surroundingsignifiers

I was catching up on some TED videos last week and ran across this one on UI and gesture-based computing.

[ted id=872]

Now, I'm not very experienced at all in UX/UI. I'm fascinated by the thinking behind each discipline, but I would have to do some serious research before pumping out a wireframe. The video is  John Underkoffler's demonstration of a gesture-based interface in which the user relies less on intermediary devices to manipulate the computer. Instead of a mouse and keyboard, we special super-cool gloves.

Underkoffler's research is certainly very important with regard to the next generation of user interfaces and what the internet might look like in a few years. One problem I see, however, is that the UX/UI industry seems very dependent on the human and machine as eternally separate entities. This might be fine for the relative short term. but what will come of UX/UI if humans and machines ever fully integrate?

In other words, how does UX/UI looks when we no longer need the gloves? I'm sure there are many prominent thinkers in the field already anticipating and preparing for this change. From an outsider, it almost looks as though we will not have a need for UX/UI as we know it after computers are integrated into the body, or we don't experience computers or the body as separate. This could take shape in many ways. Here is a rough outline of what that progression might look like:

Current State

Humans manipulate computers with keyboard and mouse/trackpad. Mobile devices with internal or external keyboards. Relatively limited internet access.

Phase 2: Device Ubiquity

Certainly, we are moving quickly toward this phase. This phase is marked by gesture-based interfaces and ubiquitous computing. We normally think of our current state as indicative of ubiquitous connection; however, I am thinking about true, constant connectivity regardless of geographical location and device. Connection will be omnipresent, democratized, and free. Devices will not only be portable but also wearable. Human-machine integration is mostly for medical purposes.

Phase 3: Cosmetic Integration

Integrating machines into the body becomes more common practice for extension and amplification purposes. Medical integration procedures begin to fall in price while cosmetic procedures remain available mostly to the rich. Wearable computers are connected to the internet by default and therefore the human wearing them is, by proximity, connected at all times. These cosmetic changes will enhance the senses, especially visual, auditory, and sexual perceptions.

Phase 4: Full Integration

Integration procedures become democratized and affordable to all. Most of the technology behind the interface (or lack thereof) is open source, opening doors for personalization. Since the interface works on an individual level, each human-machine is unique in the ways that it interacts with the world and other hybrids. Academic study of machine-human hybrids is at its peak, with implications for all fields within the sciences and humanities. Special considerations are given to how integrated individuals interact with "natural" humans and how hybrids fit into the existing cultural and market economy. There will almost certainly be discrimination and hesitancy at first, but this will most likely decrease as time passes.

This last phase represents the time at which "the gesture-based gloves come off" and the interface between human and machines is essentially non-existant. Does UX/UI cease to exist when there is no longer an interface to design and manipulate? Or does every individual become a UX/UI designer, constantly changing the ways they interact with the world as hybrids?