Invisible Cyborg by Jinmo Rhee

Invisible Cyborgs by Wei Wei Chi and Jinmo Rhee

Wei Wei Chi is a Computational Designer and Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University where he is pursuing a Master of Science in Computational Design. His research interest lies on the intersection of human cognition, perception, and interactive technology where he explores sensory augmentation, cognitive augmentation, and brain-computer interfaces. Wei Wei is researching the new design medium system and sectors with haptic texture encoding and decoding technology. Jinmo Rhee is a computational designer, architect, and researcher interested in the integration of artificial intelligence and space design. Jinmo received his Bachelor of Architecture from Korea National University of Arts (KNUA) and completed Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) part I and part II. Jinmo works with parametric modeling and programming to explore, analyze, and examine spatial quality and implements technology based on intelligence to bridge urban design and architectural design. Currently, Jinmo is investigating the application of AI in architectural and spatial design ability with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;contextnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

This project is for imagining the future society with 'Cyborgs' situated in different fictional cities. Nowadays, there is a typical image of cyborg which is graphically shown as hybrid of humans and machine. However, a question is the starting point of this project: “Does this image really represent the meaning of cyborg?” Through the ‘Cyborg Manifesto’, we found that cyborg could be something abstract that transgresses duality rather than simply a crossed hybrid. From this perspective, cyborg can be seen as a phenomenon which is di!cult to define. This phenomenon is very similar to the city in that it has shape but they can not be defined, and we can feel it but cannot explain it. We can use the Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities to treat cyborg as a phenomenon and to record what the future city will be with the influence from cyborg, since he treated a city as a phenomenon that we can sense. These few chapters are a prototype of a book which can be expanded. We will apply this prototype to other situated cyborgs in different cities later.

Preface Chapter1. CYBORG AND LIGHT Chapter2. CYBORG AND TEMPERATURE Chapter3. CYBORG AND SPEED Chapter4. CYBORG AND ILLNESS Chapter5. CYBORG AND DEATH Postface

Preface

traveling architect entered a cafe in Pittsburgh. After he ordered a medium size hot latte, he sat down on a wooden chair near the coffee bar. A wandering homeless person also entered the cafe just after the architect. The homeless person sat next to the architect. The cafe is not crowded, but not calm. The sky of Pittsburgh is mixed grey with white. The height between the land and the sky is short. The sky is just hanging above the building. Homeless Person: Have you ever seen a 'Cyborg'? Architect: Yes, I saw an abundant of them. Have you ever been to Lueos? H: Where is that? A: Have you ever been to Kroy Wen? H: Noâ&#x20AC;Ś. A: There is a long distance between these two cities, from the Kroy Wen to the East, it will take one hour and a half to get to Lueos. H: Are there any cyborgs in these cities? A: Cyborgs have been here too. H: Damn! Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we are losing our jobs and places! A: Tell me about your place. H: It was in Noognar, a sticky breeze, boiling ground, vibrating shadow, poured green place.... A: Do you have a fence or gate? H: Passing through my crumbling rusty fence, the confusing scene came upon me with the poured green juxtaposing the out of place colonial building and musty vulgar piscine odor filling the atmosphere. A: Perhaps there would be no cyborgs.

1. CYBORG AND LIGHT

A: In the southeastern part of Lueos, there are sixty blocky white building clusters and the bustling lights fill the concrete gray sky. A hundred and eighty light grid patterns envelope the building facade. Luminous bright cold white street lamps and their shadows engulf the street lamp. There are pure black pedestrian bridges under the ground and the multidimensional depth of light can exist in the pure black. On the streets, you can see five different entrances to the underground bridges. Near the entrance, the gradient of light creates uneven radiance; the closer to the entrance, the more dazzling it is; the closer to the entrance, the more saturated it is. The irregular pattern of color gradient mapped the building facades. The color gradients shift as you turn your head. H: How about the plant in the city? A: Instead of the dark green opaque leaves, trees have florescent light green leaves which are used for illuminating the narrow pedestrian paths on the ground. It can generate almost white and clear blue oxygen by consuming the sand-yellowish gas. Sometimes you can see the polished blue, green, and red buses with large glass and silver lining.

