In this post, I will consider the question, “What is Augmentation? In a nutshell, as the title suggests, it is about expanding one’s potential. In other words, Augmentation is the technology to become what you want to be and what you want to do, whether it is expansion of your physical abilities or expansion of your mental state. I would like to try to organize my thoughts at the moment.
What is Augmentation?
In my first blog post, I wrote about the idea of Augmentation as a counterpart to Automation. Here, I explained the idea of ” Augmentation” to do what you want to do, as opposed to “Automation” to pursue efficiency and productivity improvement.
Everyone wants to live a joyful and happy life. Even if you do what you want to do, you will not feel happy if your existence is not appreciated or approved by others or society. In fact, it would be painful. This is because we cannot live alone, and we are animals that exist in relationships. We want to live in a state of well-being (good physical, mental, and social health), and augmentation technology exists for that purpose.
In the above post, I also mentioned that there are two types of technology in “Augmentation”: those that physically increase strength, speed, etc., and those that bring about mental expansion, such as emotions. Here, I would like to discuss the two types of augmentation, naming the physical augmentation as “Enlarge” and the emotional augmentation such as “Enrich”.
Quantitative Augmentation :What is “Enlarge”?
This one is relatively easy to understand, as it is the physical expansion of a function or ability. For example, glasses. These are used to restore deteriorated eyesight. Similarly, hearing aids enhance hearing. Other examples would be prosthetic arms and legs.
Enlargement is not just for the elderly and physically challenged. Power-assisted suits that assist in lifting objects are also classified as “Enlarge”.
There will be Enlargements that not only augment existing functions, but also increase new functions. For example, a “third arm” that allows one person to do a task that previously required two people.
Qualitative Augmentation: What is “Enrich”?
Enriching a mental state means, for example, making it more fun, more exciting, more focused, more peaceful. It is not directly related to increased productivity, but psychologically it is a good state of mind to be in. This is what I call enrichment.
The most analog one is nature. The enrichment power of nature, such as tropical beaches and bonfires, is very large. Something that requires a little more human intervention is flowers. There are few people who feel bad about having flowers in their rooms.
Also, many of the things that are called “emoi” in Japanese are enriching things. It is something that appeals to the senses and enriches the mind.
On the digital side, the Walkman must have been a huge enrichment at the time. Music that could only be listened to at home could now be listened to while walking. There had never been such an enriching experience before.
This is not to say that robots don’t have enriched products as well. For example, SONY’s Aibo and GROOVE X’s LOVOT have been developed to have high emotional value.
Relationship between Enlarge and Enrich
What is the relationship between “Enlarge” and “Enrich”?
As shown in the figure below, “Enlarge” represents the increase or decrease in one’s input and output, and “Enrich” represents the change in one’s state. From a control perspective, the red line is “Enlarge”, and the green line is “Enrich”.
If we think about it this way, Enlarge and Enrich are not neatly separated, and it is quite possible that Enrich is brought about by Enlarge. Rather, from the perspective of well-being, the most important goal is to be enriched and to feel happy and joyful.
Conversely, if something is Enlarging but does not lead to Enrichment, it is better not to do it, and it should be automated.
For example, in the case of the “third arm” introduced in “Quantitative Augmentation :What is “Enlarge”?”, if the work is not enjoyable and rewarding, it should be automated.
Of course, there are technical barriers, so whether it can actually be automated is another matter. At the current level of technology, there are still many cases where humans are superior in terms of intelligence and manual dexterity, and there are many things that cannot be fully automated.
The Future of Augmentation
I have only just begun to think about “Augmentation”, and have not yet put my thoughts together. I would be grateful if you could give me some feedback.
I believe that Augmentation can definitely help us to achieve Well-being. I hope to create a society where people can continue to do what they want to do, and where society appreciates what they have done. In order to achieve this, I would like to create products and services that can bring out something (skills, functions, thoughts, sensibilities, etc.) that you have not been able to bring out in yourself physically or mentally.
