Stimulacrum
Treating Driverlessness
Role: Lead Speculative Designer, Fabricator, Director, Videographer, Script-writer.
Collaborators: Sophie Riendeau, Rachel Murray
As part of the Driverless Dreams studio, we wanted to address the fear that automation gets embedded not just in our technology but in our minds as well. How can we protect ourselves from this fate?
We established the speculative laboratory Stimulacrum, who has been conducting research attempting to reconcile the degradation of the human at the microlevel. As Stimulacrum, we designed a Dashboard Delivery System for Biochemical Remediation, which creates a biofeedback loop with the vehicle allowing citizens to be in direct interaction with their neurotransmitter and hormonal levels. In this way, an autonomous ride becomes a journey into the self rather than a leaching of the self.
I helped to frame our speculative worldview, pushing us from the the potentially whimsical into a more biopolitical engagement. I scripted many of the presentations, as well as shot and directed our final output, a short film depicting three case studies of various ages and neuro-need testing our wearable dashboard.
Below is the script of our final presentation with some accompanying slides and the film of the three case studies. We performed as three lab technicians from Stimulacrum premiering our new wearable dashboard.
The power of automation and predictive analytics has left Big Data in charge of the world. Unfortunately this computational ability has been solely concerned with mitigating risk. As a result, a sterile world of automation has begun to evolve. While mobility algorithms allow vehicles to travel at incredible speeds, pushing the bounds of what is physically possible, they are still governed by outdated laws such as speed limits. As a result losing control of what once gave us such a thrill, scientists have determined that we are at risk of diminishing hormonal and biochemical levels. Stimulacrum has been conducting experimental research attempting to reconcile this degradation of the human at the microlevel. Join us as we unveil our Dashboard Delivery System for Biochemical Remediation which creates a biofeedback loop with the vehicle allowing citizens to be in direct interaction with their neurotransmitters, using vehicles to affect their levels.
Our society has come a long way since the near suicidal infrastructure of the early 21st century. A time when almost anyone could get behind the wheel of a car. Now the power of automation and predictive analytics has eradicated most of the physical risks of the world and, with the human driving of cars made illegal, we have never been safer. Yet, even as mobility algorithms free us of driving and allow vehicles to travel at incredible speeds, we are left in an increasingly sterile world of mindless transportation. Automated infrastructure is imposed on the population. With little feedback from the individual, it is a system of control which leaves the participant numb.
Our research has revealed that as automation increases, our neurotransmitters will decrease, which may leave us as mindless as the technology which controls us. Left unchecked we believe this technology will divorce us from what it means to be a human being at a biochemical level. Without the appropriate stimuli, we may simply stop producing these chemicals. We risk undoing millions of years of evolution and quickly transforming ourselves into automatons. In attempt to reconcile this degradation we present Stimulacrum’s Dashboard Delivery System for Biochemical Remediation.
Made of our transepidermal detection mesh, allowing for full body sensing, it connects with the vehicle allowing citizens to be in direct interaction with their neurotransmitters using vehicles to effect levels. Neurotransmitters come in two categories: excitatory and inhibitory. Excitatory neurotransmitters cause fire ‘action potentials’ – essentially an electrical signal – whilst inhibitory neurotransmitters prevent action potentials being fired. You can think of these as the gas pedal and steering wheel.
We believe creating a bio-feedback loop with the vehicle puts the steering wheel back in the hands of our bodies. This loop is created by the physical connection of the garment to the vehicle and is mediated by an algorithm.
At our laboratory, we have spent months rigorously testing our intelligent biodriver system. We have tested two hundred people. This large amount has been important in order to teach our algorithm how to appropriately identify drivers biochemically. In communication with the mesh, the algorithm creates a biochemical identity for the driver which determines the journey.
Here are just a few of the many biochemical identities generated by our algorithm. The colors reflect the inhibitory and exhibitory levels of biochemicals in the person. With the shape being determined by the traits and maturation of the individual.Which is why it's been important to test with populations of all ages. As we grow and mature over time, our biochemistry changes, from childhood to adulthood.
The experience of the Dashboard Delivery System for Biochemical Remediation (DDSBR) must therefore be tailored to the various stages of life. How do we allow adolescents to safely rebel as he goes through puberty? As people reach old age, how can their vehicles help exercise their minds and help keep them mentally in shape. With that in mind, we’d like to show you a few short cases studies.
The system certainly is not perfected yet. Some of our test subjects have, how do we say this, figured out how to take advantage of the system. It seems if you are more in touch with your body you have more control than we expected. The Dalai Lama could probably start a racing team...
Prototyping and Research
I believe it is important to peel back the curtain on speculative projects so the moves and decisions can be analyzed. This project because by wondering simply what happens to the future of the road trip? The freedom which cars mean? Kids street racing? Just married? These rites of passage attached to vehicles dissolve away. Rites of passage are also tied to physical changes in the body, be the pubescent or menopausal. The leap we made was in tying these body functions to the vehicals themselves.
New Infrastucture for Rio
An early idea considered changing the actually infrastructure to be more exciting. Turning an entire city into an amusement park like place so that a ride to a destination is like a rollercoaster.
Freedom CUlt
At another point we were considering this culture who lived totally free with every changing identities and costumes...it obviously felt too like Burning Man...
Bubble Test Beds
Another idea was to create a series of domed test-beds where each possible lose of "humanity" could be experimented on.
At one point, we were building out whole car interiors to project onto. This prototyping phase proved crucial in helping to manifest the interface. We were initially using projection mapping, but eventually a simple overlay in aftereffects was the best move. We built a homemade blackbox soundstage and filmed a series of actors wearing the garment.
