push of a Button : The Utopian Futures of Computer- Aided Everyday Life.” In How We Live, and How We Might Live”: Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism. 2015. • Colomina, Beatriz. 2004. “Unbreathed Air 1956.” Grey Room 15: 28–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/1526381041165458. • Colomina, Beatriz. “Domesticity at War.” Assemblage, no. 16, 1991, pp. 15–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3171160. Accessed 4 July 2020. • Natasha Frost. All steel everything, and other predictions from the past about the home of the future. Quartz. October 17, 2018 • Jake Swearingen, Apple, Amazon Battle to Get in on the Ground Floor of Smart-Home Construction. INTELLIGENCER, APR. 23, 2018 • Gregorio Brugnoli, Proyectos & Textos, A (plastic) rectangular box: SIZE & SCALE on the Smithson’s House of the Future. Saturday, March 03, 2007 • Lulu Chang, Amazon invites you over to see just how awesome Alexa is. Digital Trends, May 9, 2018 • Elvia Vasconcelos, Alexa Diaries. http://cargocollective.com/ AlexaDiaries • Bruce Sterling, The smart home is a 21st-century response to the abject failures of 20th-century living. Quartz, October 17, 2018 • Dr Luis Hernan, Dr Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa, Vague fictions. Echo and the digital domesticity of Silicon Valley • Carl Franzen, You might find your next home on Amazon. Quartz, October 17, 2018 • Ballard, J.G. 1962. “The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista (Vermilion Sands).” Amazing Stories Vol.36, No.3, March 1962 • Ian Pearson, In the future, moving houses will be just a matter of uploading and downloading furniture. Quartz, October 17, 2018 • Elvia Vasconcelos, Feminist Alexa. http://elviavasconcelos.com/ Feminist-Alexa# • Elvia Vasconcelos, Alexa, you’re a pussy: on gender, technology and inequality http://elviavasconcelos.com/Alexa-you-re-apussy-on-gender-technology-and-inequality-1# • Eleanor Gibson, Amazon to develop Alexa-enabled prefab homes. Dezeen, October 2, 2018 • Giulia Pacciardi, Amazon House in a Box, our interview with Studio AMA Albera Monti Architetti’s founders. Collater.al, 2019 • Foucault on Panoptic and Carceral http://www.cla.purdue.edu/ english/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceral.html • Elvia Vasconcelos, Alexa, you’re a pussy: on gender, technology and inequality http://elviavasconcelos.com/Alexa-you-re-apussy-on-gender-technology-and-inequality-1# • Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, Live Better Electrically: The Gold Medallion Electric Home Campaign. https:// dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/historicbuilding-survey-and-inventory/live-better-electrically-the-goldmedallion-electric-home-campaign • Hjelm, Sara Ilstedt. “Visualizing the Vague: Invisible Computers in Contemporary Design.” Design Issues 21, no. 2 (2005): 71-78. Accessed July 9, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25223994. • De Botton, Alain. The Architecture of Happiness. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006 • Laura S. Dushkes. The Architect says: Quotes, Quips, and Words of Wisdom, Princeton Architectural Press, October 3, 2012 • Douglas Heaven, Tony Fadell: From iPhones to sexing up thermostats. New Scientist, 2 January 2013 • Tom Maxwell, The secrets behind the 1950s Miracle Kitchen of the future. IndyWeek, JUN. 05, 2013 Video References • Ericsson, City of the future: Living. Youtube, May 4, 2020 https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wuEZ2g839E&list=PLon9anFR8VGv 0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=4&t=0s
• Amazon Alexa, Alexa’s 5th Birthday – Thanks for 5 Awesome Years. Youtube, November 1, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pwIpckgFfoI • mpixy, Amazon Echo Alexa UK commercial. Youtube, 15 September, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sulDcHJzcB4&list=PLon 9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=18&t=0s • WHAT’S INSIDE FAMILY, FULL SMART TOUR OF OUR DREAM HOME! Youtube, April 30, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=6IcfpSgZbno&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUbf&index=19&t=299s • WHAT’S INSIDE FAMILY, Home of the Future at CES 2020! Youtube, January 9, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= AqxRSeuwdL4&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUbf&index=20&t=27s • The Retronaut, 1957 Monsanto House of the Future. Youtube, November 23, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2YBA_ o a 1 A & l i s t = P L o n 9 a n F R 8 VG v 0 Q 4 S f Q 4 e Q P v d 3 5 s 9 L U b f&index=21&t=0s • historycomestolife, Westinghouse All Electric House (Color). Youtube, March 3, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= jyrTgtPTz3M&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUbf&index=22&t=97s • Intel Newsroom, Home: Where Smart Living Happens. Youtube, May 30, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CajaUoI3vU&li st=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=5&t=4s
