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Postphenomenology and Human Constitutive Technicity: How Advances in AI Challenge Our Self-Understanding
Full text linkIn this paper, I aim to assess whether postphenomenology’s ontological framework is suitable for making sense of the most recent technoscientific developments, with special reference to the case of AI-based technologies. First, I will argue that we may feel diminished by those technologies seemingly replicating our higher-order cognitive processes only insofar as we regard technology as playing no role in the constitution of our core features. Secondly, I will highlight the epistemological tension underlying the account of this dynamic submitted by postphenomenology. On the one hand, postphenomenology’s general framework prompts us to conceive of humans and technologies as mutually constituting one another. On the other, the postphenomenological analyses of particular human-technology relations, which Peter-Paul Verbeek calls cyborg relations and hybrid intentionality, seem to postulate the existence of something exclusively human that technology would only subsequently mediate. Thirdly, I will conclude by proposing that postphenomenology could incorporate into its ontology insights coming from other approaches to the study of technology, which I label as human constitutive technicity in the wake of Peter Sloterdijk’s and Bernard Stiegler’s philosophies. By doing so, I believe, postphenomenology could better account for how developments in AI prompt and possibly even force us to revise our self-representation. From this viewpoint, I will advocate for a constitutive role of technology in shaping the human lifeform not only in the phenomenological-existential sense of articulating our relation to the world but also in the onto-anthropological sense of influencing our evolution
Adaptive Reuse of Urban Heritage in Contested Urban Contexts: The Case of Acre in Israel
No full textThe world is facing global challenges that are dramatically changing the social and physical environments, resulting in cultural confrontation. Rapid urban growth, and gentrification increase urban pressure while jeopardizing social cohesion, multicultural values and local economies. Moreover, environmental factors associated with climate change challenge the way cities respond and adapt, as their assets have to be re-designed to meet the current and future generation needs.
One response to these challenges is adaptive reuse, the transformation of the function of an underused structure into a new use. This process turns the cities’ elements in decline into development catalysers. The adaptation to these changes is often a source of conflict, as urban policies lack citizen engagement in the redefinition of public space, resulting in more disagreement. This is particularly acute when addressing contested communities, as their continuous evolution directly influence the adaptation of cultural heritage.
Considering these aspects, this research question is responded: ‘How can socio-spatial conflicts that result from contested identities be mitigated through the adaptive reuse of urban heritage?’.
The relations between Adaptive Reuse, Urban Heritage and Contested Identities are studied, resulting in the research’s objective: to develop an integrative methodology to evaluate urban heritage adaptive reuse alternatives in contested urban contexts, using the case of Acre (Israel).
This final outcome is proposed as a tool for decision-makers and urban planners that provides information-based results to be applied in urban design practice, aiming to translate the theory into practice, and to bridge the gap between global goals and local issues
More-Than-Human Footprints
Full text linkThis issue of Footprint explores techn-natural spatialities and materialities found across operational landscapes of primary production. To the extent that these landscapes are increasingly automated and digitised, production and circulation practices are becoming more capital intensive and even less labour-intensive. While amplifying the precarity of human labour, this process relies on appropriating the work of more-than-human assemblages of machines, plants, animals and microorganisms. Central to the focus of this issue is understanding the way these processes are grounded in specific architectural and landscape configurations. In this way, we also aim to complement the debates on past issues of Footprint, offering an investigation of the impact of technological transformations beyond the concentrated landscapes of human inhabitation.
Reviews and Responses for Investigation of Point Merge Utilization Worldwide Using Opensky Network Data
Full text linkSee detailed reviews and responses in the PDF file.
DOI for the original paper: https://doi.org/10.59490/joas.2023.721
Reviews and Responses for Scaling the Timing-Based Detection of Anomalies in Real-World Aircraft Trajectories
Full text linkSee detailed reviews and responses in the PDF file.
