Humans and their technologies play the infinite game

Abstract

The authors of the current Human Technology issue approach the relationship between humans and their technologies from quite different angles. Two articles focus on chat technology. In the first, by Khushnood Naqshbandi and her associates (Simon Hoermann, David Milne, Dorian Peters, Benjamin Davies, Sophie Potter, & Rafael A. Calvo), the authors focused on codesigning a chat tool for a voluntary-sector organization based on the experiences and needs of the volunteer workers. Meanwhile, in the second, Marita Skuvje and her colleagues (Ida Maria Haugstveit, Asbjørn Følstad, & Petter Bae Brandtzaeg) explored the differences between communicating with a chatbot and a chat human, particularly when the chatbot’s behavior approaches that of human interaction. Naveen Kumar and Jyoti Kumar, in their paper, discussed the next industrial revolution—Industry 4.0—and proposed a framework based on multiple formulae that address the various aspects of both the human and machine components in measuring the efficiency of future smart factories. However, the article by Subadra Panchanadeswaran and her coauthors (Ardra Manasi Unnithan, Shubha Chacko, Michael Brazda, Natalie Brooks Wilson, & Santushi Kuruppu) presents a very different perspective of smartness, that of smart phones used by sex workers in India and how this technology has transformed both the work and the workers. Finally, Patrick Lehane’s paper on software design explores a theme that is, in some form or another, present in all articles in this issue: the intuitive use of technology. Technological progress is not simply about inventing applications that automate activities previously conducted by humans. People still play key roles in operating a plethora of technological applications—to tell technologies what to do, where to go, what to produce, who to contact, and so on. No matter how complicated the automated machine, the human always is at some end to use, service, or manage it. However, that human must be trained—or she or he must otherwise feel confident enough in the skills needed—to operate the device. Intuitive use