>>Session 1/ Arts-Based Research in Relation to User Ecologies 
Humunculus Technicus in the Box
talk by Isabella Hinterleitner / Junior Researcher@Public Space 2.0, PhD Student, Institute for Computer Technology, University of Technology Vienna
Giving sense to human behavior is a difficult task. Even in historic times there was a need to understand human’s behavior. Thus, before psychology and neurosciences have developed the so-called humunculus has been created referring to the self in the brain. However, with the development of the nature sciences the humunculus became less mysterious and more transparent for all of those who wanted to grab the essence of the self. Indeed, with the help of imaging methods the miracle of a selfness disappeared but is still there in basic sciences such as psychology and philosophy. The term humunculus technicus refers to a technical installation that mimics the non-adapted self and enables the carrier to experience a certain kind of perception that normally people get used to and are familiar with. The technical installation consists of an internal sensor simulating internal values such as stamina level and metabolism whereas the external sensor perceives information on sound, temperature brightness nearness or wideness of an object, etc. The sensor perceiving near or farness could for example sense people that cross a certain distance to the carrier. Distance sensitiveness and loudness sensitiveness are very subjective due their different variations. The technical aid can be seen as a parrot sitting on our shoulder or a Wünschelroute. It is some manifestation of a humunculus that gives us the possibility to react without adapting to a certain environmental stimulus, such as light. The information when we are not adapted can be used for the establishment of places, where adaption processes, such as adaption to light sources, are important. > selected literature > Bunge, M.: How does it work? The search for explanatory mechanisms. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34, (2004); Pylyshyn, Z.: What’s in the Mind: Constraints on Mental Structures. ESCOP/ECONA Talk, 1995; Bucci, W.: Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science: A Multiple Code Theory. Denver Institute Adelphi University USA, 1997
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love the project. but could be more clear –
“Thus, before psychology and neurosciences have developed the so-called humunculus has been created referring to the self in the brain.”
not sure if i understand this sentence. it is also not clear enough how and why YOU use the metaphor of the homunculus (i.e. the sensory homunculus in the brain, or the thing that dr. faust built)
“The term humunculus technicus refers to a technical installation that mimics the non-adapted self” – where does this definition come from? without context it is hard to understand …