Classified by: Kay. Zeng. J.Y Reason: 1.4 (a) (c) (g) Declassify on: 15 May 2019
A) FIRST CONTACT 06 B) SETI 08 C) CETI 10 D) EMW, EHS, AND SENSORY EVOLUTION
Content
13
E) SENSORY SUBSTITUTION 16 F) PETI 18 G) DESIGN PROCESS & EXHIBITION
19
H) FUTURISTIC & SPECULATIVE DESIGN REFERENCES
28
I) PREVIOUS WORKS 38 J) Q&A&ME 44 K) BIBLIOGRAPHY 45
A) FIRST CONTACT
"First Contact" is the first meeting of two civilizations previously unaware of one another.
Recently we stepped in an era with a post-industrial, postclimate-change circumstance, in which we hasten to explore technology and the outer space desperately looking for solutions to solve our predictable mess and pursue life extension and the continuation of the path of human civilization. I can't help imagining what will we encounter during the process of exploring outer space and technology. Having myself immersed in scifi literature and movies, I dug out two answers to this question which seem to be the most intriguing of them all, that is, "An Unknown Cosmic Civilization" and "Ceiling Effect on Technology Development". The ideology behind these two imaginations is atheistic. Anticipating the existence of a higher or lower level of cosmic civilization equates that we admit the possibility of having cosmic civilizations in another dimension. Thus, god is very likely to be a role played by some higher dimension creatures or existence, and by whom the level of technology development is monitored and circumscribed to keep themselves unnoticed.
topic, I can look up more science fiction works especially on space opera. Not limited to my concerned issue, I can also get inspired by other topics in this map. Having mapped out a range of relevant topics, it is clear that all of these related discourses are still in the realm of future prediction. Therefore, this issue is definitely not a not-in-mycastle's-backyard or delusion, it is connected to our daily life and society. We cannot acquire all the knowledge and predict everything, and while we can at least try to anticipate some of the causes and influence from future, these predominantly unforeseen external influences can lead individuals and group behaviours to significant change.
To do a better research and come up with a hypothesis, I mapped out some other topics and concepts that are relevant to this one. I found that the issue of "First Contact" is an overlapping topic between alien civilization and the future of humanity. To get more references on this alien civilization related 6
â–˛ "First Contact" between humans and Vulcans in the movie Star Trek: First Contact
7
B) SETI
▲ FAST ▲ ATA Allen Telescope Array
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other planets.
# Some of the SETI projects 1. ATA Allen Telescope Array Project Phoenix is one of the SETI projects started in 2007. Collaborated with UC Berkeley, this project built 42 independent astronomical telescopes. These telescopes formed into a large telescope array, and was named after its sponsor Paul Allen as “Allen Telescope Array”. The array had already searched for recognizable extraterrestrial radio signals in the area of approximately 1000 sun-like star near the Earth. And it will still be searching in the next 20 years with a broader scope.
8
in GuiZhou, China
▲ Breakthrough Listen Telescope
2. Breakthrough Listen Breakthrough Listen project was started by The Royal Society (Britain) in 2015. This project searches a range of 100 galaxies for extraterrestrial radio and laser signals, including the entire Milky Way and its vicinity, through radio and optical technology. It will use some of the world's largest telescopes including the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA, and the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. Some world-leading experts also took part in this project, such
as the University of Cambridge cosmologist Stephen William Hawking. He believed that this effort is “critically important” and said that human beings have a deep need to explore, learn, and understand life and civilization outside the earth. However, he also warned people not to “scream out” to the universe because he believes that some advanced alien civilizations may also be violent and aggressive. 3. FAST The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is the world’s largest single9
caliber, a most sensitive radio telescope with a 500-meter diameter, equivalent to the receiving area of 30 football fields. FAST has also achieved the highest sensitivity and comprehensive performance in the world, 10 times as sensitive as the German Bonn 100-meter telescope which is known as the “largest machine on the ground”. FAST can receive electromagnetic signals from 13.7 billion light years away, which is close to the edge of the universe.
