My name is Jari Friis Jørgensen, and I am a student of Information and Media Studies at the University of Aarhus, in Aarhus, Denmark. At the moment I am living in New York City and working on my Thesis as a research scholar at SUNY, Stony Brook. The working title of my thesis is: "AIBO DOGS: Artificiality from Science Proper to the Toy Industry". In my thesis I attempt to explore the burgeoning presence of the artificial in both the lofty realm of "Science" as such and in the banality of everyday life. This burgoening is concommitant of course with the increasing pervasiveness of computers, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and most recently, "Artificial Life" (AL). I also investigate the phenomenon of "simulation", particularly in regard to its manifestation in intelligent toys such as the LEGO corporation's "Mindstorms" and the popular computer game "Creatures". Furthermore, my research on the problematic of the apparent symmetries between human and non-human "actants", as Bruno Latour would put it, finds itself siuated mostly within the locus of modern Science Studies. This research presently includes the investigation of how precisely both people and things are mutually constituted via their two-way interactions. I submit in my thesis that the one is apt to influence the other in the complex of their mutual constitution in a much more egalitarian manner than has been previously either generally analysed or recognized. Any questions, comments, insights, or critiques would be more than welcome. Regards, Jari Friis Jørgensen |
