Daniela Kolbe

Marc Erich Latoschik: From A(vatars) to Z(ero) Latency

Avatars are the digital replicas of our physical selfs. They are the embodied interface to virtual words and our alter-ego in the digital realm. In contrast to the physical world, avatars can have almost any conceivable shape and appearance and are not restricted to match our original biological counterparts. Notably, this freedom consistently causes interesting effects regarding the plasticity of our body schema and resulting changes our self-consciousness: Our body changes our mind. These effects fuel philosophical questions about dualism and the relationship between mind and matter and initiate envisioning of a multitude of potential futures and consequences of an embodied internet. The talk will highlight the state of the art, our current findings of known effects, technical limitations and options, and the philosophical questions arising with such a technology.