C) CETI
Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI) is a branch of t Intelligence that focuses on composing and deciphering interstellar mess understood by another technological civilization. This field of study onc
1. The Arecibo Message Arecibo message is radio information created in 1974 to celebrate the reconstruction of the Arecibo radio telescope. This message is transmitted by the telescope targeting the globular cluster M13 25,000 light-years from the Earth. The information has 1,679 binary digits in total. The number 1,679 can only be multiplied by two prime numbers. Because of that, the information can only be split into 73 horizontal lines and 23 straight lines, which assumes that the reader of this information will first arrange it into a rectangle. If it is arranged in 23 horizontal lines, it will turn into white noise. On the contrary, if it is arranged in 73 horizontal lines, the information can transform into a visual message like the picture shows. The top white line is a row of numbers in binary. The left side is the prime number 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. The middle four squares are the dividing point. And the right side is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
â–˛ The Arecibo Message
The light purple color in the figure represents the five chemical elements contained in human DNA. From left to right, represented by atomic numbers 10
respectively, they are hydrogen (1), carbon (6), nitrogen (7), oxygen (8) and phosphorus (15). The green code represents the basic structure of human DNA and can be divided into 4 lines from top to the bottom. Line 1 and 3 are divided into 4 blocks from left to right, each block representing one of the 3 components of DNA: deoxyribose and base. Line 2 and 4 include only two blocks from left to right, which represented another component of DNA: phosphate. All blocks are composed of 5 numbers, which in turn are the number of atoms of the 5 chemical elements in the previous section. Also, the bases in line 1 and 3 also presented the base pairing rules. The blue double helix in the figure represents the shape of human DNA. The middle white bar represents the number of nucleotides (the estimated value at that time was about 4.3Ă—109, and the value measured now is 3.2Ă—109). The middle red part shows the form of the man. The pattern on the left represents the average height of the man: 1764mm, and is 14 times the wavelength of the information (126mm). The white pattern on the right
board, there is an image of a spin transition in a hydrogen atom, because hydrogen is a substance that exists commonly in the universe. Below this symbol, there is a short line that represents the number 1 in binary. Within this hydrogen atom, electrons are spinning from up to down, which indicates a length unit (whose wavelength is equal to 21 cm) and a length of time unit (frequency is 1420 MHz). The two units derived from this are used to calculate the value represented by other symbols on the board.
the Search for Extraterrestrial sages that theoretically, could be ce was known as exosemiotics.
▲ Message on the Pioneer Plates
represents the global population of 4,292,853,750 in 1974. The yellow part represents the planets in the solar system. The largest pattern on the left represents the sun, then the nine planets (the eight planets and Pluto, which was also counted as a large planet at the time). The earth is on the third and is raised by a grid, indicating that the Information is emitted from the Earth, with a human pattern showing that human lives on Earth. The bottom light purple pattern represents the Arecibo radio telescope. A mirror shape and signal reflection diagram are included. The following pattern indicates the diameter (24.18 meters) is 2430 times the wavelength of this information. Interestingly, on August 14, 2001, the wheat field near the Chilbolton Observatory, the largest radio telescope in the UK, showed some disorganized
circular patterns. It looked like a face. Three days later, in same farmland, rows of small squares with similar size appeared, organized in a way similar to the binary message sent by the astronomer Karl Sagan in 1974 from the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. 2. Pioneer Plates Pioneer plates are gold-coated aluminum plates mounted on two unmanned space probes - Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, carrying the message with human information. A portrait of a man and a woman is engraved on the board, along with symbols to indicate where these probes came from. Just like a drift bottle, this message is floating in space blindly. However, if a probe wants to sail to a star 30 astronomical units away from the solar system, the average time required will be longer than the current age of the Milky Way we are in. On the upper left corner of the 11
On the right side of the board, there are a man and a woman standing in front of the probe. An “8” in binary form is painted next to the female portrait. The length can be calculated with the previous units: 8 units × 21 cm = 168 cm. Here, the average height of a woman is about 168 cm. In addition, the male raises his hand and shows his friendliness. Although this gesture is not universal, it still indicates that human’s thumbs and arms are movable. Behind the human portrait, the outline of the pioneer detector is depicted. The size of the probe gives an indication of the human size. On the left side of the board are 15 lines radiated from the same point. 14 of them contain a column of numbers written in binary form, which represents the pulse signal period of 14 pulsars (neutron stars) in the Milky Way. The length of the line indicates the distance of those pulsars from the sun. The mark at the end of each line indicates their Z coordinate on the plane of the Milky Way. The 15th line extends to the right shows the relative distance between the Sun and the center of the Milky Way. At the bottom of the board is a picture of the solar system, and a small figure to represent the probe. From the picture, we can see an orbit of the probe leaving
the solar system after passing by the Jupiter. There is a set of binary numbers next to each planet, which is the relative distance from each planet to the sun. There are criticisms that those patterns are too difficult to understand, and there is a tendency to explain the universe from a human point of view, though the board tries to include as much information as possible in a limited size. Even the scientist may not be able to interpret all the information on the board. Therefore, it may be more difficult for aliens to interpret. After being discovered by aliens, it may take several generations to decode it, just as we try to decode the ancient Egypt hieroglyphics. 3. The Voyager Gold Record On August 20th and September 5th, 1977, the United States launched two spacecraft, Voyager 2 and Voyager 1. They each carried a copper-plated laserdisc called “The Voice of the Earth”, which contain sounds and images that introduce various cultures and life forms on Earth, hoping to be discovered by an extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe. It will take 40,000 years for them to get to the nearest planet. The “closest” here refers to a distance of 1.7 light years, so if it has not been discovered during the voyage, the gold record will be discovered at least about 40,000 years later. Because they are way too small compared to the universe, it will only be captured in a very small possibility. Therefore this record seems to be a symbolic item rather than a scientific experiment.
