Machine Horizons
Post-Phenomenological AI Studies
The philosophical framework of post-phenomenology is applied in human-computer interaction (HCI), engineering and ethics, as it argues that technologies mediate human-world relations, and investigates how practices and experiences are brought forth by actual technologies. However, post-phenomenology struggles to account for information technologies, as these usually withdraw from experience. This leads to the objective of my PhD research: how can we enable post-phenomenological AI studies?
My main theoretical contribution is an expanded model of technological mediation (see above) which allows for analyses of how technologies, even if they do not ‘appear’ in experience, still shape the latter—such how Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm embeds users in tightly controlled paths for self-formation (see right). In part, I derive this model from theoretical work. Additionally, a core part of my PhD research lies also in deploying design research as philosophy-in-practice to provoke post-phenomenology to account for AI. Two examples of such projects are linked below.
- Entoptic Field CameraEntoptic Field Camera Part of Post-Phenomenological AI Studies and Entoptic Media Inspired by the appearance of skies in photos of the 2020 California wildfires (i.e., deep reds appeared blueish-grayish), I […]
- ML Uncertainty as a Design MaterialMachine Learning Uncertainty as a Design Material Part of Post-Phenomenological AI Studies and Entoptic Media In this project, I conducted post-phenomenological analyses of four projects from different methodological strands of […]