Technology as Mediation : On the Processes of Engineering and Reception of the Entertainment Robot "AIBO"(<Special Theme>Anthropology of Science and Technology)
Keywords: moments of juncture, artificial intelligence, design, interpretation, technical mediation
The entertainment robot "AIBO," which was first marketed by Sony in 1999, has attracted many people as the first robot designed for everyday life. In this paper, I analyze both the engineering and reception of AIBO in order to question the relationship between science and culture, which can be seen in technology. In recent years, many authors have pointed out that technology has social or cultural aspects. However, it is difficult to grasp technology comprehensively because of its manifold nature. Because of that difficulty, authors in various academic fields tend to criticize each other for reducing the analysis of technology to a restricted framework of a particular academic field. To avoid that, and to grasp the dynamics of technology, I focus mainly on two instances in the case of AIBO in which elements belonging to different domains are connected.
* The full English abstract is available at the end of the PDF file.
Akinori Kubo, "Technology as Mediation ", contributed by Yoko Taguchi, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 12 August 2018, accessed 30 November 2024. http://840533.x1xx6jdw.asia/content/technology-mediation
Critical Commentary
Technology as Mediation : On the Processes of Engineering and Reception of the Entertainment Robot "AIBO"(<Special Theme>Anthropology of Science and Technology)
Keywords: moments of juncture, artificial intelligence, design, interpretation, technical mediation
The entertainment robot "AIBO," which was first marketed by Sony in 1999, has attracted many people as the first robot designed for everyday life. In this paper, I analyze both the engineering and reception of AIBO in order to question the relationship between science and culture, which can be seen in technology. In recent years, many authors have pointed out that technology has social or cultural aspects. However, it is difficult to grasp technology comprehensively because of its manifold nature. Because of that difficulty, authors in various academic fields tend to criticize each other for reducing the analysis of technology to a restricted framework of a particular academic field. To avoid that, and to grasp the dynamics of technology, I focus mainly on two instances in the case of AIBO in which elements belonging to different domains are connected.
* The full English abstract is available at the end of the PDF file.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjcanth/71/4/71_KJ00004590216/_arti...
This article is a part of a special issue: Anthropology of Science and Technology (ed. Kimio Miyatake), 2007, Bunkajinruigaku 71 (4)