Tech my mind

In this talk I will explore how virtual reality can shed light on the concept of the Self. I will show that the Self is not our body, not our attitudes or prejudices, not our behaviours, not our actions, not our cognition and not even our view of death. So what is left? Immersive virtual reality has been used primarily to change the place where we feel our selves to be. Here I will show the enormous potential of VR to change not simply the place but also the Self. No answers will be provided, but the question will be posed: if the Self can be transformed, what is it?

The worst thing that normally happens when we enter a number incorrectly is that we end up making an embarrassing phone call to the wrong person. But what happens when similar errors are made in hospitals or in the banking world? Number entry errors happen frequently and can have devastating consequences, so how can we stop them? In this set I’ll talk about why it is we make errors and what we can do to design technology to stop them. How do we solve this big little problem?

It is well known that many people will happily talk to machines, from online chat bots to physical home assistants, such as Alexa. What they ask, what they answer and how much they are prepared to divulge about themselves depends on how the machine looks and behaves. Research has shown that people reveal more about their habits when filling in an online form compared with a paper-based one. In my talk, I will describe some of the research we have been conducting that has explored how the design of a physical machine can entice people to answer a range of questions.