▲ Message on the Gold Record
12
D) EMW, EHS, AND SENSORY EVOLUTION
Note: EMW = Electromagnetic Wave EHS = Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity
â–˛ A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum, showing various properties across the range of frequencies and wavelengths.
For nearly 70 years the scheme favored by most scientists has been to look for radio transmission signals and send encrypted messages based on electromagnetic wavelengths and frequencies. That’s the classic approach of SETI and CETI, and it makes sense. Radio can easily traverse light-years, and the technology for detecting it is well known and highly sensitive. EMW is ubiquitous, especially in a digital era when human is surrounded by all kinds of devices and technologies. It became air-like and symbiotic
with human-beings. Gradually, it seems to have influences on human's sensory perception. I need to tell the story of how I happened to be arrested by the topic of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (abbreviated as EHS). I was watching the Netflix drama series Better Call Soul Season 3. Chuck McGill, a character in that show, was a leading lawyer with EHS. The walls in his house are usually covered with tinfoil. Almost no electronic appliance is allowed to show up in his place. Guests 13
must leave all the electronic gears in the mailbox outside. And every time he goes out, he has to wrap himself inside a space blanket. There is such an interesting plot in the play. Chuck's brother, Jimmy, who is also a lawyer, was facing the risk of being prosecuted because Chuck recorded a tape of him pleading guilty that he had tampered with a document. So he had to prove that Chuck was mentally ill and invalidate the tape. He had someone sneaked a cell phone into Chuck's pocket and
Chuck didn't reveal any physical discomfort during the trial until someone made a call to the phone. Therefore, Chuck's EHS was considered to be a mental illness and the evidence was invalidated. The play dramatically compared Chuck's EHS to a mental issue caused by the jealousy and dislike of his younger brother, but is it really the case? This makes me more interested in EHS. Twenty years ago, electromagnetic hypersensitivity started to become the subject of many scientific studies. Some studies have shown that EHS syndrome includes neurological symptoms such as headache and fatigue; skin symptoms such as facial irritation and rashes; and other non-specific health-related symptoms. There are also reports claiming that EHS can lead to dizziness, memory loss, and low concentration. The
electromagnetic field exposure rate of affected people is usually lower than the international recommended standards. An article published in the International Journal of Neuroscience from the Department of Neurology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in 2011 concluded that EHS can appear as an actual environmentally inducible neurological syndrome. They tried to find direct evidence that acute exposure to environmentalstrength electromagnetic fields can cause somatic responses, for example, EHS. The experiment involved a female doctor who was selfdiagnosed as EHS. In a doubleblind provocation experiment that minimized unconscious sensory cues, the subject experienced
temporary pain, headache, muscle twitching, and arrhythmia within 100 seconds after the onset of electromagnetic field exposure. Symptoms are primarily related to the conversion (on or off) of the electromagnetic field and are independent of the presence of the electromagnetic field. They also developed sham exposures and compared it with the frequency and severity of the effects of pulses and continuous fields. It was reported that the subject had no conscious perception of the electromagnetic field, as assessed by her inability to report its presence more often than in the sham control. The authors concluded that the subjects exhibited a statistically reliable (p < 0.05) somatic cell response in the response to electromagnetic field exposure under conditions that reasonably excluded the pathogenic effects of the psychological process. In brief, the results were consistent with the possibility that environmental EMFs can directly trigger clinical symptoms. However, more experiments and studies need to be done before we figure out whether it is really caused by EMW physically and how the somatic reaction works. Considering the previous research on SETI and CETI, a hypothesis is carried out that EHS may not be an illness as people claimed to be, in contrast, it is an evolutionary ability.
â&#x2013;˛ The subject sat in a comfortable wooden chair with her eyes closed, and uniaxial sinusoidal electric fields were generated by applying a voltage to parallel square m etal plates. The equipment that controlled the field was located outside the subjectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view and emitted no visual or auditory stimuli.
