Making Friends With the Mechanical

Oct. 23, 2008— -- The next time you walk into your kitchen, take a few minutes to appreciate your appliances. Become one with your blender. Hum along to the low growl of the refrigerator.

According to Kelly Dobson, a researcher at MIT's Media Lab, it might do you some good.

An artist-cum-engineer who recently earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dobson explores what she calls "machine therapy," or the personal and social effects of machines on everyday life.

"Machine therapy in general is about investigating the very broad and deep -- but often subconscious -- effects that machines facilitate in just our everyday encounters," she said. "I'm specifically looking at the side aspects of machines, not what we expect them to do."

"Why do cranes fascinate kids? Why can we watch them for hours? What is it about them that resonates with us on a human level? A lot of things on a personal scale -- PDAs, cell phones, devices that we have in our pockets -– are changing the way we think of our own connections and abilities," Dobson said. "Technology has this funny way of giving us superpowers and limiting our own expression of humanity, too."

Later this week, the 30-something researcher will present her work at this year's Pop! Tech conference in Camden, Maine. In its 12th year, Pop! Tech convenes social entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists, artists and thought leaders for a three-day idea fest. Malcolm Gladwell of "Tipping Point" fame and Wired magazine's editor in chief Chris Anderson are two of the high-profile guests slated to speak at this year's conference.

Andrew Zolli, the curator of Pop! Tech, said he invited Dobson to this year's event because her work underscores the conference's theme of scarcity and abundance in a subtle but powerful way.

The issue of scarcity versus abundance doesn't just apply to food and energy shortages, he said. It also applies to human attention.

"One of the things about communications technology is that even as they succeed, there's a paralysis, a psychological scarcity. They diminish us," he said. "We're constantly being tethered to our Blackberries [and] constantly in the bubble of our ear buds. Somehow they're so seductive, they overwhelm our frail human psychology. They reduce our expression of the rest of our daily lives."