The document discusses the intersection of posthumanism and the Internet of Things, highlighting how technology and human existence blur together. Key concepts include ubiquitous computing, the definition of 'things' in the IoT context, and the evolution of machine-to-machine communication. It emphasizes the transformative nature of technology in both individual lives and collective societies.

1. i-Bestuur Congres
Prometheus & the ‘Internet of Things’
Den Bosch, 24 januari 2013
Dr. Ben van Lier CMC
Directeur Strategie & Innovatie

2. Cyborgs & Posthumanism
Katherine Hayles
 How we became Posthuman (1999)
 In the posthuman, there are no
essential differences or absolute
demarcations between bodily
existence and computer
simulations, cybernetic mechanism
and biological organism, robot
teleology and human goals. (3)

3. Internet of Things – History
Mark Weiser
 Ubiquitous Computing (1991)
 The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves
into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistguishable from it.
Bruce Sterling
 Shaping Things (2005)
 Spimes are sustainable, enhanceable, uniquely identifiable, and made of substances that
can and will be folded back into the production stream of future spimes.

4. Internet of Things – European Union
Sundmaeker c.s.
 Internet of Things (2010)
 In the context of Internet of Things a thing could
be defined as a real/physical or digital/virtual
entity that exists and move in space and time
and is capable of being identified either by
assigned identification numbers, names and/or
location addresses

5. Internet of Things – Industrial Internet
Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and
Machines 2012
 The Industrial internet brings together the
advances of two transformative evolutions:
the myriad machines, facilities, fleets and
networks that arose from the industrial
revolution, and the more recent powerful
advances in computing, information and
communication systems brought to the fore
by the internet revolution

6. Internet of Things – Machine2Machine communication
OECD M2M:Connecting billions of
devices 2012
 Devices that are actively
communicating using wired and
wireless networks, that are not
computers in the traditional sense
and are using the internet in some
form or another (2012:7

7. Internet of Things - Context
Paul Dourish
 Like ordinariness, context is managed
moment by moment, achieved by those
carrying out some activity together, and
relative to that activity and to the forms of
action and engagement that it entails.
(2004:25)

8. Emergent properties
Andy Clarke
 Natural-Born Cyborgs (2003)
 For better or for worse (almost certainly for both), human
technology symbiosis is poised to transform our lives both as
individuals and as collective groups. At the individual level,
new transparent technologies will increasingly blur the already
fuzzy boundary between the user and her tools for thought; at
the collective level distributed activity-sensitive software will
enable us to press new knowledge from electronic trails of
use and access. (2003:165)

9. Vragen?
ben.van.lier@centric.eu
@Ben_van_Lier
www.centric.eu/benvanlier