These are not the same as a third, more traditional narrative regarding humans and technology: utilization. In this narrative humans use machines, and there is therefore a clear distinction and hierarchy between humans and machine, subjects and object. The narratives of commensurability and conflation, on the other hand, transcend the narrative of utility by asserting a deeper similarity between humans and network technology. They presuppose a deeper sense of mutuality, interchangeability, and interactivity. Not only do humans utilize network technology, but also, to a large degree, they are similar to it.
The narrative regarding the commensurable nature of humans and network technology is most evident in the plethora of images that make the transition between technology and humans seem smooth, unproblematic, and natural: “seamless,” as the expression goes. Let me exemplify this point with three advertisements for digital cameras. It is noteworthy that the three advertisements, for three different companies, appear in the same issue of Wired, a testimony to the prevalence of this narrative in the digital discourse and to the homogeneity of its imagery.
While the three advertisements recount essentially the same narrative of the commensurability of humans and information technology, they offer varying degrees of the possibilities of conflation between humans and machines. The first advertisement is dominated by the face of young man pointing a digital camera, ready to shoot a photo. The text, laid out near the eye unoccupied with the camera reads, “careful, this eye may become jealous” (Olympus 1999). While the allusion here is that the camera’s visual competence is as good, or better, than the visual aptitude of the human eye, the human-technology distinction still dominates the scene. The serene, warm-colored, smiling face of the man, with its naturally curved contours is set in contrast to the cool, metallic, machine-like colors and straight-lined contours of the digital camera.
The second advertisement goes a little further in conflating humans and technology. Here the protagonist of the advertisement is the camera rather than a human. But the human is nevertheless there as an ideal, since the featured camera is purported to be “so smart, it’s nearly human” (Kodak 1999). The human—or rather a human quality—is “captured” by the camera; its eye peeks behind the camera’s lens. This time, the warm colors are shared by both the camera and the human. Like the previous advertisement, the camera is anthropomorphized and is assumed to have human qualities. The camera’s superior ability to perceive reality visually is equated with that of a seeing human. (And the caution appearing in the previous advertisement is affirmed: the eye might indeed get jealous, as the camera’s visual ability does rival it.)
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Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age