Gary Wolf, co-founder of The Quantified Self, explains how mobile apps and always-on gadgets can track and analyze your body, mood, diet, spending – practically everything in daily life that’s quantifiable. And how they form a new scientific instrument, the macroscope.
It comes as no surprise that conversations between Gary Wolf and his colleague and friend Kevin Kelly lead to pioneering projects. On Wolf’s website, he recalls discussions with Kelly on the implications of a range of new devices that simplify self-tracking, for professionals as well as hobbyists. By this, he means that tracking devices should not be thought of as solely devices that enable companies to better cater to our needs. Instead, they are mirrors that help us in reflecting upon ourselves, learning, remembering, and above all improving.
Photos by: Maurice Mikkers & Jan-Jaap Heine
Telescope, microscope and macroscope
A macroscope is not a microscope, nor a telescope. It combines the best of both. An original macroscope has two components: a system for gathering small observations in nature, and computing, to help store and analyze what is observed. Although these components might sound familiar, “the role in our personal lives is still new.” We can use a macroscopes to track and map our diet, ovulation, sleep, mood, medication and even cognitive performance. “When aggregated cell phone data are used to map population patterns, that’s a macroscope.” The measurement devices can be put carried on our bodies (belts, wristbands), and in the future even inside our bodies. So what is the macroscope doing to us?
Traditionally, thinking of humans as being operable by experts is not new. Many systems of operating, or influencing, are built to tackle problems. Take obesity. Despite the relentless tracking of people’s eating behavior we don’t seem to be able to solve it. So, “what if we don¹t really know enough to have the right to offer big expensive systems of social influence?” asks Gary.
There seems to be only one solution. Start tracking yourself.
Gary invites us to join his conversation on The Quantified Self, that is now active in 40 cities and 10 countries – and exercises a very simple research practice, based upon the quantified (computing) self (the act of processing, articulating and reflecting upon what these sensors can do for us). The research practice is guided by three questions: What did you do? How did you do it? And, what did you learn? Conferences are built around the sharing of answers to these questions only. And before we put our minds to influencing machines to eventually influence us, “let’s become a little more intelligent first.”
Gary’s request is “to give yourself a break from thinking like an expert. Track something, observe something, note something, share something. The way to help, is to participate. A microscope sees the small. A telescope sees the far. A macroscope sees how things are connected. I hope I am extending these connections today.”
Check the website of the Quantified Self European Conference or look for a Quantified Self group in your area. Good luck!
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