Material Matters: Human Values and the Longer View

Whether you aspire to Weiser's [4] disappearing technology of ubiquitous computing or Negroponte's [3] atoms to bits or something in-between, there is something inescapably material about the digital. How much more so when the goal is hybridity: the bridging of atoms with bits. In this keynote, I examine the intersection of this hybridity with human values-in the present and in the longer term. I situate my remarks in the observation that our scientific and technological capacities have and will continue to far surpass our moral ones - that is our ability to use wisely and humanely the knowledge and tools that we develop. My reflections are grounded in the intellectual traditions of value sensitive design [1] and multi-lifespan design [2]. I take up such questions as: What human values and human impacts are implicated by hybridity and, in particular, hybrid materials? From this perspective of human values, are all hybrid materials the same? Is embedding computation in my glove the same as in my finger? Or are some materials deserving of special status? And, if so, in what ways? What cultural considerations come to the fore? What of non-humans? Turning to metaphor and mental models, what metaphors should be developed for hybrid materials? And in what ways will those highlight and hide embedded computation? What mental models should be associated with these materials? How will these models position people to think about their relationship with hybrid materials, including when to use them, how to adapt them, when to dispose of them, and when to eschew them? More generally, what constitutes responsible innovation around hybrid materials and how should we go about pursuing it? To gain purchase on these questions, I use the frame of value scenarios and anticipatory futures. My comments highlight the importance of taking the material impacts of the digital seriously. At stake is nothing less than what sort of society we want to live in and how we experience our humanity.