The science of love VS Human Computer Interaction

The science of love, Inspired by a marvelous video by Helen Fisher, I wanna borrow this metaphor and apply that to human-computer interaction, since J. Bronowski told us: Innovation is the creation of the unity in what is diverse by the discovery of unexpected likeness.

According to her theory, there’re three types of love, and all three types are independent from each other. They are:

1. Romantic love

2. Sex drive

3. Long-term attachment

She concluded that a human being can have the same feeling at the same time to his/her lover, or have the same feeling at the same time to different lovers.

I would love to extend her theory to Human-Computer interaction by categorizing my own digital products to these three groups.

1. Long-term attachment.

Example: my desktop computer(my wife). Trust, Reliability and security-guaranteed.

2. Romantic love partner

Example: My laptop(my lover), Promotes possession, motivation and intense energy on a platonic level.

3. Sexual partners.

Example: my other digital devices, Satisfy my curiosity and short-term excitement.

I’m sure a through exploration and understanding of Helen’s “love”theory will inspire digital product development strategy. The different ways people expect and treat their three types of lovers, are quite similar to the ways they treat their digital products. Furthermore, as the digital products(and their softwares )evolve, they will eventually own the ability of “memory-based prediction”, and most of these digital devices will become an extension of physical human body. We all know the ability to love, is one of the fundamental abilities that God assigned to human beings, we can assume, a simulation of the loving behavior of human being(attachment, sexual, romantic), will push the digital products development into a new era.

Tagged: design pattern, digital products, love, wei zhou

Posted in: Interaction Design