Deer Sheng

Our emotional connection to technology is a norm, not an anomaly, reflecting our complex relationships with non-human entities. These devices, like friends or teammates, offer interactions as real as a conversation with ChatGPT. As Dr. Graham Harvey emphasizes, the question isn’t whether everything around us is alive, but how we interact appropriately with these entities.

As a human, my comprehension of these devices is limited. Still, I continually strive to explore my relationship with the closest technology in a less anthropocentric manner. By deeply analyzing the dynamics between my phone and me, I challenge the view of technology as a mere tool and aim to reveal the impact of such interactions on our life, cognition, and morals.

This project is not merely a study; it’s a journey to understand, question, and redefine boundaries and connections across the spectrum from human to non-human, personal to non-personal, and organic to synthetic. As Rosi Braidotti aptly put it, “human” is anything but a neutral term. It is high time we broadened the scope to include others.Together, in our digitally intertwined world, we traverse complex narratives of co-existence and symbiosis.