Technological nature: adaptation and the future of human life

249 Pages·2012·6.892 MB·English

by  Kahn, Peter H

Technological Nature

Technological Nature
Adaptation and the Future of Human Life
Peter H. Kahn, Jr.
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kahn, Peter H.
Technological nature : adaptation and the future of human life /
Peter H. Kahn, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-11322-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Technological forecasting. 2. Technology — Social aspects. 3. Bionics.
I. Title.
T174.K35 2011
303.48 ′ 3— dc22
2010035834
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction xiii
1 The Old Way 1
2 Biophilia 11
3 The Technological Turn 27
4 A Room with a Technological Nature View 45
5 Offi ce Window of the Future? 65
6 Hardware Companions? 89
7 Robotic Dogs in the Lives of Preschool Children 107
8 Robotic Dogs and Their Biological Counterparts 125
9 Robotic Dogs Might Aid in the Social Development of Children
with Autism 137
10 The Telegarden 151
11 Environmental Generational Amnesia 163
12 Adaptation and the Future of Human Life 185
References 211
Index 225

Acknowledgments
I like trees and people, diffi cult intellectual discussions, and good research.
Thus I have been fortunate to be part of an extraordinarily talented
group— the Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems
(HINTS) Laboratory— at the University of Washington. Current and
recent members include Brian Gill, Nathan Freier, Rachel Severson,
Jolina Ruckert, Aimee Reichert, Solace Shen, Heather Gary, John Lin,
Cady Stanton, Nicole Kennerly, and Lorin Dole. Earlier members also
include Jennifer Abdo, Irene Alexander, Erin Fowler, Amanda Ryan,
Brandon Rich, Jeff Anderson, Louise Wun Choi, Jesse McPherron, Scott
Santens, and Jonathan Sabo.
Thanks, too, to many members of the Value Sensitive Design Group,
directed by Batya Friedman, and including Alan Borning, Lisa Nathan,
Janet Davis, Shaun Kane, and Pedja Klasnja.
Brian Gill directed most of the statistical analyses that underlie the
empirical results I report on in chapters 4 through 10. Mike Eisenberg
(Dean Emeritus of the Information School at the University of Washing-
ton) solved numerous problems that enabled the research. Solace Shen
assisted ably with manuscript preparation.
My daughter, Zoe Kahn, helped me think through some of the ideas
and offered practical advice.
Barbara Dean provided helpful comments on many of the chapters,
and for decades we have discussed many of the ideas of this book
and more.
I extend thanks to other colleagues for our long-standing intellectual
discussions, including Gene Myers, Carol Saunders, Hiroshi Ishiguro,
Takayuki Kanda, Gail Melson, Alan Beck, Karl MacDorman, Cecilia
Wainryb, Charles Helwig, Judi Smetana, and Larry Nucci. Thanks to
viii Acknowledgments
Melanie Killen for encouraging my research when it was emerging, and
when its contributions were not as readily apparent to others. Elliot
Turiel was my graduate advisor and mentor at the University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley, during the 1980s. His infl uence can still be felt throughout
much of this book, and it is still appreciated. Thanks to my editor at
MIT Press, Clay Morgan. This is my third book with him.
Patricia Hasbach provided insights into several of the diffi cult con-
ceptual chapters of this book within the context of our new project on
the rewilding of the human species.
Thanks to Ephraim Glinert, William Bainbridge, and Suzi Iacono at
the National Science Foundation. The research reported in this book has
been supported by the National Science Foundation under grant nos.
IIS-0102558 and IIS-0325035. Any opinions, fi ndings, and conclusions
or recommendations expressed in this book are mine and do not
necessarily refl ect the views of the National Science Foundation.
My empirical research is collaborative, as research of this scope often
is. I extend thanks to my collaborators and to others who assisted with
the research reported in the following empirical chapters.
A Room with a Technological Nature View (Chapter 4)
My collaborators were Batya Friedman, Brian Gill, Jennifer Hagman,
Rachel L. Severson, Nathan G. Freier, Erika N. Feldman, Sybil Carr è re,
and Anna Stolyar. Judith H. Heerwagen, Gordon H. Orians, and James
A. Wise were involved in early discussions about this research.
Offi ce Window of the Future? (Chapter 5)
Batya Friedman was the lead author. My other collaborators were
Nathan G. Freier, Peyina Lin, and Robin Sodeman.
Hardware Companions? (Chapter 6)
My collaborators were Batya Friedman and Jennifer Hagman. Kathleen
Crosman and Joseph Goldberg assisted with data entry, and Ann
Hendrickson assisted with reliability coding. Pamela Hinds and Sara
Acknowledgments ix
Kiesler provided substantive comments on an earlier version of this
reported research.
Robotic Dogs in the Lives of Preschool Children (Chapter 7)
My collaborators were Batya Friedman, Deanne R. Pé rez-Granados, and
Nathan G. Freier. Jeff Anderson, Norma Barajas, Adrian Guzman, Annie
Hendrickson, Josh Kienitz, Ilene Lewis, Sandra Yu Okita, Rachel L.
Severson, and Tyler Stevens assisted with data collection. This research
was funded, in part, by (a) a grant from the University of Washington ’ s
Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning and the Talaris Research Institute
and Apex Foundation, the family foundation of Bruce and Jolene McCaw
to P. H. Kahn, Jr., and B. Friedman, and (b) a gift from Intel Corpora-
tion to B. Friedman and the Information School at the University of
Washington.
Robotic Dogs and Their Biological Counterparts (Chapter 8)
Gail F. Melson was the lead author. My other collaborators were Alan
Beck, Batya Friedman, Trace Roberts, Erik Garrett, and Brian Gill. Brian
Gilbert, Migume Inoue, Oana Georgescu, and Jocelyne Albert assisted
with data collection, transcript preparation, and coding.
Robotic Dogs Might Aid in the Social Development of Children with
Autism (Chapter 9)
Cady M. Stanton was the lead author. My other collaborators were
Rachel L. Severson, Jolina H. Ruckert, and Brian T. Gill. Advanced
Telecommunications Research, and specifi cally Norihiro Hagita, Hiroshi
Ishiguro, and Takayuki Kanda, provided use of their debugger software
system, which we used for reviewing video footage and coding data. Earl
Wilson was involved in discussions about autism at various phases in
this research. Thanks, too, to Daniel Glick, Heidi Shaw, and students at
Yakima Valley Community College and Children’ s Village and the
Autism Resource Team of Yakima, Washington. Along with support
from the National Science Foundation, acknowledged earlier, this