By Milena Selkirk (February 7, 2009) (Week 3 Technovelgy Response)

The Mechanical Bride – For me, this technovelgy hits close to home since a close acquaintance of mine married a “mail order bride” –  not quite a robot like the one that is described by Freitz Leiber in 1954 ;), but I found some similarities between the two. In a way, choosing a lifetime companion based on pictures and descriptions in a pamphlet or magazine is not that different from selecting what features you’d want your custom made female robot to be – blond hair and a skilled dish-washer. Another thing to consider is that fifty years after the Mechanical Bride, we have the subculture of Real Dolls, life size, anatomically correct dolls that can be custom ordered to look like Angelina Jolie or “your” type of gal. And you pick the hair, eye, and skin color, and chose her size. The movie Lars and the Real Girl and the BBC documentary Real Dolls (which blew my mind!) explores these dolls as well as the men who buy them. Behind these products is the human’s desire for a companion and mate whether is be made of flesh and blood or metal and latex. This very common desire is at the core of human nature and history – Adam had Eve, Bonnie had Clyde etc – and can be designed so that it’s persuasive.

The majority of men (and women) who purchase Real Dolls or would-be customers of the Mechanical Bride most likely have issues with human interaction and intimacy and/or are on a quest for absolute perfection. Others are unlucky in love and motivated by loneliness, which is exactly what the makers of the Mechanical Bride and Real Dolls are able to tap in to. The makers of Real Dolls provide an environment where it’s “normal” to own these dolls, so customers feel comfortable and purchase more. They’re marketed to be therapeutic and heal the pain of being alone. In addition they have special doll hospitals where dolls can be fixed for a price – and the intricate and expensive process of sending out a doll companion to get repaired can be linked to Lockton’s structure for “getting a person to do something in a particular order.”

Project X – I am interested in the idea of using sound as a weapon… it’s funny to me, considering how my friends and I often cringe in rock clubs when a bad band gets on stage and we joke that the worst punishment would be to listen to them for hours without relief. I also know there are certain frequencies that only dogs and cats can hear and these high tones seem to physically upset them. Ayn Rand describes this technology in a far more apocalyptic light, where sound has been turned into a weapon that “no structure can withstand.” This device could be extremely persuasive especially if it was used to train someone. Think about the Milgram experiment – where increasing electric shocks are given by the “teacher” to the “student” who disobeys, where people change their opinions based on fear and authority. The same process could be applied here. Owners of Project X could persuade practically any living person to follow a desired trajectory based on fear of the owner unleashing the deadly sound.

Art-Derm (spray-on skin) – I think this is a pretty cool concept and in 2009 there are first aid type ointments that do similar things like seal the skin and disinfect it, but not to the broad extent that Philip Dick describes Art Derm. Art Derm could be very persuasive in times of sickness and in war. I think it could be used as a microsuasive army recruitment device where the military could encourage people to join indirectly by sighting Art-Derm as one of the reason why the number of soldier injuries are decreasing or using it as a way to show how the army takes care of it’s own, starting with it’s medical care etc.