Human as Predictable Data
Yankun Tai
As part of the bigger conversation on whether design can be automized, this thesis is a speculative design inquiry in the eventuality of datafication of human attributes. It discusses the potential that human behaviors are entirely predictable. It contains preliminary practice in translating °∞seemingly arbitrary°± human attributes to data and use it for insights. Based on these two postulates, the capstone of this thesis fantasizes a future society where all humans civilizations migrate to the data space proceeding the completion of human datafication. This migration can be considered as a transformation where the dimensions of human lives are extended and elevated.
MoCho MIT
Mocho is an MIT Media Lab project which creates a behavioral model based on individual and aggregate level census data of the greater Boston area. This model can simulate the decision-making process in changing residential locations, choosing transportation methods in response to urban intervention.
Spotify
Spotify creates a taste profile for each user. Through comparing people’s playlist and taste profile, Spotify finds songs that “fit your profile but you haven't listened to.” Spotify creates a live machine learning model based on data from each user, and the weekly recommendation is testing for authenticity.
Determinism
Determinism holds an opinion that given a specified way things are at a time t, the way things go thereafter is fixed as a matter of natural law. Based on this, this thesis makes a conjecture that human responses are bounded features entirely lead by causations, where a complete observation of the causes can infer the result precisely.
