Workshops - UbiComp

HUMAN SENSES AND ABSTRACT DANGERSOur hard-wired sense apparatus is not suitable to sense themodern dangers in an array of fear stories. We are onlyhardwired to deal with sudden or physical dangers, such asapproaching cars, burning fires or rotten food. But we do nothave the instincts to sense the abstract and deferred dangersthat have a huge effect on our daily lives, like stock marketcrashes and the rising oil price.Figure 3. Raised neck hair and increased alertness throughphysical stimulationFigure 2. Fear Tuners – Form prototypeI propose to face this inability with the implementation ofwearable devices (Figure 2) as prostheses for these instinctsto be able to sense the deferred and abstract dangers oftoday.SKIN AS INTERFACEWhen we sense a physical danger, a set of bodily reactionscomes into action. We can feel cold shivers that run downour spines, get goose bumps, sweaty hands, our neck hairraises and we start to tremble. The most extreme of thesereflexes is the so-called 'fight or flight response' that jumpsinto action, whenever we are faced with a sudden attack [2].In this state, our pupils have narrowed and we have lostperipheral vision, we have an accelerated heart and lungactivity, and nutrient has been released to our muscles,among many others, to get us ready for action [7]. None ofthese physical manifestations is voluntarily chosen or theoutcome of an intellectually driven thought process.Instead, they are the immediate reflexes to an instinctsensing danger.These processes are hard-wired into our bodies as a resultof evolution, even though we rarely encounter emergenciesthat require physical effort.Fear Tuners as prostheses for instincts proposes to use theskin as an interface to stimulate similar physical sensations(Figure 3), as described in the preceding paragraph. FearTuners create an equally immediate and intense experience.Referring on the concept of body-to-emotion-feedback, byPaul Ekman, who describes how voluntary facial actions arecapable to generate changes in both autonomic and centralnervous system, I propose that wearing Fear Tuners willsimilarly result into changed mental state. By inducing a setof physical reactions normally related to fear, such as raising aperson’s neck hair or generating cold shivers and goosebumps, a state of increased awareness will be generated [4].Figure 4. Visualization – Stimulation of cold shivers related tothe current inflation rateAUGMENTATION OF HUMAN INSTINCTS TO PERCEIVEGLOBAL DATAFear Tuners are wearable devices, which act directly on theskin. Wireless technology links them to a piece of softwarethat harvests the internet for related data streams, e.g. stockmarket data, oil price etc. Whenever a severe change in dataoccurs, the device passes on a sensation to the wearer.15