2. CYBORG AND TEMPERATURE

A: One and a half hours away from Lueos to the Northwest, there is a city named Mohkots. In the pure white low sky, there is some dark pattern of charcoal grey cloud, stinging winds gusted through the five story buildings. H: There are also harbors with deep greenish black tranquil waves. On the surface of the waves, thin crystalized ice sheets float through the current. A: Near the harbor, there is a plant bed next to the street, fenced with Victorian blocks. The raw steel reflective black soil of the plant bed absorbed the solar power. H: Sailors and Fishers with mustard yellow T-shirts exit the boat and approach the swaying harbors. The droplets from the splashed sea water create reflections on their porous skins. A: The plant bed with the Victorian blocks become crowded and the raw steel soil scattered across the reflective white pavement. The shape of the tree is a shrunk oval and the flower is the bead of the rusty brown pin. H: This reflective white pavement extends through the dormitory floor and it symmetrically mirrors the ceiling of the room. The dark brown wall with black fine linings... heavy blueish air filling the room. One wall of the four sides is a full height and width sheet of clear glass.

3. CYBORG AND SPEED

A: You can see the big commercial signage is floating along the 44th St., in Kroy Wen. H: The engraved building on the glass of the taxi’s window is gradually passing by. A: The signage flickering with a myriad of information. In the clothing retail shop, eight hand-sized drones running in the space, systematically arranging the commercial products, … … H: As the engraved building leaves the edge of the window, the bronze green vase shaped geometry starts to take its place. Beyond that layer, the shiny ivory building is embedded on the other layer of the glass. A: Near the junction of the 45th St., there is a cylindrical tower. Inside the tower, the multiple lasers are hanging under the ceiling. The yellow laser beam penetrating through the various layers of lenses and bounces up. I can see thousands of yellow laser bounces. H: Near the junction of the 45th St., there is a cylindrical tower. On the geometrically perfect facade of the tower, I can see a projection of the single red laser bounce.

4. CYBORG AND ILLNESS

A: The great city of Eropagnis is composed of several islands. There is a bridge with two parallel spaces; the lower space fully connects the main island of the Eropagnis and one of the small islands of the Eropagnis, the upper space ends at Âž of the lower space. The upper space is irregularly split into three sectors. The first sector, near the main island, has weathered camel color brick. The inner space of the first sector is filled with semi-reflective grey panels. There is one hallway parallel to the bridge connected to seventy-two rooms. In the middle sector, it has a space filled with fully reflective black panels and floating linear lights. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one big space without any columns. There are some stations with monitors, computers, connectors, adapters, etc. Reaching the last sector, there is a separated room covered with the glass dorm. Sometimes the glass automatically becomes opaque, filling the space with the intense white lights. The dorm absorbs and stores information of the objects inside.

5. CYBORG AND SUCCESSION

H: I had visited the island which is at the end of the bridge in Eropagnis by a drone taxi. The island is literally flat and rectangular. At the center of the island, I saw a facility executing some reassembly. The southeastern corner of the island has a sophisticated communication system with the bridge. The northwestern corner of the island has a port with white clean bullet shape cargo ships. The ships are filled with cargo containers well painted in sky-blue. The southwestern corner of the island has container terminals with the sky-blue colored containers. A: In the northwestern corner of the main island of the Eropagnis, there is a building with sky-blue panel facade. The main entrance of the building has two-sided glass sliding doors. Passing through the lobby, there is a big atrium, where crowds are using the computers to store, recover, and implant information.

Postface

here are two ways to read this short prototype. One is to read all chapters with imagination of future cities with cyborgs. The other is to read

again after reading this postface. We don't want to interrupt your imagination, called the process of creating a memory. However, we also don't want your imagination to be limited by your contexts. If you feel you cannot develop the scenary about what you read by imagination, please think about the future and changes of the city where you have lived, caused by cyborgs. It is not only the change of the cities' form or appearance, but also the whole social contexts, called 'lives'. The name of the first city Luoes is the reversed string of Seoul. In this chapter we are talking about the modernized and capitalized Asian city with cyborgs. However, we designed the underground tunnels only for cyborgs' transportation. This is an economical strategy of the city. Through this, we can guess how human beings and cyborgs coexist in the city. The name of the city Eropagnis in the last chapter is the reversed string of Singapore. We focused the death of the cyborgs and how they pass down their knowledge, history, and memory. The island is a facility to arrange the ill cyborg both mentally and physically. The sky-blue package shows how the refurbished cyborgs can be produced. However, in the main island, people are storing their cyborgs' memory, updating their firmware, transmitting their information, or installing some patches in a cyborg memory servicing company. As we imagine the scenery of this city, we can ask the question; is it possible to die for cyborg?

This work will help the preparation of a coexisting life with cyborgs.

This work is done in Fall Semester, 2018. Thanks to Prof. Molly Wright Steenson in Carnegie Mellon School of Design.