Experiencing the More-than-Human Through Human Augmentation

This paper proposes a design approach called MtHtHA (or ">HtH+") that repurposes human augmentation technologies to create temporary, embodied first-person experiences approximating nonhuman sensory experiences, such as bat-like echolocation or octopus-like distributed agency. Grounded in eco-phenomenology and eco-somatics, the approach aims to cultivate ecological awareness, empathy, and care across species boundaries. The authors articulate seven design principles and report five design cases: EchoVision, FeltSight, FungiSync, TentacUs, and City of Sparkles. They discuss implications for more-than-human aesthetics and design practice, arguing that such augmentation can help bridge the gap in phenomenal access to nonhuman Umwelten.

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Abstract

The recent more-than-human turn in design calls for attentiveness to nonhuman beings. Yet -- as Thomas Nagel's famous ``What is it like to be a bat?'' thought experiment highlights -- human experience is constrained by our own sensorium and an irreducible gap in phenomenal access to nonhuman \emph{Umwelten}. Grounded in eco-phenomenology and eco-somatics, this paper proposes \textbf{Experiencing the More-than-Human through Human Augmentation} (MtHtHA, or ``>HtH+''), a design approach that repurposes human augmentation technologies -- typically aimed at enhancing human capabilities for human optimization -- to create temporary, embodied, first-person experiences that modulate the human sensorium to approximate nonhuman sensory experiences, cultivating ecological awareness, empathy, and care across species boundaries. We articulate seven design principles, report five design cases -- EchoVision (bat-like echolocation), FeltSight (star-nosed-mole tactile navigation), FungiSync (fungal network attunement), TentacUs (octopus-like distributed agency), and City of Sparkles (urban data from an AI's perspective) -- and discuss implications for more-than-human aesthetics and design practice.