Experiencing the More-than-Human Through Human Augmentation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a design approach that uses human augmentation technologies to create immersive experiences simulating nonhuman senses, fostering empathy and ecological awareness across species.

Contribution

It proposes a novel design methodology, MtHtHA, repurposing augmentation tech to evoke nonhuman sensory experiences and discusses seven innovative design cases.

Findings

Five design cases demonstrating nonhuman sensory experiences

Principles for creating more-than-human embodied experiences

Implications for aesthetics and ecological empathy in design

Abstract

The recent more-than-human turn in design calls for attentiveness to nonhuman beings. Yet -- as Thomas Nagel's famous ``What is it like to be a bat?'' thought experiment highlights -- human experience is constrained by our own sensorium and an irreducible gap in phenomenal access to nonhuman \emph{Umwelten}. Grounded in eco-phenomenology and eco-somatics, this paper proposes \textbf{Experiencing the More-than-Human through Human Augmentation} (MtHtHA, or ``>HtH+''), a design approach that repurposes human augmentation technologies -- typically aimed at enhancing human capabilities for human optimization -- to create temporary, embodied, first-person experiences that modulate the human sensorium to approximate nonhuman sensory experiences, cultivating ecological awareness, empathy, and care across species boundaries. We articulate seven design principles, report five design cases -- EchoVision (bat-like echolocation), FeltSight (star-nosed-mole tactile navigation), FungiSync (fungal network attunement), TentacUs (octopus-like distributed agency), and City of Sparkles (urban data from an AI's perspective) -- and discuss implications for more-than-human aesthetics and design practice.