This website domain name is a lie.
Ana does not work. Ana does things.
What
The things she does concentrate around the phenomena of human-computer interaction (HCI), focusing the influence design decisions have on digital products and its users, businesses and its clients, and the industry in general.
Researching how all this user experience (UX) stuff impacts human perception of communication, technology and life.
Following text is purposed to expand on what this all is about.
Things she does
Nature of doing things
Дела — вот, что делает нас людьми
— Скриптонит, Лучше всех
Anthropogenic impact
There is a thing about being a representative of Homo sapiens genus. As for a particular form of carbon-based life, humanity holds an unprecedented power to change the environment to their taste.
Evolutionary fitness
Undergoing evolutionary processes, which are essentially aimed to a better adaption to the environmental conditions, humankind developed the ability to actually change the environment instead of having to change themselves.
The difference
Just as many other lifeforms on Earth. But there is not a single sea otter that would go that far as humanity does in order to achieve what they want.
The key factor
Because out of all lifeforms known by history, only a human reached such level of sociality that allowed cooperation sufficient to cause significant environmental change.
Needs fulfilment
An abstract newborn human situated outside of its kind at, for example, a distant place on Earth with no signs of humanity present will never pursue the goals beyond its own survival.
Sophisticated desires
Because desire of anything else but mere survival is a result of hundreds of millions of years of intraspecific communication. Hundreds of millions of years had to pass for humanity to happen to be in a situation where everything you know exists. Technology, culture, language, social constructs — it is all products of concatenated effort of countless human lives.
Perceiving reality
And here comes the importance of handling interpersonal communication. Interaction with others is inevitable to complete the tasks ideated in the process of living.
Interaction scale
Even if the goal is miserably insignificant and effects little to nothing. The very idea of doing is already an interaction with the phenomenon of existence of others. Naturally, the more complex the deed, the bigger communicational effort required.
How it applies to my life
Living in a particular context
To start with, let's define the conditions. If you are able to comprehend this expression of mine, it means that you live in the same or consequent technological paradigm.
And I live in that reality where people all over the world use computing machines joined into a single network to handle an impressive layer of human communication.
Computers and the Internet are the technology accompanying my existence.
Existence
But the thing is that... I am not a big fan of existence. Even though I do not lack entertainment by simply living, there is an unbearable amount of unpleasant experience in my life. Which makes me question whether I should invest in being at all.
The game
But it was not my decision to be brought into being. And, unfortunately, there is not a slightest chance I am dealing with the consequences of others decisions.
So instead, I am dealing with... it. Dealing with life. Doing everything I find reasonable to shape my life the way I want it.
What do I want
I want to live in a situation where being alive is respected. Have you ever encountered another person – someone, who is not you – and been visited by a thought that this person is a living, sentient creature? Just like... you?
What is the deal
Living this life, inevitably interacting with others, and considering their livelihood holds me in a freezing grip of paralysing fear. Fear to assume that they may be exposed to the same pain as I am.
Nowhere to run
Unfortunately, I cannot just isolate myself from others. Not observing people suffering directly makes no difference to me because I already know it happens.
Coping
So I have nothing else to do but to find this exposure to be exactly the thing that enables me to speculate on the nature of suffering. To get a chance to have control over the amount of suffering in my life.
Things I do and why
Blame game
Defining the issue, I find the majority of my suffering to come from witnessing (or experiencing directly) people mistreating each other. Because for me respect starts with consideration of the very fact that other people are also sentient. Which seems to be quite an ordeal.Naming the enemy
People relating to my feelings call the ultimate denial of the mentioned above consideration dehumanisation. An act during which a person refuses to recognise a human in another one due to their expectations.
Human expectations
Despite of how much effort a particular social group puts into promotion of a certain image of human, the situation is that it will not stop those who are not conformant of the stated requirements from actually being a human.
Being a human
A human is not measurements, definitions or decoded genome. Not the Vitruvian Man. Not the drawings on the Voyager Golden Record. Not another human's idea. No one's idea. Not an idea.
Rather some electricity in a fancily structured matter. A natural event, an occurrence of incomprehensible nature. And if that is uncomfortable, consult with Gödel to asses feasibility of an attempt to comprehend that.
Consequences of denial
Consequently, as long as human nature is not respected, people are going to be processed into bars of soap. Or vivisected (experimentally cut into alive). Or eaten in an act of ritual cannibalism.
And this knowledge makes me sick.
Dealing with the consequences
Unfortunately, there is not much I can do either about soap or experiments. Or, well, rituals. Have no global leverage (yet?). Nonetheless, I find myself capable to propagate my views by doing things I would do anyway. With just making sure others get the message encoded in my action.
Wrap-up
Given the initial conditions, I had no chance to occupy myself with something other than digital technology. But it is my conscious decision that everything I do promotes the idea of unconditional value of human life.
This is why you know me professionally dealing with the ways people use digital technology to communicate.