DOI for the original paper: https://doi.org/10.59490/joas.2023.749
Mediation and Anti-Mediation : Re-Evaluating the Role of AI Breakdowns and Anomalies in Postphenomenology
Full text linkThe paper claims that traditional postphenomenology has not fully acknowledged the significance of breakdowns and anomalies in technology, as it is overly influenced by Heidegger\u27s tool analysis and the dichotomy between ready-to-hand and present-at-hand. This approach means that classical postphenomenology prioritizes the aspects of usage and functionality, dismissing a broken artifact as mere detritus irrelevant to technological mediation. Therefore, to truly grasp the role of breakdowns and anomalies within technological mediation, a shift in the conceptual framework is necessary. Consequently, the paper suggests improving the concept of technological mediation with the idea of immunization, as developed by Sloterdijk and Esposito. This shift in perspective allows us to a) move beyond the Heideggerian dichotomy, b) reassess the preeminence of usage and functionality, and c) recognize the boundaries of technological mediation. The paper refers to some of these boundaries as "anti-mediations," which are cases of unbalanced or excessive mediation. It posits that in the realm of AI, breakdowns and anomalies are not just setbacks but invaluable moments that safeguard against the pitfalls of anti-mediation. This viewpoint significantly enriches our comprehension of AI, spotlighting its role not merely as a tool but as a dynamic participant in shaping the balance between effective mediation and overreach. By recognizing the constructive role of errors and disruptions in AI systems, we gain profound insights into how AI can evolve and be steered towards fostering more meaningful human-technology interactions, steering clear of the risks associated with anti-mediation
Generative artificial intelligence and collective remembering. The technological mediation of mnemotechnic values
Full text linkThis paper shows that generative artificial intelligence is changing how the past is revealed to humans and how humans remember the past by reshaping the ethics of collective remembering and forgetting. Artificial intelligence is changing the nature of collective memory in a process that turns history from an object of media representation into an object of algorithmic performativity. By relying on the framework of postphenomenology, the analysis shows that artificial intelligence makes humans engage with notions of togetherness and boundlessness, gradually substituting issues of authenticity and accuracy as main referential frames in historical knowledge production. Consequentially, artificial intelligence mediates a dialogic version of historical awareness, which makes the past responsive to the distributed actions of human and non-human assemblages. In this process, generative artificial intelligence redefines what it means to be responsible and accountable in preserving, transmitting and promoting historical legacy by putting to work new mnemotechnic values
Japanese Architect Yoshikazu Uchida’s Planning Techniques for Blocks and Plots: His Research on Domestic and Overseas Cases During the Pre-World War II Period
Full text linkJapanese architect Yoshikazu Uchida (1885–1972) is known for his creation of large-scale urban plans for suburban residential areas in Japan and overseas colonial settlements. This study aimed to better understand Uchida’s planning techniques for blocks and plots, and sought to clarify the formation of these techniques based on domestic and international case studies during the pre-WWII period. Using a literature survey research method, this study analysed “block and plot” materials preserved in Uchida’s collections, including a notebook in which he hand-copied from Japanese and foreign literature. Firstly, the author mainly utilized the Garden City plan (1919–1922) and a residential area plan (1933) for agricultural migrants to Manchuria to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the blocks and plots planned by Uchida. Next, the author identified the original of his handwritten notes to show that Uchida collected examples from Japan and abroad in the pre-WWII period and compared the size and layout of blocks and plots. This study reveals that Uchida was open to overseas influences and that he developed his own planning techniques. The findings hold significance regarding the establishment of the neighbourhood unit and land readjustment in Japan
Research on the Interactive Relationship between the Spatial Evolution of Handicraft Production and the State Form in the Pre-Qin Capital
Full text linkThe period from pre-Qin to Han Dynasty in ancient China was an important stage of the transformation from “kingdom” to “empire”. The research on the productive space that served and supplied the power subjects in the capital cities of ancient China with the theocratic system was a part of the previous capital research which was less noticed. Meanwhile, the research value of the handicraft workshop space in the economic archaeology has not been taken into account. In this study, 16 major capital cities with relatively abundant archaeological data from the Three Dynasties to the Qin and Han Dynasties were selected, and the layout, location, attributes and spatial form of the handicraft workshops in these cities were compared and summarized by using the published archaeological reports and other materials related to handicraft workshops through the classification and time-sharing analyses of the relic information. It was found that, as time passed, the evolution of the handicraft workshops space in the pre-Qin capital city showed several features, such as the marginalization of the spatial location, the hierarchization of the industrial categories, and the scalization of production areas. (1) The handicraft production space expanded to the outer region of the capital city, which was gradually far away from the palace area space over time. (2) Craft production space area was gradually scaled up, with the emergence of a centralized handicraft production area. (3) There were hierarchical differences in handicraft industry categories, manifesting the spatial distribution differences between ceremonial and practical handicraft locations. During the Three Dynasties, the demand for the spatial production of ceremonial articles represented by bronzes was higher than the practical demand, and after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the demand for practicality gradually began to increase over that for ceremonial products.The change of the state form was a decisive factor in the spatial layout of handicraft production. In the early capital cities, the important government-run handicraft production space was part of the “state apparatus” and belonged to the power space. The military ideology and the way of war were the secondary most important factors affecting the spatial layout of the production, especially in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. Generally speaking, the status of productive space is declining with the enhancement of state power
Study on the Evolution of Public Space in Historic Cities from the Perspective of Changing Needs of Users: A Case of Harbin City, China
Full text linkAs a witness and carrier of urban history, the evolution of public spaces is of significant importance for the study of urban historical and cultural preservation. Harbin, a representative historical city in Northeast China, emerged gradually in 1898 due to the construction of the Middle East Railway. During this period, Chinese and foreign nationals coexisted and jointly built the city, marking a unique historical period.This paper presents an in-depth study of the evolution of public spaces in Harbin\u27s historical urban areas from 1898 to 1945, with a focus on changes in user needs. The paper analyses the urban construction background of Harbin, explores the changes and characteristics of user needs in public spaces, and details the evolution of Harbin\u27s public spaces from 1898 to 1945. This encompasses the initial foundation period, functional evolution period, and cultural reshaping period. This demonstrates the construction of the public space framework, the diverse development of functions, and the integration of multifunctionality. This study not only reveals the patterns of evolution in Harbin\u27s public spaces, but also provides valuable references for the study of public spaces in other historical cities