The Evolution of Technology

In the early 1980s very few people had cell phones, car phones were the hot item then and smart phones were a dream. Even fewer people could boast of owning a computer, nowadays almost every household has one. Access to the internet has progressed from dial-up to wireless and we no longer listen to music from a cassette tape but through mp3 devices and the iPod. These are only a few examples of the wonders of technology or should I say the evolution of technology. As Professor Steven Jones discussed in his lecture technology is constantly changing and the evolution of technology will only continue to improve.

One of the things Prof. Jones discussed was the research project that he and his team are working called Project Lifelike which I thought was extremely interesting. Project Lifelike is developing “technology to archive people instead of things” (PowerPoint slide, Prof. Jones). Basically they are creating lifelike representations of people as 3D avatars. This is definitely an advancement in technology, however in order for this to be successful and properly done the avatars would have to encompass more than just a basic carbon copy/model of a human and our verbal communication skills. As we learned communication is more than verbal and a lifelike representation of a human would need to be comprised of our nonverbal skills as well. Our body movements, gestures, and facial expressions are all integral parts of nonverbal communication. They are visual cues that help to relay our emotions, be it happiness, anger, or uncertainty to another individual. The avatar would also need to embody vocal cues, such as our ability to cry, laugh, and sigh, which are all channels we use to express our feelings. The researchers who are working on this project would have to take the necessary amount of time needed studying kinesics and paralanguage to create an avatar that would contain these human traits.

However, with improvements in technology, problems are bound to occur. There could be a problem in trying to create something lifelike that will be “capable of reacting to speech input with naturalistic facial and gestural responses” (PowerPoint slide, Prof. Jones). The avatar might be incapable of comprehending proxemics with an actual person and will be completely void of olfactics and haptics. Therefore it can be only lifelike to a point. Some of the new advancements in communication such as Skype and Face Time can also present communication problems. Both are examples of face to face communication through modern technology and the primary channels of hearing and sight are still used. However unlike face to face communication done in person, communication through the use of these mediums can experience interference which can lead to distorted and misinterpreted messages. The same issues can occur with IM and emails, although these are examples of nonverbal communication, the low amount of characters given to create a message can lead to misinterpreted communication by using equivocal language and vagueness of words. We all know these communication issues are not exclusive to modern communication technology, since the same issues can occur even when you’re right in front of the individual you’re speaking with. However, they seem to occur more often to me when using these mediums and I sometimes find myself preferring a good old chit chat in person as opposed to any other way.