Interface as a Practice of the Self, or What Does It Mean to Be Alive in the Age of Cyborgs?

Abstract

The article focuses on modern digital technologies and life practices associated with them, the key aspect of which is the idea of ​​accessibility and efficiency both in a person’s everyday experience and as a certain existential attitude, task, and practice of oneself. We are talking about special, new forms of the art of existence, subordinated to the idea of ​​pragmatics and, as a rule, not taking into account the sensory and existential experience of the life of an individual. The influence of technology on the life of a modern person is total. In this context, the question formulated earlier, at the dawn of the formation of the technogenic era, arises again and gains its relevance: how is it possible to be yourself and remain alive in a world of absolute technological power?

In search of an answer to this question, the author turns to projects in which the user interface is conceived as a practice that rediscovers the existential dimension of human life in the context of modern digital technologies and expands the understanding of life forms in general. Special attention is focused on the project of contemporary researcher Alexander Psher, the author of the idea of ​​the “Internet of Animals” — a virtual ecological project that is rapidly developing thanks to mobile technologies and, in particular, mobile device interfaces. The interface here acts as a current life practice, permeating various spheres of life, a developing space for the implementation of digital ecological and artistic projects and, thanks to this, techniques of the self.