I’ll open with this quote because you’re gonna need it as you read through this piece :)
When Hollywood imagines the future, interesting things can happen. Although tech/sci-fi movies often go a bit over the top, they often leave me pondering about things we are starting to see in the present.
I’m sure you’re familiar with some of these movies:
- Transcendence, where a Dr. named Will Caster uploads his consciousness into AI technology so he can continue to live without his body. Great movie. Jony Depp is in it, but it’s great anyway. This story is set to happen in a relatively distant future.
- Ex Machina, where we see the problems, the fears, and implications of our relationship with humanoid robots. This movie is set to happen in a near future.
- And then we have Robocop, where we see a police officer extend his life through a total-body prosthesis. This movie… is strange. Although Robocop seems more feasible now than it did back in 1987.
The reason why these examples are of interest here is that — the concept of human augmentation is not such a flight of fancy. It is one of the key themes in science fiction writing and a common subject in comic books, anime, and video games, but entertainment aside, it’s also one of the key areas of investigation for robotics, prosthetics, and nanotechnology. It’s exciting to see people taking human augmentation very seriously and making it real.
I believe that human augmentation will help us navigate a future world of extremes, where our brains, our language, and our bodies won’t be enough. I believe it’s good for us to imagine that world of extremes, and what role we as designers can play in it.
My name is Momo and I am an augmented human. That’s right.
I’m thankful for these! *holds glasses like Steve Jobs*
Isn’t it wonderful that I can work as a designer, thanks to these little things? My eyeglasses are probably the most important augmentation I have! These things help me see the world. I wear these every day. I was wearing them the day I met my wife. I’m sure she noticed.
This is my friend Keren. This augmentation allows him to hear frequencies and catch nuances in words that he would otherwise he miss. His hearing aid helps him understand people. Keren also wears glasses. That makes him double-augmented.
This is my grandfather. He is 89 years old. His dental implants help him enjoy his favorite food. He also has glasses. And hearing aids. He’s triple-augmented!
This is my son — His nebulizer helps him breathe better. I wish he didn’t need it, but I’m happy that the device exists.
So you see, the future is nooooow. We’ve all heard this phrase before. In this case, it’s accurate. The future has already arrived. Many of us are augmented by artifacts and machines. And depending on our needs, these things can blend, seamlessly, with our daily routine. These augmentations are so integral to how we live that they are pretty much invisible to us. However, they are very visible to others. So visible, that often, others stare at them with curiosity. Sometimes with surprise. Sometimes with irreverence. Like my wife who stared at my glasses, I think she liked them.
The difference between my glasses and what you see in sci-fi films or read in books is that most human augmentation portrayed is invisible. No glasses, no hearing aids, no exoskeletons, no implants, no prosthesis. This is where I tend to agree with Hollywood. Machines will be so seamlessly integrated into humans that they are no longer perceivable.
Have a hard time imagining what that is like? Let me introduce you to Almo.
Almo is born sometime between 2030 and 2040.
At 10 years old, he loves running and playing basketball. He enjoys eating sweet things. He likes visiting his friends. He likes the sound of rain in the evenings. He hates the smell of old milk. He cries when he feels lonely. He struggles to understand his parents. Almo is just like you, and me.
Almo, however, has a few advantages. He can run faster and jump higher thanks to an artificial leg that is custom produced based on his body height, weight, shape, and the exacting sports performance advantage he desires. He can visit his friends just by thinking about them. He can enjoy sweets because they fuel neural prosthetics that feed on glucose. He loves the sound of artificial rain in the evenings because humans seed clouds to maintain healthy soils.
Almo lives in a beautiful world of extremes. A world of extreme sustainability, where cities are required to convert entirely to renewable resources. Buildings and homes are powered by carbon-neutral sources such as solar, wind, or biofuel created by human waste. All means of transportation are electric. And the weather is perfectly controlled. Both businesses and individuals will need to pay a global warming tax.
A world of extreme connectivity, where augmented reality and virtual reality are making remote meetings as real as in person. People don’t even have to leave their homes — they go to work, get a diploma, consult a doctor, visit friends in the comfort of their living room.
A world of extreme personalization, where finally everyone is unique. With a breakthrough in DNA technology, we now have full access to the secrets of our bodies. Almo now lives in a home where the environment is fully customized to his personal physical and health profile, from food, water, air, light, to sleep systems.
Almo has a few special traits too, which somewhat hold him back. He doesn’t like to talk to other people. He never feels comfortable expressing his deep emotions. He has a hard time understanding how others feel because he focuses more on the world inside his head than on the world of others. He loves others but never hugs them. He dislikes others but never says it. Almo doesn’t know how to empathize or communicate.
So you see — Almo lives in a world of extremes, gifted with augmented abilities, and surrounded by people he deeply cares about, yet his biggest dream was to be able to tell them how he feels about everything that surrounds him.
In thinking about how to design for Almo, I think how despite our environment, our tools, or technology, and so on will continue to evolve and improve over time, it is the basic human traits that will always be the core of who we are. And designing for these traits is, will, and should always be our guiding principle.
- bring back the movies*
In Transcendence, the truth is, everything Dr. Will Caster did in his life was driven by his desire to stay with his wife Evelyn, the human trait behind this: Love.
In Ex Machina, Caleb the clear-minded engineer falls in love and becomes manipulated by a robot. The human trait behind this: Obsession.
In Robocop, Alex the police officer remembers who he is, and uses his augmented power to put all the fragments of life back in order. The human trait behind this: Revenge.
What will be the human driving force in Almo’s dream? Will it be the technology in his legs or the neurocells in his brain? Or will it be his love for his parents?
Almo is who I use to stretch my capacity to imagine. And I’d love to show you something that I think Almo needed desperately. It is a machine: The Empathy Writer. It would help Almo empathize and communicate.
It is something IDEO imagined as we explored and speculated the potential benefits that intelligent machines can bring to our lives, our work, and our society.
Our thinking was — In the future, our globally connected lives mean we’ll be frequently brought into contact with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Despite the opportunities these networks will present, we will struggle to communicate, as we won’t be equally fluent in the other’s language and culture. What if you could find just the right words to express your feelings? And nothing got lost in translation? The Empathy Writer helps you convey what you mean in a way that will be easily understood.
So in my imagination, Almo would insert two tokens that describe his emotional state. Say, for example, he feels happy about the evening rain but anxious about being surrounded by crowds during the daytime. Then he would insert two tokens that describe his parent’s emotional state. The Empathy Writer would help him compose a letter that conveys his emotional state and expresses how Almo feels, in a way that builds empathy in his parents.
In The Empathy Writer, empathy is amplified.
What would your version of Almo be like?
How would he learn? How would he communicate? How would he get things done? What would be his driving force?
How would you go about designing for his needs?
If the exercise feels a bit difficult, you can always start by asking yourself the same questions. The possibilities are endless. The future is a wonderful place, waiting for all of you. The best part? You might just already be an augmented human, ready for what’s next.
You might just already be an augmented human, ready for what’s next.
You see, in the end, the future sits in designers’ capacity to imagine.
This piece is a written adaptation of a talk I gave at IxDC in 2018 during my time at IDEO. Special thanks to Alice Huang for her guidance through the narrative in it. A video version should be available on the archives of https://ixdc.org/
