Moving forward in the theme of Rethinking Connection, we looked at the role of technology in facilitating intimacy. The paradox of connecting technologies in linking parties that would have never been linked before while at the same time sustaining the very distance that keeps us apart, is an often overlooked feature. If the future of technology was truly to be human, how would we distinguish between that which is authentic and that which is artificial? These questions are not easy to answer, but we make an attempt.

As always, here are some of the resources we explored:

1. ‘The Internet is Magic’: Technology, Intimacy and Transnational Families (Valerie Francisco)
2. The Role of Intimacy in the Evolution of Technology (Alessandro Tomasi)
3. The New Humanism (Brookings)
4. Connected but Alone – Sherry Turkle (TED Talks)
5. What makes something go viral? – Dao Nguyen (Ted Talks)

Technology that facilitates intimacy

It is an obvious observation that we are able to connect like never before with the use of new forms of technology. The proliferation of mobile communications was already transformative in allowing people to call and link up with a device in their pocket but now with the “visual register” i.e. camera technology, we are able to engage real-time in more dimensions. We are able to see the laughter on someone else’s face and feel joy or monitor slight nuances in facial expressions and adjust tone. Especially now with the forced push towards Work from Home, the need to connect to be able to do our work has never been better realized.

There are of course other ways that Human-Computer interaction leaps have changed the face of connection. Translation technology that uses large datasets and an accompanying machine intelligence has now allowed us to converse in languages that would have previously acted as barriers. Virtual reality improves on the visual register by achieving spatial appreciation. All of these advances do their best to bring us to a sense of humanity where physical distance is forgivable.

Technology that sustains the absence of intimacy

Perhaps it is this very irony that has powered the push against technology fanaticism over the past decades – technology connects across boundaries but may in fact increase disconnection to those physically in proximity to us. The screen (or any other form of hardware) creates a wall that draws us into a virtual environment while causing us to forget the physical one we are ultimately rooted in. If a family living together already had problems keeping relationships intimate, it is difficult to expect the introduction of any technology tools to improve on it.

Some of the articles above even go so far to argue that technology maintains distance where it is harmful for it to be so. Francisco (above) argues that trans-national families can rely on technology to maintain warm relationships but at the same time become too comfortable with them at the expense of fighting to go back home or take political action against domestic situations. Such arguments, in my opinion, seem stretched but do point towards the veils created by technology, sustaining the illusion of intimacy and preventing people from taking action to tackle the root cause of why intimacy was lacking in the first place.

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The conversation we had was a stimulating one. It’s not a new perspective that technology may not be all that great for building intimacy, but in this new world we’re forging ahead post-COVID19, we may have to actually confront the danger that we excuse our inability to connect with the proliferation of connection technologies. Is the future of tech simultaneously less human but more connected? I don’t know, but it’s a heavy thought to sit with.