Know Thyself: Self Actualisation by Numbers
My car gives me feedback on my driving. My bracelet helps me understand my sleep patterns. Smartphone apps monitor my mood, diet and social life. We're entering a Quantified Self revolution, as every product we interact with delivers ever new layers of insight about ourselves.
This emerging mine of data feedback may create the next great stride forward in the human quest for truer understanding of ourselves. By closing the feedback loop we'll become better equipped to understand how our own minds work. We’ll better manage our own complex needs and desires. We'll become happier.
Or will this data revolution hamper our human instincts? The more objectively we view our own lives, the harder it is to connect to our core motivations. The more we analyse our experiences, the less we properly experience them first hand. The deluge of data will detach us from our own intuition.
Let's explore the impact Quantified Self will have on culture. And mankind's journey to self-knowledge.
Presenters
Ben Essen
Head of Planning
iris
Ben heads up the Planning & Strategy team at London-based creative innovation network, iris. He works with clients including Philips and MINI at the intersection of culture, technology and communications. With a background in philosophy, Ben has an interest in the ethical and cultural questions that the technology-embracing mainstream often forget to ask, before it's too late. This will be Ben's fourth SXSW.
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