14
Similar sensing abilities exist in other animals. Studies have shown that sharks can sense electric fields with a magnitude of 0.5 mV/m. Also, many long-distance migratory animals have the ability to use the magnetic field to navigate or aid navigation, such as pigeons, trouts, and even bees and bats. The magnitude of the geomagnetic field is generally around 50mT. To perceive its changes, the organism must have
â&#x2013;˛ H y p o t h e tic al r e p r e s e n t o f t h e orientations in the bird's perspective
scene
in
d if f e r e n t
â&#x2013;˛ Magnetic particles in magnetotactic bacteria
the ability to sense weaker magnetic fields. Of course, the geomagnetic field is basically a constant magnetic field (with slight fluctuation), which is different from the extremely-lowfrequency magnetic field, but the mechanism of which the organism is affected by the extremely-lowfrequency magnetic field may be closely related to the mechanism of how they perceive the magnetic field. Magnetotactic bacteria can move along magnetic lines of force. The magnetotactic bacteria found in the northern hemisphere move northward while those present in the southern hemisphere move southward, and the magnetotactic bacteria near the equator move
towards both directions. The direction of the earth's magnetic field facilitates the bacteria to find a suitable growth environment. The mechanism of magnetic particles is similar to magnetotactic bacteria. They are currently found in many organisms with the ability to sense magnetic fields. For example the upper jaw of the pigeon and the robin, the sinus of the trout, and the abdomen of the worker bee. Surprisingly the magnetic particles also exist in the human brain, the form of which is very similar to that of magnetosomes in magnetotactic bacteria, but it has not been found to be in catenation. Further studies 15
confirmed the presence of Fe3O4 particles in the hippocampus of the human brain. Therefore, human also got the potential of sensing the magnetic field, and this potential could be stimulated by the nowadays complex electromagnetic environment. Instead of EHS "patients", they are more likely to be evolved human.
E) SENSORY SUBSTITUTION
▲ Structure of a sensory substitution system
Human beings are made up of extremely tiny matters and live in an infinite universe. However, in reality, humans can't understand the world well in the perspective of either microscopic or macroscopic. This is because the human brain has not evolved to the level of sensing the world with such perspectives. The human perspective is confined to the middle of the two, a very narrow range. The strange thing is that even if people are familiar with everything in front of them, most of the information is still invisible to people. For example, in reality, colors are light waves and electromagnetic radiation reflected from objects, received by specific receptors at the back of the eyes, but humans can’t see all the waves. In fact, the waves that humans can see are less than one trillionth of a trillion. Radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays and gamma rays are passing through the body, and human beings are completely unaware of their
existence because they are not equipped with biosensors that can sense these waves. These waves are not completely invisible. Snakes can see infrared rays and bees can see ultraviolet rays. However, humans can now only set up devices and equipment to make those waves visible. Different animals perceive different realities. Temperature and butyric acid are important sources of information for the blind and deaf tick; the world of the black ghost knifefish is enriched by the electric field; the world of echolocation bats is composed of air compression waves. For the composition of the ecosystem familiar to the species, there is a special scientific term to define it, called “umwelt”, which is a German word meaning the surrounding world. Perhaps every species instinctively believes that its "umwelt" is the objective reality because it is difficult to imagine that there are other existences besides 16
▲ Sensory substitut
the perceived object, and the body itself can only accept the information presented by this limited reality. However, through technical means, the "umwelt" can actually be broadened. For example, combining technology and biology, there are already thousands of people who improved their lives through artificial hearing aids. They work by taking a microphone, digitizing the signal, and placing the electrode strip into the inner ear, or, by retinal implantation, taking a camera, digitizing the signal, and then placing the electrode grid directly into the optic nerve. Decades ago, many scientists thought that these technologies would not succeed. They think that this is not exactly the same as the mechanism of natural biological senses. Nevertheless, it succeeded, and the brain knows how to handle these signals just right. The brain doesn't actually listen
tion sonic glasses
or see anything. The brain is enclosed in a silent dark skull. Everything it recognizes is electrochemical signals. These signals come from different data connections. These are all the things the brain has to deal with, and nothing else. Incredibly, the brain is very good at accepting these signals, extracting patterns, and providing meanings, so it forms this internal environment to integrate information and form the subjective world of human beings. Importantly, the brain doesn't know or care about where it gets the information. No matter what kinds of information is input into the brain, it will be processed accordingly without having to identify different input channels. It is essentially a very efficient computing tool. The ability of the brain is inherited from the complex evolutionary journey of human beings and this means that human can envolve in the theory of sensory substitution. Through