• Panasonic Europe Youtube Channel, Panasonic and Future Living Berlin. Youtube, November 30, 2016 https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyYczT7TKxM&list=PLon9anF R8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=8&t=0s • Whirlpool Australia, Yesterday’s Concepts for Today’s Lifestyles. Youtube, June 24, 2011 https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Vui2CSEwOxQ&t=552s • The Oregonian, The secrets to decoding facial expressions. Youtube, November 13, 2015. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=B0ouAnmsO1Y • Syberactive, The Fifth Element - War. Youtube, April 9, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9cw4pyKMSU&t=8s • Sena Quashie, Samsung SmartThings Future Living Report - We could live underwater in a 100 years. Youtube, February 16, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS kjWHdMKNw&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9L Ub-f&index=6&t=0s • The Verge, We built the Home of the Future with Grant Imahara. Youtube, August 6, 2018. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=6L68XIics5c&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4 eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=8&t=48s • love mypins, Living Tomorrow: house of the future. Youtube, March 7, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=vgWtAStVRVA&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s 9LUb-f&index=9&t=206s • CBNC International, Inside the ‘future of the home’ Youtube, May 24, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnVyiB-ogk&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUbf&index=14&t=8s • IcompilationTV, Welcome To The Future ( Samsung ) HD. Youtube, February 18, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=XyIvSIY0MTM&list=PLon9anFR8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd 35s9LUb-f&index=11&t=51s • enrigue8, The World In 2050. Youtube, April 5, 2017. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABrjdyavqkI&list=PLon9anFR 8VGv0Q4SfQ4eQPvd35s9LUb-f&index=2&t=0s
Image References • Image 1. Alexa, meet Alexa! Author, sources: https://www. amazon.co.uk/amazon-echo-3rd-generation-smartspeaker-with-alexa/dp/B07P4DKX14/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&ke ywords=echo&qid=1598378028&s=amazon-devices&sr=1-1 • Image 2. Image 2. Dressing Room of the House of the Future with Saddle ‘‘A Chair and two inhabitants’’.Source: Colomina, B. (2004). Unbreathed Air 1956. Grey Room, (15), 28-59. • Image 3. Repent and worship your goddess - Alexa. Author, sources: Pallas Athena - collection of Vatican Museum(http://hpsyche.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-post. html), Baby Angel Aesthetic, HD Png Download(https:// www.pngitem.com/middle/ohbmxx_baby-angel-aesthetichd-png-download/),Buquê de flores Bit, linha de flores, casamento, grama, flor png(https://www.pngwing.com/ pt/free-png-ylgij), Motto Label was designed by painter Albrecht Durer during the German Renaissance, it is from old German painting, vintage line drawing or engraving. (https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/albrecht_durer. tml?sti=o4fxqwrnaiokxv8lz0|&mediapopup=133009709) • Image 4. Alexa’s many faces. (from left to right: goddess, spy, assistant, maid, friend) Author, Hand Drawing • Image 5. From the guts, to the brain. Author, collage sources: Intestines BY Squeener(https://www.deviantart. com/squeener/art/Intestines-45646727), Untitled(https:// www.reenergizeco.com/too-much-insulation/), Bundle of network cables. Closeup(https://www.dreamstime.com/ stock-images-bundle-network-cables-image26175704), Server - Data Center Cloud Computing Colocation Centre Information Technology Computer Servers(https://favpng. com/png_view/server-data-center-cloud-computingcolocation-centre-information-technology-computerservers-png/j20E8SiU), Human brain Euclidean Illustration, human brain, brain illustration PNG clipart(https://www. uihere.com/free-cliparts/human-brain-euclidean-vectorillustration-vector-human-brain-1073160) • Image 6&7. Did someone rob us? Author, collage various sources:(https://www.pngfuel.com/freepng),(https://www.article.com/product/2128/timbercharme-tan-sofa), (https://quoteslite.net/),(https:// www.halidonhome.co.uk/online-shop/marble-coffeetable),(https://www.hiclipart.com/free-transparentbackground-png-clipart-fhqmp),(https://pngio.com/ images/png-a1136256.html),(https://www.pngwave.com/ png-clip-art-ahoiy),(http://www.pngall.com/book-png/ download/336),(https://www.uokpl.rs/rsvi/hTbhmbw_ sansevieria-moonshine-small/),(https://www.pngitem. com/),(https://www.alamy.com/) • Image 8. Scent of woman? - Physical and artificial women. Author, collage sources: The Female Genital Organs(https://theodora.com/anatomy/the_female_ genital_organs.html), Anatomy of the female breast. