Episode #56 Software Design, Bodies, Virtual Reality and Affordances: John Palmer talks with talkPOPc Resident Philosopher Shottenkirk

In a rich and complex conversation, John Palmer, a software engineer and recently influenced by James Gibson's writing, discusses virtual worlds in game design and computer environments. Shottenkirk, who has noted that this relies on perception and thus is right up the alley of issues of art and cognition, listens as John discusses the important notion of affordances, a term coined by Gibson in the 50s. They exchange thoughts back and forth about the differences between affordances and symbols: symbols refer to objects, but affordances, such as in John's example of a virtual reality experience of sitting in a chair, rely on one's subjective experience. This distinction, Shottenkirk points out, parallels the differences in memory systems: there is conscious, semantic memory found in the midline diecephalon (I know the word for "glasses"), and procedural memory - how we move around, etc. Think also of objective and subjective experiences. But affordances, Shottenkirk argues, must rely on procedural memories, and not just symbol /semantics. John agrees, and brings in the notion of low-level features in aesthetic experience and Gibson's discussion about the inter-dependent notions of "animal" and "environment" - animals exist only in environments, and environments can only exist in relation to the animals in them. John's main interest is the emotional feel that one has in games - for instance the frantic feeling of being trapped by two ghosts in pac-man - and how profoundly we can identify with the character, which John argues comes from having a body in the game: The virtual body becomes an extension of your own body. Shottenkirk adds that again it is procedural memory that is allowing this to happen.  John adds that the visual and audio feedback on a screen can make someone feel like "I" am moving in this game. The body, and how we identify with it, and how we related to one another with our bodies is discussed, with John contrasting the communicative abilities that come with in-person interactions and the impossibility of having similar interactions over zoom. Support the showWebsite: talkpopc.orgInstagram: @talkpopcEmail: [email protected]