Holograms, (Dis-) Embodied Intimacy, and Posthumanism in an Age of Ubiquitous Computing

Abstract

AbstractAs computational technology becomes unobtrusive and ubiquitous, interconnections between humans and software are increasingly seamless, challenging clear demarcations between organic and synthetic, material and immaterial. Central to these innovations are theories of posthumanism and scrutiny of the self in relation to technology. Posthumanism signifies a continuum of human existence that involves shaping and being shaped by the environment and innovations. This article examines the use of high-fidelity holographic technologies to facilitate human–software interrelationships. Drawing on fictional representation of human–hologram intimacy in Blade Runner 2049 and real-life creations Azuma Hikari and Hatsune Miku (who sometimes appears in holographic form), it argues that hybridized spaces created by ubiquitous computing coupled with holography promote and naturalize intimate posthuman fantasies. Partial disembodiment of humans in technologically mediated spheres, coupled with partial embodiment of software using holographic interfaces, generates liminal counter sites existing between the real and imaginary-other spaces that align with Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias; holograms, as visceral interfaces, produce simultaneously mythic and tangible contestations of the space in which we live. High-fidelity holography has the potential to radically transform human–machine interconnections now and in the future.