applied

Any subset of reality can potentially be interpreted as a computer, so when we speak about a particular computer, we are merely speaking about a portion of reality we can understand computationally. That means that computation is only identifiable through the human experience of it. User interface is ultimately the only grounding for the abstractions of computation, in the same way that the measurement of physical phenomena provides the only legitimate basis for physics. But user interface also changes humans. As computation is perceived, the natures of self and personhood are transformed. This process, when designers are aware of it, can be understood as an emerging form of applied philosophy or even applied spirituality.

Any subset of reality can potentially be interpreted as a computer, so when we speak about a particular computer, we are merely speaking about a portion of reality we can understand computationally. That means that computation is only identifiable through the human experience of it. User interface is ultimately the only grounding for the abstractions of computation, in the same way that the measurement of physical phenomena provides the only legitimate basis for physics. But user interface also changes humans. As computation is perceived, the natures of self and personhood are transformed. This process, when designers are aware of it, can be understood as an emerging form of applied philosophy or even applied spirituality.