The Quantified Self and the New Aesthetic

The Quantified Self is all about getting data about ourselves. We distill information and use that to our knowledge to improve our lives and that of others. Self-knowledge trough numbers. As we use algorithms in our lives we don’t think that often about how they see us, but this is exactly what the New Aesthetic is about.

A pipe full of data, typical view of the New Aesthetic

And here’s the cross-over between the New Aesthetic and QS. Machines and algorithms run our lives, and how they look at the world causes us to act. Can we view a part
of the New Aesthetic in changes in behavior? Can we reflect to ourselves with the help of machine interpretation or vision?

And we have algorithms determining how much we should move, eat or exercise. We save ourselves time by looking at Rescue Time data or figuring out the optimal sleep pattern for tonight. But how much of the data is reflect by ourselves and algorithms?

You can even extend this further by thinking about how algorithms would interact with the environment trough humans or the reverse. I somehow like the combination between the two things, but unsure where it’s heading…