Technology is typically created and shaped by developers. However, real breakthroughs lie in diversity of ideas and cross-talk of different fields.
How different cultures react to spider dress
It is not something you see every day, but dresses with spider-like tentacles that react to movement exist. Such a dress was created in 2015 by a Dutch hi-tech fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht. The dress is equipped with two sensors that measure how close the other person is from the wearer. If one enters the wearer’s personal space, the dress reacts by stretching its tentacles. Equally astonishing as the dress, is the reaction to it by people across different cultures.
At our recent event, Wipprecht recounted a story about the spider dress being presented in different places: North America, Europe (The Netherlands), and Asia. While in Asian countries, Wipprecht needed to invite people to approach the dress, in the Netherlands, the dress was reacting in an almost “aggressive mode” because people were standing very close to it. This observation reveals a simple truth that culture influences people’s behaviors and reactions to material things. To disclose another truth about how culture shapes people’s concepts, we need a different story.
Understanding of robots by children in Tanzania and Denmark
In the years 2015 and 2016, a Danish cultural anthropologist Cathrine Hasse asked groups of Tanzanian and Danish children to draw a robot. Because people in these countries have different experiences and media, the drawings were different between the two countries. Tanzanian children mainly drew things that they liked or admired (big cars, the Tanzanian flag), which contrasted with the drawings of Danish children. There, children did not hesitate to draw a robot, although the ways to depict one differed: some Danish children drew it as a machine, while others depicted it as humanoid. This suggests that whether we have a concept of something depends on our experiences: Because of a different media environment, children in Tanzania did not have a concept of what a robot is, whereas Danish children did have it, albeit one largely formed by “media robots” that are typically portrayed as lifelike creatures. Are there drawbacks of not having a concept? Hasse suggests that this inequality could imply that because Danish children can conceive of robots, they can also “influence the design of a robotic future”. Although she adds that it is most likely that children with the hands-on experience with technology are the ones closest to shaping its design.
Technology that grows out of diversity of ideas
Currently, the people with the hands-on experience and computational skills are the ones that shape the technology landscape, including digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI). But it shouldn’t be like that. One problem with this is the risk of creating vast disparities between different groups of people, more so than already is the case. Another issue is that the creation of an important body of technology, of which AI is a prime example, requires everyone’s contribution. This contribution entails people across multiple domains. If we are thinking only in terms of computer science, data science, or neuroscience, we risk missing the role of culture in how people relate to technology, among other things that may matter. Thus, we need to involve other fields, such as linguistics, psychology, anthropology, etc., which can shine a light on different factors, and help create a fairer technology environment. It matters for both fairness and progress who is involved in conceptualizing and creating technology. The more diverse people are involved, the better, whether they are developers, cultural anthropologists, or artists.
Credits
Image by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay
A version of this opinion piece was first published on the Donders Wonders blog