Human(e) Technology Lab
Host Musings and Provocations at the Design Studio
The poem “What Goes Around Comes Around” can be read here.
The poem “Living like a Conveyer” can be read here.
Much of this poem was inspired by a full length interview with my own father that took place on 22 January 2021, excerpts of which can be found below.
Movement 2 - Musical Intervention
Today we will listen to two contrasting pieces of music composed by George Gabriel Michael a 17 year old grade 11 student from the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. The first piece is titled Dystopia (1) and the second piece Tranquility. We ask that you let yourselves run free in the moment of the music and try to open yourselves up to old and new notions of the “Future of Work”.
George Gabriel Michael has written on his YouTube channel as follows. The first piece Dystopia (1) was inspired by David Bowie's mysterious song "Blackstar" and Alex Boya's unique futuristic art. These two beautifully "disturbing" creations seemed the perfect fit. George Gabriel notes, “I saw a dystopia both in the internal and external realms of existence. The place where things lose their place and together with truth and reality they can become distorted and confused. And then the challenge to put the pieces back together again into some recognisable form. In the meantime the horses of the Apocalypse are coming forever closer.”
In the second piece Tranquility George Gabriel Michael reflects on hearing his father, a theologian and historian, say there is a huge difference between the two conditions of solitude and isolation. “Solitude has many positives whilst isolation rarely has any. "Tranquillity" was inspired by those good things which we experience when alone but not absent from community, the assurance that a higher providence is ultimately in control of our journey and that our destiny is not accidental. Alone, at times, yes, but not isolated from love nor from its fruits.”
The poem “Peripheral Vision” can be read here.
The poem “Thingified” can be read here.
The poem “Tethering Hearts” can be read here.
Response to Movement 3 - Part A: What is happening to us?
Last March 2020 I returned to Australia due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I was met with family and friends, and for the first time in years, I was able to say I would be remaining in one location for the foreseeable future. An unexpected return made me appreciate my surroundings even more- for someone who has grown up near the ocean, I was like a fish out of water in Arizona, though I very much appreciated Arizona for what Arizona had to offer- the Grand Canyon, within driving distance of three states, including crossing the border into magnificent Mexico. But if the old adage “there’s no place like home” is anything to come by, I returned to the ocean daily, and took advantage of every single moment I could be out there when I was not working so hard. Going out to nature became my daily treat after a long overnight haul. At first staying awake from 2am Sydney time (9am MST) time was a battle, until my body got used to the time zones. During that period I also chaired an international symposium that went virtual over 27 countries, which was complex, I will never really be able to convey how complex given the participation of 600 authors and delegates. So in a few weeks, this pattern of the “virtual” will be 12 months old and I will celebrate that I’ve not only survived this period of night shift but done quite well. Is this sustainable into the longer term, possibly, but I am not sure I want to entertain that idea for now. It is definitely bearable, but that is likely because I have begun a new exercise regime and sense my body now tensing up if I’ve not moved for some time, which is a call out for getting up off my chair and interacting with the physical space around me, perhaps even going outside, or breaking out into dance. The Sun has also played a huge role in my ability to sleep and get up on time, as well as being a rich source of vitamin for my body. These days I am carrying a perpetual tan, not because I spend copious time outside on weekdays, but because I am outside “a bit at a time” every single day.
During the human(e) tech lab, I presented the below slides and told my story of the last 12 months. It was not poetic as I had envisaged, but raw and real. I told participants that I was not immune to this technological trajectory, just because I was very aware of it. That I too, as a wife and mother of three, struggled with the same things that every other person struggled with. The influence of tech is indiscriminate but some people are potentially “triggered” by it more than others. These individuals need to have a heightened awareness, certainly.
But with respect to the “future of work” and the increasing talk of “human-robot teaming”, we all have to be ready to think about how are future will be impacted, and what role, we ourselves will play in our own destiny. Are we feeling “What?” And if we can give that “What?” a name, how are we to respond? Where are we going with it all? To what ends and what means? In the late 1990s and early 2000s when we had already begun to feel the pressures of laptops, and networks, and videoconferencing, there was a lot of action on "the work-life balance” bit. This work-life balance now seems to be a fallacious claim. Can it be achieved? How? When the two worlds have collided during this time of remote working during COVID-19.
My hope is that I have made participants think by being challenging and provocative and honest with where I believe we are at. I have given quite a few talks recently where I’ve been critical about tech and AI and futures; but where I see a clear right of passage for “public interest technology”. How will we get to this point? Only together :-)
Response to Movement 3- Part B: Reflecting on a new beginning - Sun rising on East Coast of Australia on 26 Feb 2021 - kaboom!
Reflecting on my Participation as Host in the Design Studio
A selection of photos of my father George Vlahos
Overnight, 1 March 2021 in the USA (2nd March here in Australia), I had several important meetings, including my brilliant 502 Public Interest Technology Pitch Challenge Presentations. I quickly took a few snaps from the family albums to try and capture my father’s human spirit. Here are some moments from his “wonderful” life!
Source: Vlahos Family Archives. Top (far left): dad’s first Australian portrait, circa 1964. Top middle (left): dad undertaking compulsory military service in Greece in early 1950s. Top middle (right): dad has always loved to dance and often was at the front of the line leading the Greek dancing as soon as music came on. Top (far right): dad and mum on their wedding day, October 1964. Bottom (far left): dad is a green thumb, everything he plants grows without fail. Bottom middle (left): typical scene from the backyard. Dad with spinach, preparing to share his produce with others, and also getting ready for making spinach pie together with mum. Bottom middle (right): dad proudly showing off his own DIY “lamb spit” on his name day, made out of spare parts (e.g. a washing machine motor abandoned at Tempe Tip). The whole end to end design was his own. He often made outdoor settings, his own ladders, serviced his own vehicle, and even several times fixed my brother’s first computer. Bottom (far right): dad loved to tinker with tools, in this instance, a concrete mixer. My parents have never owned an internet connection, and only recently got a feature phone (mobile with no data/apps) because their home landline connection had become unreliable and required too many service callouts from the incumbent operator. There is something healthy about their lifestyle which is entirely wi-fi and wire free. It can be seen on my parent’s faces, despite their age, they are free from the burdens of connectivity for the greater part.