Being Human: Exploring the Social Relations between Humans and Intimate Technological Others in Everyday Life

Everywhere we go, we are confronted with, guided by and welcomed by ever more interactive technologies that are not only occupying a physical space around us, but also a significant place in our hearts, minds and bodies. This thesis argues and empirically demonstrates that our sense of self and social rituals are being impacted by technologies that are not just tools, but veritable Others with different agential capacities. That is, people form social relations of association and difference (i.e. Othering) with nonhumans that highlight what it means to be human. The growing intimacy between many technologies and people is slowly changing what it means to be human. This thesis is an inquiry into the ways in which different intimate technological Others are impacting our identities and sociality. This investigation starts by conceptualizing technology as an intimate Other, followed by an overview and reflection into two broader theoretical stances - humanism and posthumanism - on what it means to be human. In this subchapter, the discussion then focuses on the concept of agency and the way it is used throughout this thesis. Subchapter three (1.3) introduces the four main intimate Others that were explored in this thesis (i.e. humanoid robots, video games, social media platforms and voice assistants). Subchapter four (1.4) argues that the impact intimate technological Others have on humans is empirically illustrated through interactions and socio-technical imaginaries. The introductory chapter is followed by the methodological section (Chapter 2), which reflects on the qualitative methods used throughout this thesis' four case studies. The discussion in this chapter is focused on the way such methods have impacted the research and the way the data was analyzed. This chapter is meant to complement each of the case studies that, already, have their own methodological sections, which present other details (e.g., the number and length of interviews). The chapter is structured into four subchapters that discuss the implementation of digital ethnography, in-depth interviews, focus groups and data analysis. Chapter three, four, five and six are the main case studies - published or soon to be published articles - of this thesis. Chapter three investigates peoples' fear based imaginaries of three humanoid technological Others. Here we show that humanoid robots and digital influencers are seen as distant and frightening Others that have the ability to threaten peoples' ontological security. Ensuing this, Chapter four looks at the ways players humanize different characters in two role-playing video game franchises - The Witcher and Dragon Age. In contrast to Chapter three, this article shows that people experience video game characters as Others with whom they can identify and connect. Furthermore, the humanization of virtual characters is shown to have an impact not only on our understanding of humanness, but also social relations. Chapter five expands the discussion on video games by showing how the sociality of gamers is shaped by social media platforms through various mechanisms of disclosure. Lastly, Chapter six interrogates the impact of voice assistants in peoples' everyday life and the way agency is distributed between humans and such technology in different domestic and public contexts. In conclusion, the thesis argues - based on four case studies - that intimate technological Others present three general capabilities - emotional, disciplinary and disruptive. This agential typology is based on the ways in which the different technologies in the four case studies have affected peoples' everyday rituals and social interactions. The conclusion continues by following the argument that peoples' humanization and understanding of intimate technological Others mirrors our sense of self and human identity. The last two subchapters of the conclusion are reserved for a broader debate on posthumanist assumptions and subjectivity, and a more speculative section that discusses the potential societal implications of our continuous interconnections with intimate technological Others.

Publication year:2021

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