Published on 20 May 2015 Technobiophilia: soothing our connected minds and easing our wired lives In her 2013 book Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace, Sue Thomas interrogates the prevalence online of nature-derived metaphors, and comes to a surprising conclusion. The root of this trend, she believes, lies in biophilia, defined by E.O. Wilson as ‘the innate attraction to life and lifelike processes’. Working from the strong thread of biophilia which runs through our online lives, she expands Wilson’s definition to the ‘innate attraction to life and lifelike processes *as they appear in technology*’, a phenomenon she calls ‘technobiophilia’. Attention to technobiophilia and its application to urban design offers a way to make our digital lives integrated, healthy, and mindful. In this talk she outlines the key elements of the concept and shows how, even in an intensely digital culture, the restorative qualities of biophilia can alleviate mental fatigue and enhance our capacity for directed attention, thus soothing our connected minds and easing our wired lives. Sue's website: https://suethomasnet.wordpress.com YouTube video of this talk: https://youtu.be/yOrt8zINrnE

1. Technobiophilia:
soothing our connected minds
and easing our wired lives
Dr Sue Thomas
Visiting Fellow, Bournemouth University
www.suethomas.net
@suethomas #technobiophilia

2. Part of the Biophilic Cities webinar series
‘Fostering Connections with the Natural
World’
Organised by Prof Tim Beatley and his team at the School of
Architecture, University of Virginia
http://biophiliccities.org/

3. Do you worry about the digital world?

4. The talk will cover:
● My background
● My research
● Technobiophilia
● What might a technobiophilic city
look like?
● Technobiophilic design
● Conclusion

5. My Background

6. Professor of New Media, De Montfort
University, 2005-2014
Books include:
● ‘Correspondence’ 1992
● ‘Hello World: travels in virtuality’
2004
● ‘Technobiophilia: nature and
cyberspace’ 2013
Image: Sue Thomas in Chakryn
Forest, Second Life

7. My Research

8. Metaphor
The essence of metaphor lies in
understanding and experiencing one
kind of thing in terms of another.
(Lakoff & Johnson)
Nearby Nature
Small suggestions of the natural world
which, although seemingly insignificant
and often out of physical reach, can
play a powerful role in human well-
being. (R.&S. Kaplan)

9. Cyberspace: a new world without
names
The Computer Insectiary: A Field Guide to
Viruses, Bugs, Worms, Trojan Horses, and Other
Stuff That Will Eat Your Programs and Rot Your
Brain (Roger Ebert & John Kratz, 1994)

10. Researchers at Zynga, the company
that makes the Facebook game
Farmville, have seen many
technobiophilic responses amongst
their players.

11. Restorative effects can be produced
via windows, photographs, videos,
even paintings, of nature. So why not
screens?

12. The animated live wallpaper on my
mobile phone screen.

13. Immersion in the computer -generated
virtual reality nature space prompted
‘an increase in positive affect
(happiness, friendliness, affection and
playfulness) and a decrease in
negative affect (fear, anger and
sadness). There were also significant
decreases in levels of both perceived
and physiological stress’.
‘It is virtual nature that is responsible
for the observed restoration and not
virtual reality itself’.
Deltcho Valtchanov, PhD Thesis, 2010. Urban
Realities Laboratory, University of Waterloo. https:
//uwaterloo.ca/urban-realities-
laboratory/about/facilities

14. “Because our society has become
more urbanized and it is increasingly
difficult for people to get access to
nature, people will tend to experience
simulated nature experiences through
their exposure to virtual nature in the
media. To the extent that this captures
their experience of nature, it is meeting
the human desire to experience nature
and gain psychological benefits”
2008 study of Spanish energy consumers by
Patrick Hartmann and Vanessa Apaolaza-Ibáñez
"Haliaeetus leucogaster -Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka
-flying-8" by Thimindu Goonatillake from Colombo, Sri
Lanka - Soaring HighUploaded by snowmanradio.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Haliaeetus_leucogaster_-Bundala_National_Park,
_Sri_Lanka_-flying-8.jpg#/media/File:
Haliaeetus_leucogaster_-Bundala_National_Park,
_Sri_Lanka_-flying-8.jpg

15. A video of a waterfall in Ireland that
went viral on YouTube is helping
millions of people who suffer from
insomnia. The eight-hour footage has
been viewed over six million times, and
is now being used as part of medical
research for several London hospitals.
Artist Johnnie Lawson uploaded the
footage of the wooden bridge on the
River Bonet in County Leitrim five
years ago, and was surprised when it
attracted a very specific fan base.
http://www.independent.co.
uk/news/science/waterfall-video-uploaded-to-
youtube-helps-people-with-insomnia-10224414.
html

16. Definition of Technobiophilia
‘The innate tendency to focus on life
and lifelike processes as they appear
in technology’.
Key Elements
Technobiophilia can be found in
practices and artefacts which:
● connect our lives in nature with
our lives in the digital
● contribute to well-being via a tech-
nature balance
● support future biodiversity as
technology and nature move
closer together

