Designing the future of consciousness: A components framework and speculative implications

Abstract

As technologies increasingly converge with users’ psychophysiology and mental states, perception and mind-altering are emerging as plausibly designable components of user experience. This gives rise to emergent phenomena of digitally induced altered states of consciousness (DIAL) that find application not only in therapeutic and mental health contexts but also in communication and leisure. Modern consciousness-altering technologies primarily exist as early prototypes, and their empirical research tends to constrain the context of use to instrumental functionality. Fictional narrative analysis proposes to push these limitations by considering concepts of technology in imaginary contexts, thereby examining the experiences, social rituals, and ethical issues associated with their use far beyond traditional technical scenarios. This article employs a reflexive thematic analysis of popular science fiction narratives to expand our understanding of how ASCs are integrated into HCI, considering broader sociocultural and sociotechnical contexts. As a result, we identify key aspects of interaction (purpose and context) and combine their subcategories into a framework that facilitates rethinking traditional HCI, revealing potentials that remain inaccessible within clear consciousness. This framework was used to construct five themes, highlighting that the benefits of mitigating cognitive load and deepening technology-mediated communication with DIAL might entail sacrificing identity and autonomy and increasing the pressures of the modern, overcompetitive, hyper-individualistic lifestyle. Thus, the article contributes to the HCI agenda by expanding existing paradigms of interaction with mind-altering technologies and by demonstrating the use of science fiction as a powerful avenue for exploring the design space and critical inquiries about these types of interactions.