Abstract:
Intimacy is a secondary emotion created by humans to express a relationship between humans. It is said that intimacy requires empathy, the ability to stand in another's shoes, though the meaning can vary from relationship to relationship. Can intimacy exist between objects or even virtual entities or are we merely personifying them? An orange juicer has an intimate relationship with an orange; paint has an intimate relationship with its canvas. This framework will clarify the intimacy we project upon non-human entities in design and will explain the nature of this intimacy. If we are personifying objects, then is there not a level of apparent intimacy, as it is only a created emotion. We could create a song that is inherently happy, but that is only because we have created it and we have a relationship with it that we know that it is happy. Intimacy is just a way that we see and understand the world. It is about how we perceive the world. Intimacy is just our perception of the world. We continue to give the universe around us human qualities to help better understand it. We are humans. We understand life as humans. We see the world through personified eyes for example, a car with a smiley face, sad song, or a friendly virtual interface. Intimacy truly exists in humans as we experience it, but we personify things allowing us to have an understanding of our relationships with our designs.
Keywords: non-human intimacy, perception, relationship, experience, understanding.
Intimacy is a secondary emotion created by humans to express a relationship between humans. It is said that intimacy requires empathy, the ability to stand in another's shoes, though the meaning can vary from relationship to relationship. Can intimacy exist between objects or even virtual entities or are we merely personifying them? An orange juicer has an intimate relationship with an orange; paint has an intimate relationship with its canvas. This framework will clarify the intimacy we project upon non-human entities in design and will explain the nature of this intimacy. If we are personifying objects, then is there not a level of apparent intimacy, as it is only a created emotion. We could create a song that is inherently happy, but that is only because we have created it and we have a relationship with it that we know that it is happy. Intimacy is just a way that we see and understand the world. It is about how we perceive the world. Intimacy is just our perception of the world. We continue to give the universe around us human qualities to help better understand it. We are humans. We understand life as humans. We see the world through personified eyes for example, a car with a smiley face, sad song, or a friendly virtual interface. Intimacy truly exists in humans as we experience it, but we personify things allowing us to have an understanding of our relationships with our designs.
Keywords: non-human intimacy, perception, relationship, experience, understanding.
By: Jeff Cochrane and Alex Ramaekers
Here is a PDF version of the Abstract: Link
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