We have the technology : how biohackers, foodies, physicians, and scientists are transforming human perception, one sense at a time

Title:

Author:

Platoni, Kara, author.

ISBN:

9780465089970

Personal Author:

Platoni, Kara, author.

Publication Information:

New York : Basic Books, [2015]

Physical Description:

xxi, 274 pages ; 25 cm

Contents:

Pt. one. The five senses. Taste ; Smell ; Vision ; Hearing ; Touch -- pt. two. Metasensory perception. Time ; Pain ; Emotion -- pt. three. Hacking perception. Virtual reality ; Augmented reality ; New senses.

Abstract:

Sensory science is increasingly proving that we don't perceive reality, we construct it through perception.

"As we move further into the 21st Century, sensory and consumer studies continue to develop, playing an important role in food science and industry. These studies are crucial for understanding the relation between food properties on one side and human liking and buying behaviour on the other. This book by a group of established scientists gives a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the most common statistical methods for handling data from both trained sensory panels and consumer studies of food. It presents the topic in two distinct sections: problem-orientated (Part I) and method orientated (Part II), making it to appropriate for people at different levels with respect to their statistical skills. This book succesfully makes a clear distinction between studies using a trained sensory panel and studies using consumers. Concentrates on experimental studies with focus on how sensory assessors or consumers perceive and assess various product properties. Focuses on relationships between methods and techniques and on considering all of them as special cases of more general statistical methodologies. It is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of statistics and the most important data collection methods within sensory and consumer science. This text is aimed at food scientists and food engineers working in research and industry, as well as food science students at master and PhD level. In addition, applied statisticians with special interest in food science will also find relevant information within the book"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book will describe the most basic and used statistical methods for analysis of data from trained sensory panels and consumer panels with a focus on applications of the methods. It will start with a chapter discussing the differences and similarities between data from trained sensory and consumer tests"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Perception -- Physiological aspects.

Senses and sensation.

Wearable technology.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2220084

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

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Summary

How do we know what's real? That's not a trick question: sensory science is increasingly finding that we don't perceive reality: we create it through perception. In We Have the Technology , science writer Kara Platoni guides us through the latest developments in the science of sensory perception. We Have the Technology introduces us to researchers who are changing the way we experience the world, whether creating scents that stimulate the memories of Alzheimer's patients, constructing virtual limbs that approximate a sense of touch, or building augmented reality labs that prepare soldiers for the battlefield. These diverse investigations not only explain previously elusive aspects of human experience, but offer tantalizing glimpses into a future when we can expand, control, and enhance our senses as never before.A fascinating tour of human capability and scientific ingenuity, We Have the Technology offers essential insights into the nature and possibilities of human experience.

Author Notes

award-winning journalist Kara Platoni has a master's degree from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

