University of Twente Student Theses
Augmented postphenomenology : a (post)phenomenological and ethical exploration of Google Glass
Harg, Ben van der (2014) Augmented postphenomenology : a (post)phenomenological and ethical exploration of Google Glass.
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| Abstract: | On April 4, 2012 Google publically announced the existence of a new wearable computer we know today as Google Glass. Over the past two years Google Glass has provoked considerable discussion due to its functionality, design, and the concerns it raised about privacy. In my thesis I first assess the various claims and expectations that have been raised about Google Glass, based on the history of the field of wearable computing, in order to obtain a nuanced picture of what Google Glass currently is, might become in the near future when a consumer edition comes out, and could potentially become in the far future (~2019). Building on this empirical foundation, I argue that Google Glass raises two challenges for postphenomenology. First, the Google Glass gesture and speech recognition features do not really fit the typical visual metaphors, and the current level of abstraction (cf. Floridi, 2008) that postphenomenology currently adopt. Second, some Google Glass explorers have developed augmented reality applications for Google Glass. However, the hermeneutic / epistemological consequences of these applications (i.e. how they change the way we understand the world and people) seem hard to address from a postphenomenological point of view. Based on the work Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Alva Noë, and Don Ihde I augment postphenomenology, and thereby address the first challenge. Based on the work of the Hans-Georg Gadamer I address the second challenge. In the final chapter I use this augmented version of postphenomenology to explore and clarify a number of ethical issues raised by Google Glass. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 08 philosophy |
| Programme: | Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society MSc (60024) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/66531 |
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