â&#x2013;˛ BrainPortÂŽ oral electronic vision aid
a special sensory channel, the brain will automatically do the corresponding processing to build a new sensory reflection. The first article about sensory substitution was published in the 1969 issue of Nature. A scientist named Paul Bach-y-Rita placed blind people on a modified dental operating chair and set up a video recording device. He put something in front of the camera and placed solenoid grids on the back of the person so that he could feel the thing. Put a coffee cup in front of the camera and the subject could feel it through the back. Surprisingly, blind people are very good at perceiving the things placed in front of the camera just by the feeling on their back. Today, there are many modern examples based on sensory substitution. For example the sonic glasses. It can record the scene and turn the video into sound wave landscapes. After a few weeks, the blind person is 17
well accustomed to understanding the things in front of him through the auditory signals. This sensory substitution does not have to be achieved through the ears. The most recent example is the Brainport Vision System, which is a small electrical grid placed on the tongue that converts the video source into tiny electro-tactile signals. Amazingly, through long-term research and training, people are able to see things through their tongues. In the process of stepping into the future, human beings are gradually able to develop various peripheral equipment. There is no need to wait for nature to upgrade human senses according to its own time scale and rhythm. Nature has provided the tool, so the challenge is how human can take advantage of this tool and discover a broader universe and reality.
F) PETI
Putting this potential of sensing EMW under the context of previous studies, it is possible that human with this evolutionary ability of EHS can sense the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence and even communicate with them. In addition to setting up giant telescopes and sending probes to space, other possible approaches to get humans one step closer to find extraterrestrial intelligence should be carried out. PETI â&#x20AC;&#x201C; short for Perception of Extraterrestrial Intelligence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is a programme aiming to develop human kind's ability by means based on the sensory substitution theory, and thus to enhance the chances for man to perceive the possible presence of extraterrestrial life by sensing electromagnetic waves. PETI allows the visitor to experience and train their new EM skills. PETI is now working on a device designed according to the theory of sensory substitution. The mechanism is to capture EMW with an EMW sensor and modulate it by acoustic signals so that it can be audible.
18
G) DESIGN PROCESS & EXHIBITION
19
Ideation
1) How to develop the EMW sense of man under the theory of sensory substitution?
Make a wearable device. Transform EMW into other media that can be naturally sensed and processed by man. eg.
EMW to heat
EMW to light
EMW to sound
2) The appearance of the device.
Horn on the forehead. Why? The device aims to build a quasi-organ for man. Most of our functioning sensory organs are on our face and close to the brain, which is convenient for the brain to take and process information. Among all the empty areas on our face, the forehead is the closest to the brain, also, it is centered and useless. For the horn-like outlook, the unicorn is a classic fantasy, it is imaginary, romantic, mysterious and magical. No one has ever seen a real unicorn. And this corresponds with alien creatures.
20
Mechanism and Circuit Searching for EMW sensors, an article introducing the mechanism of cassette player caught my attention. The audio current causes the strength and direction of the magnetic field in the gap of the recording head to change constantly. The magnetic powder on the magnetic tape is magnetized with different magnetic pole directions and different magnetic strengths, which means the play head is always listening for magnetic signals. I made use of this mechanism and modified the cassette player. 1. Unscrewing the sensor.
2. Removing the outer case.
3. Detach the sensor and the processor from the circuit board.
4. Wire extension soldering.
5. Solder the speaker and headphone cable.
21
Headset Prototype 1.0
1) 3D modeling
Fit the curvature of the skull
Universal frame size and adjustable speaker slider
Speaker and cable fitting
22
2) Routing blueprint
3) Fabrication
Senser
3D Printing the model with white resin. (slightly flexible, highaccuracy) Soldering and assemble
4) Testing
functional material & color Speaker
comfort appearance
5) Improvement
integrate the cables redesign the routing spray the walkman
23
Headset Prototype 2.0 1) 3D model improvement
2) Routing blueprint
Concealed cable groove
Reduce the size of the horn
24
3) Fabrication After getting the 3D print and a period of mess -soldering, assembling and spraying, the final prototype was done.
