IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2016 - 108
of human capital-to utilize as an outer expression of the
self-whether in part or in whole.
In 2010, Michael et al. [1] wrote an article on the Web of
Things and People in a special issue, "Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Innovation" in Proceedings of the IEEE.
The article described a world in which every object could be
connected to the Internet and how society was undergoing a
paradigm shift in which "human connectivity" was paramount to the "connectivity of things" notion. Albeit through
the ability to surveil people with location-based services
(e.g., using smartphones), wearables that are strapped to the
wrist (e.g., quantified-self devices), unique forms of identification applied to the human body (e.g., microchip implants),
or permanent prints on the body that are deep in symbolism
(e.g., tattoos), the body is increasingly becoming a hub for
outward expression through decorative art as well as gaining
the potential for ambient intelligence through technology.
Our bodies go everywhere we go; they can be directly seen
by onlookers, they are permanent, and we cannot live without
them, but they are also limited in span and size. Our personhood is encapsulated within our bodies (i.e., major organs
like the brain that denote our personality), but we also have
an outward appearance that is a type of visual biometric,
given what we choose to do with our skin and bodies both on
the surface and transdermal layers (i.e., beneath the skin).
The voice of the citizen that was once mainly exemplified
in various public forums has now radically turned inward-
placing the emphasis on one's self as a medium to convey the
message of choice [2]. In addition, it can be argued that this
message largely connotes a desire to be heard. Forms of selfexpression, such as body piercing, tattooing, scarification,
chipification, and the like, are exonerated through the mere
fact that these acts are largely going unchecked, whether
viewed as non-self-invasive, harmless, or radical [3]. Such
control over one's own body through alterations and modifications can be grouped together and argued to convey a universal message, a message that heralds a collective statement that
the human body is in fact a form of personal physical capital
[4] and therefore fully within one's rights to self-legislate.
SOCIETAL NORMS, PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE,
AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADOPTION
Some theorists argue that there are mechanisms of control,
such as with those controlling the message in the media, that
are softly coercing active citizenry into a state of docility-
conforming to expected societal norms of the dominant class
of influence, while uncritically accepting rapid change such as
that which is found in a highly advanced society led by rapid
technological growth [5]. We observe this claim as people continue to feel the need to purchase the latest high-tech gadgetry,
whether it is the latest smartphone, tablet, smart TV, or even a
drone. We are no longer satisfied with a functional device; it
must be the device with all the latest bells and whistles. Others
argue that conformance is much more social and is the result of
the individual adopting culturally bound practices within one's
defined subculture [6]. A third perspective is a top-down
108 IEEE ConsumEr ElECtronICs magazInE
^
JULY 2016
approach that views technology and the need for adherence as
being the result of an organizational governmental endeavor
[7] to ensure civil order and eradicate social injustice, which
one day will aid in bringing about worldwide emancipation
[8]. We note this in the mandatory adoption of certain ID cards
for transport and Social Security or even in the planned obsolescence of products developed by companies to ensure the
consumer is locked in to an endless array of upgrades [9].
Commodities are not built to last because it means the individual will remain a lifelong consumer-ensuring continued business while fueling the consumerist mentality.
Yet, it can be argued, in this endeavor to maintain social
order-which also enables civility to live in community, function in commerce, and progress toward self-maturation [10]-
that technological change (which highly endorses systematic
order) often becomes so restrictive that it turns out to be
repressive to those who are subject to it. In such instances,
governing technological mechanisms are often deemed as a
form of top-down control. As a way for the individual to break
free from the limitations of the systematic straitjacket (which
can be argued to highly parallel Weber's "iron cage" of rationality [11]), the restricted self may react in a variety of ways.
Such reactions may include demonstrating disapproval outside
the jurisdiction of one's own "locus of control" [12]. Moving
beyond such confinements is often deemed defiant in nature
and subject to various penal measures that may even result in
punishment not equal to the crime [13].
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH THE EMBODIED SELF
This fear of discipline can then be seen as encouraging society to turn its outward objective gaze, which once strove to
understand society as an organic political whole, to the
embodied "self" who looks to one's body as a safe medium
to reflect opinion that is void of external punitive repercussions. Whether this tendency occurs instinctively, or even
intuitively, it is here that social science can look to the human
body as a sign carrier [2] and ask the question as to whether
subcultural groups, such as the body alteration and tattooing
movement (thus far being grouped as modern primitives [14]),
are unconsciously working together to reaffirm the rights of
the autonomous self to govern changes to one's physical
being and whether this movement is growing as the result of
a loss in public forums once present to the general public as a
means to freely express is yet to be determined.
Currently, there are no laws that protect the people's rights
of commodifying the human body as a means of exercising
freedom of speech; rather, such a public display can be argued
as legal as it remains largely uncensored by the state. There are
state-based acts that stipulate that an individual should not be
enforcedly microchipped in the United States, for instance, but
this is legislation that guards against a top-down implementation and does not cover the individual's right to modify one's
own body [15]. Additionally, CASPIAN Director Katherine
Albrecht had proposed a Bodily Integrity Act in 2007 to prevent
the forced or coerced chipping of individuals in America [16].
One thing is for certain, major historical change does not
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