Fractal Prosthetics
Definition
A person’s external devices now allow them to move faster and better (if used correctly) compressing repetitive tasks into simpler things, freeing time (or complicating it). The iPhone is a piece of what we might call "power architecture". That is, it makes us more of a God than almost any other object. The iPhone not only allows one to see anywhere, through YouTube, RSS, and an Internet connection, it is an extension of the eye through its camera, as well as the ability to connect to anyone, anywhere, auditorially.
“When human beings are separated from the devices that grant them access to the global mnemotechnical system, from both the archive of their own lives and the collective record, they experience anxiety. “ http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=492 Infomobility and Technics: some travel notes. 1000 Days of Theory Belinda Barnet
We are gods, unless we forget to plug in our devices. We are gods, unless our cell phones are broken. If they do break, we’re left with broken ears.
If the industrial age was defined by externalization of physical aspects, such as the procurement of a vehicle that allows one’s body to zoom around very quickly and well as be an extension of self, then the information age is defined by the need to transport the mind in an equally fashionable way.
Just like a high-end car dealership, the Apple store is one of the most prominent retailers of prosthetic devices. iPhone/Apple store is the leading retailer of prosthetic devices. Attach to yourself, extend yourself. Power commodity aesthetics. A chromatic blanket of commodities.
The Apple Store has become a museum of prosthetics. The Genius Bar provides advice not the story of prosthetic extensions best absorbed into your lifestyle.
Those who do not purchase iPhone or Apple objects must go to other stores, like Circuit City , where employees are not as well informed, and displays are not as precise.
In a short period of time, mind-extension prosthetics have become fluid. They change constantly.
Topics in Interfaces
Interface Resolution | Interface Culture | The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future | Fractal Prosthetics | Prosthetics And Their Discontents
