https://www.sapiens.org/culture/smartphones-cyborgs-phantom-limb/ New Stories All Stories Podcast Seasons Episodes Training Contents Contents Table of contents Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8 Table of contents Select Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8 essay / Letters Best of SAPIENS 2024 Anthropologists from around the globe brought dazzling insights and deeply reported concerns to the digital pages of SAPIENS magazine. essay / Phenomenon Unwrapping Operation Christmas Drop Roberto J. Gonzalez An anthropologist takes a critical eye to a long-running holiday tradition: a U.S. military mission that drops toys and supplies throughout Micronesia. poem / Reflections Survival Notes Alma Simba Black African women in former colonial centers such as London gesture to subversive ways of communicating with those imprisoned in archives across generations. op-ed / Viewpoint Spain's Move to Decolonize Its Museums Must Continue Jeannette Plummer Sires In early 2024, Spain's culture minister announced that the nation would overhaul its state museum collections, igniting a wave of anticipation--and controversy. op-ed / Viewpoint El impulso de Espana para descolonizar sus museos debe continuar Jeannette Plummer Sires A principios de 2024, el ministro de cultura de Espana anuncio que el pais renovaria las colecciones de sus museos estatales, desatando una ola de expectacion y controversia. op-ed / Counterpoint It's Time to Replace "Prehistory" With "Deep History" Stephen Acabado, Marlon Martin, Piphal Heng, Earl John C. Hernandez, and Mylene Q. Lising A team of archaeologists working in Southeast Asia is pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives to challenge traditional archaeological timelines. poem / Expressions An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse Alma Simba A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her--but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged. essay / Phenomenon Phantom Vibrations of a Lost Smartphone Alberto Navarro An anthropologist who studies human-computer interactions explores how and why losing one's smartphone feels so unsettling. essay / Wayfinding How and When Did Humans First Move Into the Pacific? Dylan Gaffney and Daud Aris Tanudirjo New archaeological research reveals insights into the first-known seafarers to brave ocean crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands more than 50,000 years ago. poem / Reflections Her Dirge Alma Simba A poet-historian reflects on women's labor carrying memories and the past. op-ed / Lost in Translation Doctors Are Taught to Lie About Race Matthew David Decades ago, anthropologists dispelled the myth of biological race. Lagging behind in scientific understandings of human diversity, the medical profession is failing its oath to "do no harm." essay / Origins Lessons From Lucy Denise Su Fifty years ago, the remains of an Australopithecus afarensis ancestor, named "Lucy" by archaeologists, rewrote the story of human evolution. essay / Standpoints Five Reasons Why Trump Won Again Alex Hinton In an effort to address toxic polarization in the U.S., an anthropologist of the "Trumpiverse" explains MAGA supporters' thinking in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. essay / Counterpoint Do Moose "Belong" in Colorado? William Taylor, Chance Ward, Emily Lena Jones, Jonathan Dombrosky, and John Wendt As moose populations multiply in the Southern Rocky Mountains, decision-makers are questioning whether the animals are endemic or invaders. Archaeology can offer answers--and potential solutions. essay / Standpoints How Colonialism Invented Food Insecurity in West Africa Anya Gruber Archaeological evidence and Oral Histories show people in what is today Ghana lived sustainably for millennia--until European colonial powers and the widespread trade of enslaved people changed everything. essay / Mindsets Are People Projecting Racist Stereotypes Onto Squirrels? Lee Cronk and Ryne Palombit Researchers refute a popular idea that black-furred squirrels behave more aggressively than gray ones--and suggest the myth stems from some people's racist attitudes. essay / Expressions La imposibilidad --y la necesidad-- de contar las lenguas del mundo Damian Blasi Un cientifico del lenguaje se adentra en los esfuerzos historicos y actuales por catalogar los mas de 7.000 idiomas del planeta, descubriendo historias pintorescas y retos herculeos. essay / Expressions Confronter l'impossibilite - et le besoin - de compter les langues du monde Damian Blasi Un chercheur linguistique se penche sur les efforts historiques et contemporains visant a repertorier les quelques 7000 langues de la planete, decouvrant des histoires pittoresques et des defis herculeens. essay / Expressions Enfrentando a impossibilidade - e a necessidade - de contar os idiomas do mundo Damian Blasi Um cientista linguistico examina os esforcos historicos e atuais para catalogar os mais de 7.000 idiomas do planeta, desvendando historias empolgantes e desafios herculeos. essay / Expressions Tackling the Impossibility--and Necessity--of Counting the World's Languages Damian Blasi A language scientist delves into historic and current efforts to catalog the planet's 7,000-plus languages, uncovering colorful tales and Herculean challenges. essay / Viewpoint Gathering Firewood--and Redefining Land Stewardship--at Bears Ears Kate Magargal, Adrienne Cachelin, Jesse Wyasket, Samuel Enke, and Rachel Christensen At Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a new co-management plan brings together federal agencies and a consortium of Native American tribes--revealing deep tensions over land rights and demands for environmental justice. poem / Phenomenon Harvest Song Durba Chattaraj A poet-anthropologist celebrates relatedness across difference in a poem that honors the festivals of Navratri, Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Day of the Dead, and Halloween--all of which draw on otherworldly connections and mysteries. essay / Human Rights How Water Insecurity Impacts Women's Health Paula Skye Tallman, Stroma Cole, Gabriela Salmon-Mulanovich, and Binahayati Rusyidi Anthropologists and local activists in Indonesia and Peru uncover links between water scarcity and gendered violence, and work together to lessen the harms of gender inequality. essay / Unearthed Unraveling a "Ghost" Neanderthal Lineage Ludovic Slimak Remains in France found by archaeologists and geneticists suggest at least two lineages--not just one--of late Neanderthals in Europe. essay / Field Notes Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide Alex Hinton As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin. essay / Maladies Revisiting the Spiritual Violence of BS Jobs Christopher Pollard Anthropologist David Graeber's celebrated theory of "bullshit jobs" continues to provide a critical window into why modern work is often so useless, soul-sucking, and absurd. essay / Unearthed The Distant Origins of a Stonehenge Stone Nicholas Pearce, Richard Bevins, and Rob Ixer After two decades of research, scholars find that Stonehenge's giant Altar Stone came from northeast Scotland. video / Ask SAPIENS Do You Want to Write for SAPIENS? A free online webinar by SAPIENS Editor-in-Chief Chip Colwell to learn about how to write for the magazine and its peer publications. op-ed / Mindsets People Are Not Peas--Why Genetics Education Needs an Overhaul Elaine Guevara The decades out-of-date genetics taught in most U.S. schools stokes misconceptions about race and human diversity. A biological anthropologist calls for change. poem / Human Rights Archived Haints Alma Simba SAPIENS' 2024 poet-in-residence conjures the voices of those imprisoned in archives. essay / Human Rights Gaza's Deaf Community in the Face of Genocide Timothy Y. Loh An anthropologist who works with deaf communities in the Arabic-speaking Middle East argues that ending Israel's war on Gaza and occupation of Palestine is a matter of disability justice. op-ed / Viewpoint Protecting Ancestral Waters Through Collaborative Stewardship Elic Weitzel The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, along California's Central Coast, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. to be nominated by Native peoples. 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[ ] [ ] Subscribe + Essay / Phenomenon Phantom Vibrations of a Lost Smartphone An anthropologist who studies human-computer interactions explores how and why losing one's smartphone feels so unsettling. By Alberto Navarro 27 Nov 2024 On a quiet street at night, a small, glowing rectangular device rests on the sill of a stall window shuttered with a corrugated metal cover. Jorg Greuel/Getty Images David, an American cyborg, has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the past month. [1] [1] All names have been changed to protect people's identities. As a cyborg--a human-machine hybrid--he can work from anywhere as long as his body remains reliably connected to the internet. Prior to traveling to Brazil, local friends warned him about techno-bandits who roam the streets of Rio, stealing pocket-sized cybernetic prosthetics from unsuspecting tourists to sell on the black market. So, when he first arrived in the city, David exercised extreme caution. He moved through the streets with vigilant eyes and a guarded stance, keeping his prosthetic concealed most of the time. But tonight is different. After a month in Rio, David's grown accustomed to the city's hustle and bustle. The initial apprehension that once gripped him has faded into the background, replaced by bold confidence--and a touch of cockiness. As he walks down the sidewalk, a familiar vibration pulsates through his prosthetic. David unsheathes it and momentarily dissociates, shifting his attention from his physical environment into a virtual world. The alert signals a message from a colleague--nothing urgent. After a moment, David refocuses on his surroundings and locks eyes with two men sitting on the ground. They stand and approach him, speaking rapidly in Portuguese, making frantic gestures to disorient him. Before he can react, one grabs the collar of David's shirt. The bandit pushes David against a wall and holds a knife up to his abdomen, while his accomplice yanks the prosthetic from David's hand. As suddenly as they appeared, the techno-bandits turn around and vanish into the night. Though physically unharmed, David's deeply shaken. Stunned and startled, he staggers back to his apartment. In the days that follow, he's gripped by unsettling feelings. David senses vibrations that aren't there. He imagines the weight of his prosthetic against his body. He instinctively reaches for it when he wants to access or remember information, only to grasp at empty space. At one point, he even experiences an auditory hallucination, hearing sounds emanating from the vanished device. It's not the theft that haunts