17. Technobiophilia

18. ‘A Room with a View’: live video feed
of Areas of Outstanding Beauty for
leukaemia patients confined to an
isolation ward at Dorset County
Hospital, UK.
http://dorse-48577-001.dvs.demon.net/about/arts-
projects/arts-roomwithaview.html
The Dorset Hospital Biophilia Channel
was developed from that first idea and
now offers more content including
direct feeds from nature and landscape
works commissioned from artists.
http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/news/1035-free-
public-event-to-launch-biophilia-dorset-aonb-
health-channel-27th-january

19. PIP uses images of landscape to
create biofeedback which helps users
measure, understand and manage
their stress levels.
https://thepip.com/en-gb/
Changing a landscape with the power of your
mind is hugely relaxing. (Sue Thomas, The
Conversation, https://theconversation.
com/changing-a-landscape-with-the-power-of-
your-mind-is-hugely-relaxing-31156)

20. Great Chapparal by Adam Thwaites, in
Grand Theft Auto (GTA)
http://www.flickr.
com/groups/landscapesoflossantos/pool/
“GTA V is a truly living and breathing world,
created with so much depth and attention to detail,
that it now even enables this kind of virtual
landscape photography. I love how a game based
on crime can, on the other hand, offer an
opportunity for creativity and the appreciation of
natural beauty. Nothing beats actually going up
into the mountains and breathing the air up there
and I’d never want to replace that with technology,
but games like this need to be appreciated for
what they can offer in their own way too.” (Adam
Thwaites)

21. What might a
technobiophilic city
look like?

22. Biophilic Cities
“Cities of abundant nature in close
proximity to large numbers of
urbanites; biophilic cities are biodiverse
cities, that value, protect, and actively
restore this biodiversity; biophilic cities
are green and growing cities, organic
and natureful’. (Tim Beatley)
Gardens by the Bay
Image: www.natureinspireddesign.com

23. Technobiophilic city?
Escale Numérique (Digital Break),
Paris, France, offers a wifi refuge
designed like a park. The idea came
from the network of public water
fountains built in Paris in the 19th
century.
http://www.mathieulehanneur.fr/projet.php?
projet=174

24. Bioluminescent trees
Designer Audrey Richard-Laurent
proposes combining trees and
streetlights into bioluminescent trees.
In urban areas, one usually sees a row
of trees parallel to streetlights. Why not
hybridize them? Some organisms such
as jellyfish, fireflies and mushrooms,
can emit light.
Genetic engineers have transferred
genes responsible for these luciferin
and luciferase proteins into a tobacco
plant. These firefly proteins were then
manufactured by the plant, causing it
to glow and emit light. What if this
technology could be extended further
to say, a maple tree or a juniper bush?
http://www.nextnature.
net/2009/07/bioluminescent-trees-will-replace-
streetlights/

25. Cyberparks
Fostering knowledge about the
relationship between Information and
Communication Technologies and
Public Spaces supported by strategies
to improve their use and
attractiveness. (26 EU countries, 4
year project)
Working definition
A cyberpark is a new type of urban landscape
where nature and cybertechnologies blend
together to generate hybrid experiences and
enhance quality of life.
Photo: EvaM. Lisbon, 2014. EU Cooperation in
Science & Technology, Transport & Urban
Development Action TU1306
http://www.cost.
eu/COST_Actions/tud/Actions/TU1306

26. Technobiophilic
Design

27. Biophilic design applies biophilic
concepts to architecture and design in
such a way that it “connects buildings
to the natural world, buildings where
people feel and perform better”
(Stephen Kellert)
Technobiophilic design connects our
digital lives to the natural world so we
can feel and perform better.
https://suethomasnet.wordpress.
com/technobiophilic-design/
Image: Carolyn Black

28. Technobiophilic design challenges
for developers
● Apps and wearables
● Hardware and software
https://suethomasnet.wordpress.
com/technobiophilic-design/designchallenges/
Symbio
Designed at the Nucleus of Art and
New Organisms, a trans-disciplinary
hothouse of artistic and engineering
talent in Rio de Janeiro where they
research and develop technological,
organic, and sensorial hybrid systems
https://theconversation.com/talking-to-
houseplants-might-make-them-happy-but-one-
app-calls-for-a-deeper-connection-28027

29. Conclusion

30. Definition of Technobiophilia
‘The innate tendency to focus on life
and lifelike processes as they appear
in technology’.
Key Elements
Technobiophilia can be found in
practices and artefacts which:
● connect our lives in nature with
our lives in the digital
● contribute to well-being via a tech-
nature balance
● support future biodiversity as
technology and nature move
closer together

31. The Technobiophilic City
- the creativity and innovation of the
urban
- the restorative stability of the natural
world
- the global connectedness of the
digital.
“Bringing together what is actual with
what is dreamed” (Barry Lopez)
Daan Roosegaarde, Van Gogh Bike Path, The
Netherlands. Inspired by Van Gogh’s painting
‘Starry Night’. The 1km bike path is illuminated by
thousands of twinkling stones that feature glow-in-
the-dark technology and solar-powered LED lights
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/14/travel/starry-
night-bike-path/

32. Thank you
Sue Thomas
www.suethomas.net
#technobiophilia
@suethomas