Affective Sublimations or How We Feel with Intelligent Technologies

This presentation explores an aspect of the evolution of human emotional cultures in response to interactions with intelligent technologies, to offer a comprehensive taxonomy of emotions that arise in these contexts. Inspired by the phenomenon of “uncanny valley”, it systematically traces unique affective responses to our technologically mediated environments and investigates how these emotions shape human social identity. This talk draws on my latest project titled Artificial Feelings: Emotions We Have Developed With Technology which rather than viewing emotions solely through a psychological or biological lens, frames them as outcomes of cultural practices, signaling how human emotional make-up is co-constructed alongside intelligent machines.

Central to this analysis (and the proposed talk) is the concept of affective sublimation, defined here as a specific emotional transformation that occurs when human feelings are modulated, redirected, or reinterpreted through interactions with technological devices. This phenomenon captures the way technologies, by blending functionality and perceived agency, evoke responses that surpass ordinary emotional reactions – generating a unique spectrum of attachment, empathy, or even discomfort that reshapes our sense of self and others.

In response to the session’s call and drawing attention to these interpretative tensions, this presentation seeks to illuminate how our emotional responses to technology challenge and expand traditional notions of human subjectivity, ultimately revealing the deep entanglement between emotional experience and the socio-technical world we inhabit.