From left, Prof. Kayoko Nohara, Dr. Betti Marenko and Dr. Norihiro Nakai, Dean of School of Environment and Society

<Brief introduction of collaborative research and aims at Tokyo Tech WRHI>

My interdisciplinary research brings together design and philosophy to address the challenges of an increasingly uncertain world. The encounter of design and philosophy offers a way to interrogate matters of concern by exploring design’s potential to build better futures and to be a force for change. Specifically, my work 1) looks at the impact of planetary computation on humans, society and culture in order to question received notions of technology; 2) examines the shift – cognitive, ontological and epistemological – that is rewiring our human capacity to think and to make sense of the world; 3) develops tools to unpack technology as a socio-cultural construction and a material-semiotic assemblage of the human and the nonhuman. My current research addresses the following questions: How are technologies changing people and society? What does it mean to be human in a world of objects designed to be smart? What are the dominant narratives about AI and the role of algorithms? How can we use design to speculate in post-anthropocentric terms about the agency of the nonhuman?

Technology provides solutions to a range of pressing issues some of which are planetary. But providing solutions is only a part of the task. Equally important is to ask the right questions, and this can only be done by interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange. This is why I am incredibly excited to be taking part in the WRHI. There is great potential in the interfacing of technology, culture and design studies and I look forward to be working with outstanding colleagues at Tokyo Tech WRHI.

<Collaborative Researcher>

Dr. Kayoko Nohara(Professor, School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Tech)