Design for Autonomy: An Enactive Approach to Human–Computer Interaction

Abstract

Recent proposals distinguish scientific enactivism, which operationalizes enactive concepts in empirical research, from utopian enactivism, conceived as a broad philosophy of nature. This paper questions that divide by showing how enactive principles can fruitfully guide human–computer interaction (HCI) research. We argue that enactivism offers a dialectical alternative to both cognitivist models, which reduce behavior to utility optimization and internal representations, and Heideggerian accounts, which stress situated embodied coping but often neglect the social and transformative dimensions of collective sense-making. Emphasizing participatory sense-making as the enactment of ecological norms, we propose a framework that shifts HCI from preference optimization to the co-creation of collective norms. A case study of an AI-mediated energy community illustrates how enactive principles inform empirical design. Participants interacted for 1 month with an AI-integrated interface while coordinating domestic energy use, incorporating the sociotechnical system into everyday routines and orienting to neighbors’ activities. We show that an enactive framework enables analysis of interaction across multiple temporalities and spheres of experience. The study demonstrates a concrete continuity between enactive theorizing and empirical implementation, suggesting that the enactive approach can be fruitfully mobilized in the study of sociotechnical environments.