Digital Dictionary

S

Science Fiction

Guy Thuillier

LISST, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, France

Digital interfaces and human–machine integration in the science fiction imaginary

Science fiction (SF) is an interesting solution to approaching the digital world: not only does it reveal our collective representations, fantasies or fears about the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution, but it also sometimes inspires their design (Bicaïs 2006). SF authors, such as Vernor Vinge, Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson, have also worked as consultants or designers in the tech world. According to Pierre Lévy, in our “real-time civilization […] science fiction has become as important as the social sciences, if not more so, to understand the contemporary world” (Lévy 2002). The question of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is central in SF, since the relationship of human societies to technologies is the very issue of SF speculations. Now, the BCI is finally the concrete artifact in which the relationship between human and machine is embodied, through the digital objects of our daily life and of our future – computers, smartphones, smart and connected objects, robots, etc.

From biomechanical interfaces to voice control

Historically, humans first designed “biomechanical” interfaces to control the first machines – buttons, keys, pedals, steering wheels, etc. The development of computing brought about new interfaces. To communicate with the first computers, complex punched cards were ...