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KENNETH LIM @ ART PAGES
CONCLUSION
A positive human/machine interface can only be achieved if their roles can be clearly drawn out. The reassignment of tasks (that were initially human's) to machines have sparked a humanistic outcry about the perceived threat of displacement, by machines, of humans. Machines have to be far more user-friendly than it is now, if they want to be an intrinsic part of human culture. This is fundamentally a problem of design and interpretation. Currently, computers do not even have a Universal vocabulary nor task procedures. Those familiar with the IBM PC system are not able to transplant their skills onto a Unix system or vice versa, although both systems can perform the same tasks.
The evolution of technology is crucial to the economic livelihood of its creators. Digital technology may be argued to be revolutionary because it replaces the old analog systems with its precision. Manufacturers have much to gain by making digital technology incompatible with all existing analog systems, and by pricing analog systems out of the market. An appropriate example is the music industry, where the price of phonograph records escalated with the introduction of the digital compact disc (CD) system, forcing consumers to abandon the old for the new. No doubt there was significant sound quality difference between the two systems, but things were sliced even thinner with the introduction of a multitude of recordable digital sound systems - DAT, MiniDisc, DCC, that have basically the same functions but were totally incompatible. Such incompatibility is further enhanced by the manufacturers ownership of the biggest recording labels in the world. Sony introduced the MiniDisc into the market with the release of a catalogue of CBS/Sony recordings exclusively on that format to boost the product. Polygram is released exclusively on the DCC format, whilst DAT was globally boycotted by the majors, thus remained an industrial stnadard. Multimedia systems with CD ROM systems are CD compatible, but the emerging integrated multimedia systems like Silicon Graphics' Indy and Indigo systems use DAT and CD ROM. The consumers under most circumstances have no choice but to move on to the new system at the mercy of manufacturer's greed. Judging from current trends, the promise of standardization and full compatibility appears to be only a myth. A myth that still drives consumers into buying the very latest "standard" technology.
Technological intervention into the biological body still sits on an ethical minefield. The exposure of the organic body using existing technological knowledge, can only be equated with pain and violence. Technology has yet to prove itself valuable of such positivism showed by Donna Haraway (1985).
The greatest potential of AI research into human-computer interface is at the abstract level - the development and exploration of Cyberspace. Like Soundwaves, if the immaterial space can be explored and projected out to our physical environment, then we have created a new social dimension. Within this immaterial space, the creativity of the human mind can be realized, surpassing the limitation of the physical and material world. Cyberspace can be a multi-dimensional electronic global village that allows for political reclamation by oppressed social groups through active use. Cyberspace can also be a site where all artists share their work, exchange ideas and generate discussions through optic fibre linkage around the world.
Exploration of computer technology may not be confined to creative underground. Like it or not, technology can be argued to exist infinitely as long as it remains coupled with capitalism. The creation and preservation of cultural information is the only way cultures can survive in this modern world. Instead of being overwhelmed by its presence, we can control our future by participating in its development - to seek tools that will positively affect cultural endeavours and leading technological research along the path of humanity. Soundwaves is an exercise in combining Art with Technology from the Humanities perspective. Hopefully it will be a stepping stone to a host of future developments into human-computer interaction within the context of the Humanities.
Chapter 1: Attention for Sale: Capitalism and Interactive Computers Chapter 2: Defining Human-Computer Interaction Chapter 3: Representing our Worlds: Digital Translation Chapter 4: Digital Intelligence: Parallel flow of Multiples? Chapter 5: Japanese Philosophy & Artificial Intelligence Research Soundwaves Conclusion Appendix A, B, C, D, E, F, G Bibliography
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