25
Exhibition & Setup
coffee mug lamp as a sample EMW emitter
a pen sticking to the table magnetically
notebook for audience to leave a note about suspicious signals/experience
grey background only content related objects are white
26
to enhance the office table scene
Classified by: Kay. Zeng. J.Y Reason: 1.4 (a) (c) (g) Declassify on: 15 May 2019
info tag referencing the style of FBI official document unclassified document contained all the researches army green file folder implying that the document is official
instruction leaflet
27
H) FUTURISTIC & SPECULATIVE DESIGN REFERENCES
@ Noam Toran # Object for Lonely Men Object for Lonely Men narrated a man who is obsessed with Goddardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breath. He designed and built a tray. The tray is loaded with objects that can interact with people. These items include a head model that looks like Jean Seberg (heroine), a gun, a hat, a phone, a sheet of Herald Tribune newspaper, one pair of sunglasses, an ashtray, a steering wheel, rear view mirror and a pack of Gitanes cigarettes without filters. These objects allow men to vent their desires and allow them to directly transform those film-related fantasies into body movements.
28
29
@ Noam Toran # Desire Management Desire Management is a film composed of five short clips. Some other unusual usages have been found in some daily objects. In the movie, home became the last private space for people, and home appliances provide an unusual experience for some outsiders. These people include: a flight attendant who has a unique feeling for turbulence; an owner of a mysterious box that many people are curious about; an old man who enjoys being sucked by a vacuum cleaner; a couple who have fantasies related to baseball; and a man who is forced by his partner to drop his tear in a strange device. These plots originate from real news reports, attempt to reveal the true inner demands of people when they are facing the standards and requirements of the world and society.
30
31
@ Dunne & Raby # Weeds, Aliens and Other Stories,
Weeds Aliens and Other Stories is a connect families with gardens. The demand of modern people for furnitu audience. How many more chairs, tab stories related to alien-like plants express the British fascination wit irrational relationship between peop encourage people to reveal this pec these families barely have their own have become reasonable because of t
1.Cricket Box: A drawer for collecti
2.Talking Tabs: These tags collect p plants.
3.Meeting Table: Plants can grow on a neighbour, this is a good place to
4.Intensive care: Enable people to c anytime, anywhere.
5.Cucumber table: A device for acco displaying cucumbers.
32
1994-1998
a collection of furniture that creation stems from the endless ure. They raised a question for bles and shelves do we need? The s began to be their inspiration to h the garden and the seemingly ple and plants. They want to culiarity in their homes. Although n garden, their strange behaviours these new furniture.
ing sound of plant.
poetry and recipes related to
this table. When a lover becomes o date.
communicate with needy plants
ommodating, growing, picking and
33
@ Dunne & Raby # The Placebo Project The placebo project introduces conceptual design into everyday life. They designed and produced eight objects to investigate people’s attitudes and experiences of electromagnetic fields in their homes and place them in the homes of some volunteers. These items aim to dig out the stories behind those electronic objects - whether they are facts or imaginations. They are deliberately abstracted. They are open to different interpretations but they are not too abstract to be understood. Once electronic objects enter people’s living spaces, they will have their own private lives, or at least life that human cannot perceive. Sometimes people can only notice their activities when objects malfunction. Many people have the impression that when they are close to electronic devices, their ears may get hot, or they may feel stinging on their skin, and almost everyone has heard stories of people collecting radio signals in their items. The artists are not interested in whether these stories are real or fake. They are interested in people’s interpretations and stories related to electronic technology, especially intangible electromagnetic waves emitted from electronic devices. 1.Electric tractor: This device can interfere and block the electromagnetic field. 2.GPS table: There is a small screen on the table that shows if it has “lost” its coordinates. It needs to be placed next to a window to obtain a clear horizon. 3.Nipple chair: When the radiation passes through the chair, the nipples embedded in the back of the chair vibrate to remind people that the electronics can be active in an invisible way. 4.Compass Table: The electromagnetic field emitted from electronic devices placed on this table can twitch and rotate the compass.
34
35
@ Dunne & Raby # Hertzian Tales, 1994-1997 Hertzian Tales explores the role that ubiquitous electronics can play in modern lifestyle. 1. Faraday Chair: As electronic products can escape from their cases and invade into the outer space, one may need to seek protection in a specially constructed negative-radio space. The Faraday chair is a comfortable and practical small shelter that keeps people away from the constant bombardment of electronic radiation. 2.The Pillow: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an abstract radio device, a bit like a weather monitor. It can sense the change in radio frequency over a range of 200 meters and can monitor mobile phones, pagers, walkie-talkies and even baby monitoring equipment. It is questioning peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s privacy - although the person listening is an intruder, the radiation of this device could harm their body.
