Humanizing Technology

We are the Millennials, the last generation born before our everyday lives took over the simulating technology devices. We live right through the rapid change with thunders of innovation and the one proving our vulnerability towards being reshaped in mind and lifestyle is the invention of the World Wide Web. Is for instance regularized formatting of individuals into the same avatar profiles the right way to design our social networks? We seem to forget to question this constantly used tool only a number of hidden technologists preset for us. We are able to rebel against many political setups in real life, but we accept every change and update in the virtual world without hesitance. We became constantly available society. And we became overwhelmed with the amount of information and speed of daily events and productivity expectations. No matter how undoubtedly easing this invention was for our subsequently globalized exchanging world; clearly something about the progress swamped us further from our human predisposition and natural cycles. Could the patterns of our behavior aroused in the cyberspace have something in common with the issues we face even in the reality? Computers rationalized our environments and it seems that we are loosing bit of the empathy and the gene to cooperate and instead mainly cherish the capitalistic competitiveness, which undoubtedly creates an age of improved knowledge and economical success, but also ignorance and rage.

The Thesis of Alice Fialová takes this case of affective technological invention as a starting point of a research exploring what originally comprises the human gene and how can we preserve human in the advanced technology in order to not subjugate to our tools exceeding the intelligence of an individual. She addresses her own generation (Millennials of the First World), which compared to the previous ones experiences the excess of things beyond its needs, showing that the unreasonable overconsumption (from food to entertainment) harms not only the nature itself, but also our otherwise intelligent natural predispositions that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to loose. Her research touches upon facts that prove the congenital goodness in us and tries to bring back our intuitive perception over the rationalized profit driven approach irretrievably reshaping our living systems.

Within these ascertainments, Alice Fialová seas especially the creative people to be the ones having the potential to question the directions of our uncontrolled rush for progress, which tends to disregard many important aspects to (a balanced) life. Critical design tends to dramatize information trying to bring people into action, but it seems people are ignorant and remorseless. This research however prompts this might not be something conclusive as our human nature is originally very generous and suggests it could only be the consequence of being constantly overloaded with information giving people too much of a headache to process any more of negative propositions. Shouldn’t then design apply the positive psychology reminding people of their benevolence rather than their mistakes in order to trigger the positive change? Should Graphic designers play the role of the mirrors or the shock absorbers of this age? Shouldn’t we offer people some oasis within these precarious times? She believes our generation of designers should design our environments and the technology gadgets to suit our natural needs on top of our wants which only lead us by now to exhaust the resources of our only planet. Let the anger turn into compassion and the compassion into participation.