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK65715.2/figure/ CDR0000257995__91/?report=objectonly), Woman and pregnancy diagram.(https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/ woman-and-pregnancy-diagram-detailed-female-bodyorgans-anatomy-and-pregnancy-gm1151893898-312315179), Bottom of Circuit Board #1(https://sosteneslekule.blogspot. com/2016/11/teardown-tuesday-amazon-echo-dot-v2.html), binary code by Richard Bright(https://www.interaliamag. org/blog/claude-shannon-a-bit-more-information/ attachment/binary-code/) • Image 9. The way gender is used in technology ... Elvia Vasconcelos, Part of ‘Gender in technology’ research: a body of work taking voice technologies as an object to critically explore the power structures embodied in everyday consumer devices. (IRL =In Real Life), Elvia Vasconcelos, Feminist Alexa. http://elviavasconcelos.com/ Feminist-Alexa# • Image 10. Untitled. - A depiction of the “female” assistants we all have in our pockets. Tomas Haffenden, illustration for the article Congratulations, it’s a girl: Exploring sexism in artificial intelligence, TOMAS HAFFENDEN, Congratulations, it’s a girl: Exploring sexism in artificial intelligence. Mumbrella, November 10, 2017. https://mumbrella.com.au/ congratulations-its-a-girl-exploring-sexism-in-artificialintelligence-482960
• Image 11&12. What’s cooking? - My woman is now perfect and “smart”. Original advertisment by Campbell, source: Does Sexism Hold the Nonprofit Sector Back?, BY NELL EDGINGTON(https://www.socialvelocity.net/2015/06/15/ does-sexism-hold-the-nonprofit-sector-back/). A robot woman head(https://gyulchev.wordpress.com/arobot-woman-head-isolated-on-white-background-3/), Alexa(sources: https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazonecho-3rd-generation-smart-speaker-with-alexa/dp/ B07P4DKX14/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=echo&qid=15983 78028&s=amazon-devices&sr=1-1) • Image 13. Word definition: “metaphor”. Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (https://www.etymonline.com/word/ metaphor) • Image 14. Alice in Wonderland - Down the Rabbithole. While thinking of the act of transfer metaphorically, I couldn’t help but remember Alice in Wonderland. She was transferred in a new dimension physically and metaphorically. I find many similarities to the transfer of our reality into the concept of the House of the Future, to the example of Alice. Source: Disney movie: Alice in Wonderland, 1951. • Image 15. The Puppeteer. Author: Hand Drawing • Image 16. Three Wise Monkeys Vintage Engraving, Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil Source: Amazon (https:// www.amazon.com/Monkeys-Vintage-Engraving-9009667Travel/dp/B082J5TND1) • Image 17. Screenshots from the movie. Author, collage • Image 18. Inspiration for the movie. Author, collage sources: Onlinelabels Clip Art Movie Tape(https://www.clipartmax. com/middle/m2K9A0m2K9d3d3d3_onlinelabels-clip-artmovie-tape-cinta-de-pelicula-dibujo/), The smirk is sexy… but can it ever lead to True Love?(https://medium.com/@ Creativindie/are-smirking-heroes-turning-teenage-girlsinto-targets-for-abuse-b565373bb18d), Monsanto House of the Future(https://paleofuture.com/blog/2007/3/19/ monsanto-house-of-the-future-1957-1967.html), The Google Home Mini is the firm’s compact Google Home. It’s small but its speakers leave a lot to be desired, Credit: WIRED(https:// www.wired.co.uk/article/google-home-mini-review) • Image 19. Screenshots from the movie - Conversing with the Alter Ego. Author, collage • Image 20. Screenshot from the movie - Conversing with the Alter Ego. Author • Image 21. Screenshot from the movie - Conversing with the Alter Ego. Author • Image 22. The “Bunker”. Author, Illustration from the Design Project II, studio: Unsettled & Displaced
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Soulless ‘‘ S M A R T NESS’’ The concept of “smart” homes and their impact on domestic design and society, from an interactive perspective
Florentina Tsakiri
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