36
@ Dunne & Raby # Technological Dreams Series: NO.1,ROBOTS, 2007 One day, in the future, robots will do everything for us. Robots will be integrated into our daily lives as cohabiters. How will we interact with them? What will the relationship be between us and those robots of different intelligences and abilities? Will it be subordinate, intimate, dependent, or equal? Robot 1: More and more of our data, even our most personal and secret information, will be stored in a digital database. How do we ensure that only ourselves can access it? This robot is a gatekeeper that uses retinal scanning technology to detect who is accessing our data. In the movie, iris scanning happens very fast. This robot requires you to stare at it for a long time so it can be sure that it is you. Robot 2: This is a needy robot. Although it is very clever, it is trapped in an underdeveloped body and can only be moved by its owner. Neediness is designed to be a very smart product to maintain controls on feelings. Initially, manufacturers let robots learn human language, but over time they have their own language. You can still hear the human traces in their sound.
37
I) PREVIOUS WORKS Full portfolio: www.kayzengdesign.com Selected works are presented here. Looking back to my previous works and projects, I find myself extremely interested in space fantasy, physical forms and interaction.
Gameboy (2018) Arduino, LED Matrix, Lasercut Plastic case Video documentation available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/gameboy Gameboy, as a very simple human-machine interface, had come into my mind. I then tried programming games with button, joystick, and direction detector. I studied the difference between these three ways of playing games in the aspect of responding time and how people formed their habit of using these methods. For the button, it is the simplest way to visualise the functions. It is then people realised that buttons are laborious when they have to move their fingers frequently towards different spots, so they came up with the joystick, with which they can complete the moving function within one tool. It is a trend for people to use an integrated method to interact with a machine. For example iPad and iPhone, getting rid of keyboards and home button, they are now considering how gestures can interact with the machine interface. In this case, I came up with the idea of combing old-school style of display component with trendy gesture interaction. 38
Creature (2017) Digital media installation programmed with Arduino and Touchdesigner. Video documentation available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/creature
Initially, these two black wooden cubes are placed in the face of each other with a short distance. Disjointedly, one is making irregular noise and the other response with blinks. The back and forth communication between them will continue until the audience interfere. Most of the audience would come up with the idea of placing their hands in the gap between them. Immediately, the tone of the noise goes higher, while the frequency of the blink becomes more rapid. However, when the audience removes his hand from the gap, the sound and the blink return to a normal state. Also, similar to the previous interaction, when the audience tries to pull one of them away from another, the frequency increases as the distance between them increases. These two cubes are placed in the height of 70cm, with the size of 13cm in width, height, and depth. The audience has to bend down to observe or interact because of the size and display. With its title â&#x20AC;&#x153;Creatureâ&#x20AC;?, the audience can easily associate with two living creatures who are talking to each other in their own language system, light and sound. Interfering with their origin behaviour pattern could lead to their abnormal behaviours. The audience, as a human, may comprehend their frequent blinks and hightone noise as breathing rapidly and screaming or interpret that as a sign of warning and threatening. Bending down to get closer to these creatures, the audience seems to be condescending himself to a smaller and weaker species. This work attempts to depict an immense worldview with a diminutive scale of presentation and interaction. It asks the audience to think about the relationship between creatures of the same kind, and also the relationship between different species. 39
Umbilical Cord (2018) Arduino, Pulse sensor, LED light, Frosted glass lampshade Video documentation available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/umbilicalcord For idea development, we tried to build a connection between machine and human, using human’s pulse to drive the machine alive. So we think of the idea of “nurturer - creature - umbilical cord”. As a nurturer, we try to feed the creature with steady and healthy energy. When a heat beat happened, the light and sound will indicate if the energy is too high or too low. If too high, it will generate a colder colour and a low tone of sound to calm you down. Vice versa if it is too low.
40
Tablewares for MercedesMe (2018) Video documentation available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/mercedesmetablewares
41
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flatâ&#x20AC;? (2018) Chair and table set made from one piece 403 stainless steel. More pictures available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/flat
42
Planet (2017) Touchdesigner Music-driven Animation Video available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/planet This Saturn-like object can breathe along with the music and rotate its ring by mouse.
Nodding Head (2017) Touchdesigner Music-driven Animation Video available: https://www.kayzengdesign.com/noddinghead There are four modes in this animation. The first one is “Shuttle Tunnel” with the background animation made with TouchDesigner, the second and the third ones used the music videos from Polo&Pan as background, and the last one can record the audience’s sound with the microphone. The nodding head, as a key visual, nods his head along the music beats, and turns his head according to the mouse.
43
J) Q&A&ME
1. This seems to be a rather objective and rational project. Is there any personal expression or emotion in it? I would say this project is totally me, I mean, every part of it. Perspectives and emotions that are super personal can also be expressed in a rational way.
