Seminar (AID4So): "Of Twins and Digital Twins: The Potential of a Problematic Metaphor"

Program

Summary

Digital twins are currently promoted as intelligent, dynamic digital replicas designed to monitor, understand, and optimize real-world objects and processes across various application domains. Advocates of this emerging technology often draw on stereotypical portrayals of (human) twinship—characterized by “sameness, togetherness, and closeness” (Viney 2021)—to present the digital twin as a loyal companion that intuitively supports the well-being of its “real-world equivalent”. However, this narrative tends to obscure the problematic aspects of digital twinning. In response, many social researchers have criticized the twin metaphor as inadequate and misleading (e.g., Korenhof et al. 2021; Lupton 2021).

In this talk, I argue that—rather than rejecting the metaphor—it is worth engaging with it creatively, seeking ways to “re-interpret” it (see e.g., Wyatt 2021). Drawing inspiration from the diverse, often unexpected and overlooked ways of being (human) twins—as explored in twin studies and twin fiction—I aim to speculatively rediscover “digital twinning” and the relationships we form with digital representations. Illustrative examples include digital twin fiction, interactive storytelling, and visual interpretations of digital twins.

Judith Igelsboeck

Social researcher specializing in emerging technologies and innovation. Her interdisciplinary work spans human-computer interaction, science and technology studies (STS), and organization studies. She approaches her research endeavors with an experimental mood and enjoys working with artists. Together with theatre makers and creative coders, Judith designed “Enacting Innovation” – a participatory theater play showcased at the Ars Electronica Festival. The Volkswagen Foundation funded an artistic interpretation and creative translation of her digital twin research which resulted in the interactive short story collection entitled “The Secret Lives of Digital Twins” and published on the digital literature platform polyplot (https://your-secret-digital-twin.de/). Judith has recently joined the AID4So and CareNet groups of UOC as interdisciplinary post-doctoral fellow. Her current research project is entitled “The digital twin in pictures: image and careful re-imagination of an emerging technology.”