David; it's the acute absence of his prosthetic. This cyborg is experiencing a phantom limb-like phenomenon. BECOMING CYBORGS When you imagine a cyborg, what sort of creature comes to mind? For many, a cyborg represents a futuristic entity, a product of technological developments yet to come. However, the anecdote above comes from dissertation fieldwork I conducted in 2022, exploring human-computer interactions among gay men based in California. More specifically, this research focused on understanding how these users' relationships with smartphones--and the tech companies that create these devices and their wide-ranging applications--are transforming fundamental features of human existence, experience, and performance. To learn more, listen to an interview with the author on the SAPIENS podcast: "Smartphones Are Bicycles for Our Minds." It's a widely acknowledged but often underappreciated fact that in less than two decades, smartphones have revolutionized most aspects of everyday human life. These small computers have radically changed the ways people in many parts of the world communicate and transmit information; learn, teach, imagine, work, and play; trust, empathize, and express other emotions; produce, distribute, exchange, and consume; move, navigate, and migrate; and even eat, sleep, copulate, and defecate, among other things. But David's account of being mugged and experiencing phantom sensations suggests smartphones have changed more than just how we do things. For many users, our interactions with these devices have profoundly reshaped what it means to have and be a human body. PHANTOM SENSATIONS AND THE BODY Phantom sensations, like those David experienced after the loss of his smartphone, refer to a phenomenon in which an individual experiences sensations involving a body part that is no longer physically present. This phenomenon has been recognized by various cultures throughout history, but French barber-surgeon Ambroise Pare was the first to document it in the context of Western medicine. In his 1564 Treatise on Surgery, Pare describes cases in which wounded soldiers complained of pain in recently amputated limbs. A wide variety of experiences fall under the umbrella term of phantom sensations. These include pain, tingling, itching, and experiences of performing a task with a lost body part, such as trying to pick up an object with a recently amputated arm. While often associated with limbs, phantom sensations can involve other body parts as well. For example, some individuals report phantom erections after penile amputation or sensations of passing gas after the surgical removal of the rectum. Mirror therapy can help treat phantom limb pain by tricking a patient's brain into thinking they have control over an affected body part. Golan Levin/CC BY 2.0/Flickr Although phantom sensations have been documented for centuries, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not yet fully understood. However, scientists believe they're connected to neuroplasticity--the nervous system's ability to change, adapt, and reorganize itself in response to learning, experiences, or changes to the body. Our nervous systems maintain body schemas, comprehensive mental models of our physical form. These schemas--shaped through continual sensory inputs, motor experiences, and environmental feedback--enable the brain to create a dynamic, internal map of the body's structure and its potential for interacting with the world. After the loss of a body part, the nervous system must adjust this mental model to reflect the body's altered form. But this process of recalibration is complex and can take a while, requiring our nervous system to unlearn deeply ingrained patterns established over years. During this period, individuals may experience phantom sensations involving that missing body part until the brain's model reconfigures to its new spatial reality. SMARTPHONES AS PROSTHETICS At first glance, describing a smartphone as a prosthetic might seem like exaggerated phrasing. Smartphone users don't typically think of their devices as artificial body parts. But reports of phantom sensations by David and other research participants suggest our brains have come to represent smartphones as enduring extensions of our physical bodies, not unlike how a person with limited vision might incorporate a cane as an extension of their spatial and perceptual system. Through regular, reliable, and repetitive use, smartphones modify the brain's structure, forging new neural pathways and rewiring neural networks. Just as the nervous system integrates each limb into its mental representation of the body's form and possible functions, it can also incorporate smartphones into this body schema. In other words, humans can experience phantom sensations when disconnected from our smartphones because our nervous systems perceive them as integral parts of our bodies. The barber-surgeon Ambroise Pare designed prosthetics, including this mechanical arm and hand, for wounded soldiers in the French army. Instrumenta chyrurgiae et icones anathomicae/[Ambroise Pare]/Wellcome Collection/Public Domain Experiences of smartphone-related phantom sensations point to a broader biological capacity shared across species: the ability to flexibly modify one's functional morphology through tool use. In some cases, an organism will profoundly integrate this tool into their body at spatial, cognitive, and perceptual dimensions--a process called tool