2. Start from the futuristic perspective. Why is the future so attractive to you? Growing up in mainland China, I was always pushed to look forward. It is easy to understand. China is developing at an unbelievable speed. My parents’ generation has experienced reformation and opening, rural urbanization when they were young, rapid technological innovation in their middle age, and the recent trade war with the U.S. when they are about to retire. None of these parts are easy, they have to keep their pace up with the unpredictable situation. And sometimes, when the country needs to all in for development at all costs, some of them became the cost. So the parents, teachers, seniors, the whole social atmosphere force you not to look back, because there’s no time for reminiscence, and also there’s nothing worth to reminisce since there were plenty of mistakes in the history which the authority wants to wipe away. None of us want to stare at the past for too long cause we may found it miserable and dreadful. It is almost a stress reaction for us to anchor our hope on the future, otherwise, life will be too hard to live on. It is a nice habit, I, therefore, can always move on quickly, however, the habit was formed with no choice.
3. Why are you obsessed with space fantasy and science fiction? I like the feeling when I’m categorized into a group called “human-being”. It is this moment that I find a purpose in my life as a paltry, tiny little man -becoming one of the puzzles of the miraculous, ephemeral human civilization. I do care about individuals, however, no matter how special or eccentric a person is, I always end up looking at the universality determined genetically. Individuals don’t interest me anymore. I am more curious about what will human, as a group, behave when they are put into a larger context, say the realm of the universe.
4. What is the role of speculative design in this project? If there’s a spectrum of design, I would say there are two ends, one is commercial and one is speculative design. Speculative design is very close to art, yet it is not art. Giving the best solution under the current system and requirement with an outcome that can be measured in metrics, that is commercial, and it is indeed of great value. However, speculative design brings another kind of value, it challenges the normality, system, and structure, and the speculation it comes up maybe totally achievable. It takes factors, issues and situations from reality, bases on solid researches and comes up with possible alternatives. More importantly, it makes people question and discuss. For example in PETI, people may find the motif a little bit weird. All the researches are convincing and reasonable, but why do we have to search for extraterrestrial intelligence? What’s the point of doing it? By asking so, they start a conversation. In that conversation they talk about if they believe there’s alien, what could be aliens, should we hide from being found by aliens and what may happen if human encounters aliens. And the essence of these questions is related to personal perspectives and values. It may finally lead to the question of theism or atheism, determinism or agnosticism, utilitarianism or altruism and etc. 44
K) BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andy Miah and FACT. Human Futures : Art in an Age of Uncertainty. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press : Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, 2008. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Design Noir : The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. London : Basel: August ; Birkhäuser, 2001. Arran Frood. “Human Futures: Art in an Age of Uncertainty.”, Review on: Human Futures : Art in an Age of Uncertainty. Nature 457, no. 7228 (2009): 383-84. Ben Bova and Byron Preiss. First Contact : The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: NAL Books, 1990. Bradley Quinn. Design Futures. London: Merrell Publishers, 2011. Carlos Montana-Hoyos, Stephen Trathen, Blake Fenwick, Hugh Stehlik, Balaji Bikshandi, and Frank Van Haren. “User-centered, Research-based Design of Futuristic Intensive Care Units.” International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design 10, no. 3 (2016): 1-6. David E. Mccarty, Simona Carrubba, Andrew L. Chesson, Clifton Frilot, Eduardo Gonzalez-Toledo, and Andrew A. Marino. "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: Evidence for a Novel Neurological Syndrome." International Journal of Neuroscience 121, no. 12 (2011): 670-76. David Wilkinson. Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2013. Sean Topham. Where’s My Space Age? : The Rise and Fall of Futuristic Design. Munich: Prestel, 2003. James C Lin. "The Case of Hypersensitivity to Electromagnetic Fields." IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine 55, no. 4 (2013): 258-60. Lena Hedendahl, Michael Carlberg, and Lennart Hardell. "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity - an Increasing Challenge to the Medical Profession." Reviews On Environmental Health 30, no. 4 (2015): 209-15. Malika Auvray. "Sensory Substitution." International Journal Of Psychology 51, no. S1 (2016): 1007. Stephen T Emlen, and John T. Emlen. "A Technique for Recording Migratory Orientation of Captive Birds." The Auk 83, no. 3 (1966): 361-67. Thea Boodhoo. “UX for Aliens,” Medium, April 14, 2015, https://medium.com/@tharkibo/ ux-for-alienseb1f72ffa413 45