Embodied Minds--technical Environments

Book excerpt: The deep integration of technology into our modern society forces us to rethink the relationship humans have to their surroundings. The rise of complex socio-technical systems denotes how humans and technology have entered a symbiotic relationship where the coordinated and fluent interaction between the two is a crucial condition for modern societies to function. The disharmony in the relationship between humans and technology has immediate and serious consequences. Accidents and failed operations in transport, incomprehensible user interfaces, and failure to learn from experience are all examples from everyday life, suggesting that the understanding of human-technology relationships is not sufficient. This book investigates how humans relate to technology in our modern society, and how the basic assumption of human thought and behavior guide human efforts to improve and control technology. The fact is that the skilled use of technology in expert systems and everyday life challenges the traditional conception of humans and technology as two separate elements in the analysis of work. The book shows how this dualism is evident and problematic in a wide range of areas, such as investigation of human error in accidents, case studies of innovative interface solutions, simulator training strategies, analysis of work practices in complex systems, and traffic safety research. Embodied Minds - Technical Environments supplements the ongoing effort to understand how technology can be integrated with more confidence in modern society.