embodiment. Tool embodiment is neither new nor unique to smartphones--or even to humans. Yet smartphones transform our bodies in unprecedented ways by continuously connecting them to the internet, which functions as an external digital nervous system. This connection augments users' ability to transmit, perceive, process, and respond to information beyond the limits of our innate biological bodies. This has important implications for users' privacy and autonomy. For example, seamless integration with internet-enabled smartphones subjects users to continual, real-time feedback loops orchestrated by external actors. While not inherently negative, many tech companies abuse this capability, using sophisticated algorithms to subtly modify our behaviors and worldviews in ways that prioritize their corporate interests, often outside users' conscious awareness. REGAINING AUTONOMY A few days after the mugging, David returns to the United States. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, his immediate objective is to buy a new phone. After dropping off his bags, he rushes to the store. This urgency isn't just about replacing a lost gadget; it's about restoring a critical part of himself, something that became an extension of his body and mind through years of habitual use. Smartphones have transformed what it means to be human by turning computing from a discrete activity into a way of life for many users. David's phantom sensations while separated from his smartphone illustrate how deeply integrated these devices have become. In under two decades, smartphones have become so deeply embedded in many people's everyday lives that they have reshaped our bodies and minds. Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty Images While many readers--and devoted smartphone users--may find this influence troubling, abandoning our devices isn't the solution. Our smartphones provide essential access to information, communication, and services, making them indispensable for many aspects of everyday life today. Instead, consumers should demand that tech companies prioritize human-centered designs that empower us and preserve autonomy, privacy, and identity, rather than undermining them. As we move forward in this era of pervasive connectivity, we must think more deeply about how these devices have become enduring extensions of our bodies and minds. The boundary between body and machine has never been blurrier; understanding this dynamic is key to ensuring that future technological designs will enhance, rather than erode, our humanity. Alberto Navarro Alberto Navarro is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Stanford University researching human-computer interaction. He is interested in how tools allow humans to flexibly modify the structure and functions of their bodies and minds. Following in the anthropological tradition of making the familiar strange, his dissertation explores ways in which smartphone use in the United States is transforming many of the most basic features of human existence, experience, and performance. Open Bio Close Bio Copy link Facebook Twitter Email Print Republish Share [ ] Get Our Friday Newsletter [ ] Subscribe Stay connected Find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Twitter, Mastodon, Flipboard Share Copy link, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Print, Republish Suggestions for You column / Machinations What If Machines Could Learn the Way Children Do? Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas and Djuke Veldhuis Modern-day machines, such as Siri and Amazon's Alexa, lack intelligence and empathy. Insights from hunter-gatherer communities could pave the way toward more sophisticated gadgets. column / Machinations Can a Robot Guess What You're Thinking? Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas and Djuke Veldhuis Scientists are trying to create artificial intelligence that can think about others' thoughts. What might this reveal about perspective-taking in AI, humans, and animals? essay / Decoded Why AI Will Never Fully Capture Human Language Joseph Wilson Researchers in artificial intelligence have made extraordinary strides in mimicking human language--but they still can't capture the parts that truly make language human. essay / Standpoints Who Pays the Price When Cochlear Implants Go Obsolete? Michele Friedner Some cochlear implant users can't afford to keep up with compulsory technology upgrades. After becoming dependent on the devices, they're losing their hearing and feel abandoned by manufacturers. essay / Phenomenon The Age of Digital Divination Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas An anthropologist asks what algorithms and astrology have in common in a digital era of predictive technologies. poem / Phenomenon "T" Peter-Jazzy Ezeh A poet-anthropologist celebrates how the Orring people of southeastern Nigeria conceptualize the origins--and workings--of the cosmos. essay / Culture Lab What Misspellings Reveal About Cultural Evolution Helena Miton When transmitting information to one another, humans tend to make certain mistakes more than others. A cognitive anthropologist explains why that matters to cultural stability and change. essay / Crisis Explaining the Emergence of Coronavirus Rituals Dimitris Xygalatas An anthropologist illuminates how both old and new rituals can provide a sense of comfort during times of uncertainty. 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