"Nature is amazing," but "couldn't it be more so?" asks science journalist Platoni in this enthusiastic review of research into human senses and ways they might be improved. Platoni converses with scientists who seek to learn how humans perceive the world by examining the nervous system and genes. Her chapters on taste, smell, touch, and emotion are wholly engrossing. Humans, it turns out, are able to taste more than the usual palate of sweet, bitter, salt, sour, and umami; and smell, memory, and culture are almost too integrated to tease apart. Equally surprising is the fact that the brain often treats physical and emotional pain identically. Platoni describes how today's crude eye and ear implants restore function to those without it; in the future an eye implant might detect infrared or ultraviolet light, and its sensors could be hooked up to distant cameras or a rewind button. Similarly, an artificial ear could be designed to hear much higher frequencies or echo-locate. Platoni also profiles some of the dedicated amateur "biohackers" and the gruesome experiments they're apt to conduct on themselves. This is a superb account of human perception and the first, clunky but potentially breathtaking efforts to expand it. Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, Gillian MacKenzie Agency. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A veteran science reporter examines the many innovative developments of human sensory enhancement. Platoni took a year off from teaching narrative writing and reporting at the University of California to immerse herself in modern bioscience and the aspects of technology-mediated human metaperception. She emerged with notebooks filled with interviews about how to broaden our sensory experiences to "make the world feel real." Consistently fascinating, witty, and candid, Platoni's sensorial tour begins with the scientific and technological tinkering within the realm of the five senses, and then she moves on to aspects of pain and emotion. All of the sensory chapters offer captivating and memorably relevant information including a visit to a Denver lab experimenting on the taste detection of fatty acids and measuring the physiological responses, the research of French olfactory experts analyzing the restorative powers of smell on memory-deficient Alzheimer's patients, revolutionary retinal implants in Los Angeles, and adventures in robotic surgery and prosthetic limbs. One commonality among these food scientists, geneticists, biohackers, entrepreneurs, perfumers, and engineers is the competitive nature and time sensitivity of their quests to discover the next trending flavor combination, sound quality, visual experience, artificial intelligence, or even a "sixth taste." In the second half of the book, the author delves into the development, utilization, and learning experiences shared by augmented reality and metasensory experiences. Segments on time and pain perception are both riveting and worrisome as innovators collaborate to develop a 10,000-year clock, neurobiologists examine time on a cellular level, and impressions of heartsickness and random physical agony are openly shared from a bartender and her patrons at an iconic San Francisco barroom. Platoni's update on virtual-reality gadgetry is no less intriguing. While the author's analyses raise tough questions about the increasing need to subvert and expand realityare we relentlessly exploratory or just bored?the ways in which scientists are accomplishing this are utterly spellbinding. Engrossing techno-science delivered with gusto and sure to reach a varied audience. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Biohackers, cyborgs, transhumanists, perfumers, and picklers these are just a few of the odd and inventive characters we meet in this fascinating, often mind-boggling report on the fast-growing world of sensory science from award-winning journalist Platoni. She begins with the five human senses, checking in with researchers who are working hard to discover another dimension of taste beyond basic ones such as sweet and sour; visiting laboratories where scents are manipulated to trigger childhood memories; and meeting self-described grinders who modify their bodies in some radical, sense-enhancing way, like Rob Spence, aka Eyeborg, whose right eye socket harbors a camera that perpetually records his experiences. In addition to interviewing scientists learning to manipulate hearing, touch, and even the sense of time, Platoni also interviews virtual-reality developers and entrepreneurs determined to put the tools for augmenting perception within everyone's reach. Sometimes glowingly optimistic, and sometimes unnerving, Platoni's overview previews a fast-approaching future of widespread sensory manipulation that demonstrates humankind is truly on the cusp of tinkering with its own evolution. --Hays, Carl Copyright 2015 Booklist

Choice Review

Science journalist Platoni explores the scientific edges of what it means to experience reality in We Have the Technology. The book is split into three main parts: "The Five Senses," "Metasensory Perception" (with chapters titled "Time," "Pain," and "Emotion"), and "Hacking Perception." Parts 1 and 2 address the current understanding of how the brain interprets what our senses experience. One of the biggest revelations is that human experience is just a carefully edited reconstruction put together by the brain and threaded from different sensory inputs. Part 3 considers the future of our senses by seeing the extreme edge of what people are doing today. Overall, the book is enlightening, but with a few stylistic hiccups. The author's efforts to explain complex scientific ideas sometimes result in overly complex sentences and flowery literary metaphors. These detract from the explanation and narrative that the author presents. At times, it disrupts the reader's seamless immersion in the story, creating a jarring disengagement that makes it difficult to get back into the incredibly engrossing science. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Jeremy R Lauber, Briarcliffe College Library

Library Journal Review

The overarching theme of this book is perception: What do we, as humans, perceive and how do we experience more? To explore this, Platoni (journalism, Univ. of California, Berkeley) covers both how senses are applied and the ways in which scientists and enthusiasts are pursuing ways of improving the senses. Mostly, this means assistive technology for people with disabilities. However, Platoni's approach is not the most enlightened when it comes to "fixing people." The initial chapters on the five senses cover the "soft" biohacking of cultural forces such as language and how they shape a perception of reality. The middle chapters on observations of time, pain, and emotion are more nebulous and seem somewhat out of place, except that they discuss the brain. The final section considers using technology to create or extend the sensory environment, which includes wearables such as virtual reality gear but also embedded devices that "hard" biohackers place inside their bodies in an effort to create new senses. -VERDICT All readers will find something in this journalistic text that doesn't shy away from tough issues such as privacy and trauma. Fans of Elizabeth Moon's "Vatta's War" series will enjoy learning about the current state of biohacking implants.-Cate -Hirschbiel, Iwasaki Lib., Emerson Coll., -Boston © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.