The Personal [Unconscious] Assistant
My conceptual goal is illustrate the the danger in using the conscious mind, with its attendant aims and sensibilities, to create devices that mimic and ultimately subvert unconscious processes, the needs of which are not well-understood.
Dream - To create a machine that records each and every experience of the conscious mind, just as our unconscious mind does automatically - from sight to sound, touch to taste and smell - enabling you to recreate an entire experience again in full contextual and sensory detail at will. You would have full conscious access, beyond the veil of time and forgetfulness, to the most significant and important events of your life from a wedding day, a career achievement, or one’s deepest childhood trauma, to something as mundane as a grocery list. This in many ways, could be considered a sort of Enlightenment Device - shining the light of consciousness into the darkest recesses of the mind.
Vision - Complete sensory recording - video and depth using two cameras, binaural sound, touch- and pressure-sensing fabric, a scent-o-graphic recorder, a tongue sensor and chemical sensor to analyze the content of the saliva - synced with master clock and live-streamed via the cellular network with the ability for users (or AI) to make markers and waypoints for later review. An AI algorithm would assess the content based on sentiment analysis based on the conscious inputs listed above.
In addition to these conscious inputs, users would also have the ability unconscious processes including exhaustive biometric data, including heart rate, steps taken including gate analysis, caloric intake and expenditure, pupil dilation, full dietary accounting, contextual elements like significant interactions and characters.
The program would also monitor external factors like bank account data, entertainment consumption and web browsing habits, text analysis via the visual input including SMS messaging, email, and social media accounts. All of this data along with the accordant family and ancestral histories in all of these categories as well as geo-political implications, allowing the user to thwart any impending threats to health or well-being of themselves or their loved ones.
Goal - To create a stand-alone machine that mimics the unconscious recording of aural sensory data. This device constantly records a live-stream of audio that is accessible at any point over a specified time-period of up to 24 hours - either remotely or on board via flash storage. This would be housed in a 6 x 6 inch box that plugs directly into the wall and runs on a Raspberry PI (withWifi if streaming).
Plan -
Feb 14 - get a Raspberry Pi and research recording software
March 7 - find a microphone and hook it up to the Pi
March 28 - (gone) find a way to loop or stream the audio either to the cloud or flash drive
April 1 - build a housing
April 18 - testing unit