August Reflections: From Tools to Companions to Immersive Presences.
Annotating a future agentic thing from August news reflections
The weekly reflections on the news in human-AI-thing co-performances are brought to life via a story from the future of living with agentic things in the city. This month, we go inside the home.
A Day with NutriSphere: The Ambient Kitchen
6:30 AM: Maya's bedroom gradually brightens as her NutriSphere begins its morning routine. "Good morning, Maya," comes the gentle voice from everywhere and nowhere. "Your cortisol levels are slightly elevated today, likely from yesterday's presentation stress. I've adjusted your breakfast accordingly."
As Maya enters the kitchen space, surfaces come alive with subtle illumination. The central island—a seamless blend of preparation area, cooking surface, and interactive display—shows her personalized nutrition dashboard. Three breakfast options appear, each calibrated to her current biological state: a turmeric-ginger smoothie bowl, adaptogenic oatmeal with stress-reducing ashwagandha, or eggs with specific micronutrient-rich vegetables.
"I'll go with the oatmeal today," Maya says, watching as the necessary ingredients emerge from modular storage units. The preparation surface highlights where to place each item, guiding her hands with gentle light cues. As she works, NutriSphere shares insights: "Your magnesium levels have been trending down this week. I've added a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds to help balance that."
12:30 PM: Returning home for lunch, Maya notices NutriSphere has already sensed her approach through her wearable. The kitchen's ambient lighting has shifted to blues and greens—calming colors that research shows can reduce overeating during stressful workdays.
"Your morning meeting ran longer than expected," NutriSphere observes. "I've prepared three quick lunch options that will support your afternoon focus." Maya chooses a nutrient-dense salad, appreciating how the system knows her tendency to choose convenience over nutrition when rushed.
As she eats, the kitchen island displays her weekly trend report. "You've been consistent with protein intake this week," the system notes approvingly. "And your omega-3 balance has improved since last month."
7:00 PM: Maya returns home with a friend for dinner. NutriSphere immediately detects the second person and adjusts. "I notice you have company," it says discretely through Maya's earbuds rather than the room speakers. "Would you like me to suggest a shared meal plan or would you prefer privacy mode tonight?"
"Privacy mode, please," Maya responds. The kitchen's surveillance functions recede to background operations—still monitoring but not actively guiding. The space transforms from health-optimization center to social cooking environment.
Later, after her friend leaves, Maya reengages full functionality. "How did I do tonight?" she asks.
"Your wine intake was 30% above your weekly allocation," NutriSphere responds without judgment. "I'll adjust tomorrow's recommendations to balance your antioxidant and hydration needs. Would you like me to prepare a hydration supplement for morning?"
10:30 PM: As Maya prepares for bed, NutriSphere sends a gentle notification: "Based on your sleep patterns this week and tomorrow's exercise plan, I recommend the herbal sleep support tea I've prepared. It's on your bedside table."
Maya smiles, remembering when kitchens were just places with refrigerators and stoves, not integrated wellness companions. She takes the tea, knowing that NutriSphere has already analyzed her evening meal, stress levels, and activity patterns to formulate the perfect blend for restorative sleep.
As she drifts off, NutriSphere quietly begins its overnight analysis, updating her nutritional algorithms, cross-referencing her biological data with the latest research, and preparing to once again help her navigate the delicate balance between optimal health and human desire when morning comes.
This day in the life of Maya with NutriSphere was written by Claude 3.7 Sonnet via Lex.page writing tool. Prompted by me, read below how that came about.
August Reflections: From Tools to Companions to Immersive Presences.
The speculative thing that is the subject of the story above aims to embody the key themes I've been exploring in August via my newsletter. Claude explains the links between the story and the weekly columns.
The evolution of AI is reshaping our fundamental relationship with technology, transitioning from mere tools to companions to immersive presences embedded in physical reality. Throughout this transformation, crucial questions emerge about agency, transparency, and control—not simply whether AI might overtake humanity, but rather how we maintain our autonomy as we delegate increasing decisions to intelligent systems. As AI spans multiple forms of technological mediation—embodied, hermeneutic, alterity, and background relations—it creates unprecedented forms of human-technology interaction, potentially establishing a new "expressive relation" where our identities blend with AI capabilities. This evolution suggests that the future of human-AI collaboration depends less on functional capabilities and more on the quality of relationships we establish, particularly as intelligence becomes ubiquitous in our physical environment, understanding what we mean rather than just what we say, and actively participating in our daily lives in ways both visible and invisible.
Shaping a speculative thing
I took inspiration for the speculative object from the Design Fiction WorkKit:
As an object, the cards dictated a kitchen appliance, combined with a trend report as archetype, supplements as attributes, and surveil as action.
I like to envision the kitchen as a whole as an appliance to serve us to build the best day of our life, every day again, by creating a specific meal plan, and help us prepare it as a companion. As we know how weak we can be, the kitchen as a whole is surveilling us, not to get data for external parties, but for ourselves, as a tool. What was once a trend in the decade of quantified self, for data geeks and health nerds, is not standard practice in every kitchen. Or do we still have a kitchen? A place to compose our energetic resources for the day, balancing out our nutrition over longer periods, being an immersive environment that creates trend reports that make it also possible for us to keep agency, divert from the offered meal plans, knowing that our companion will balance us out over time.
With this concept for a thing, I prompted Claude to write a day-in-the-life.
Based on this inspiration and triggered by four cards from a design fiction card deck, I created the concept for a speculative thing, wholesome kitches as an appliance for a balance diet. See the text.Can you create a day in the life of someone living in and with this kitchen appliance, including thinking of a catchy name of that ‘appliance’?
Connection to Weekly Columns
How does it relate to the four column I wrote in August? I asked Claude again to make that connection:
Weeknotes 352 - Companion Paradox: NutriSphere embodies the companion paradox by providing relatable AI interactions while balancing transparency (showing its nutritional reasoning) with a seamless experience, addressing the tension between agency and delegation.
Weeknotes 353 - Technological Mediation: NutriSphere perfectly exemplifies all of Ihde's technological relations simultaneously—embodied (extending Maya's nutritional awareness), hermeneutic (translating biological data into actionable insights), alterity (direct interaction as a companion), and background (ambient monitoring)—while also creating that potential "expressive relation" where Maya's identity blends with the system's nutritional intelligence.
Weeknotes 354 - Relations Over Functions: The success of NutriSphere isn't primarily in its functional capabilities but in the quality of relationship it builds with Maya—adapting to her preferences, respecting her social contexts, and developing a personalized understanding that evolves through continued interaction rather than just executing preprogrammed nutritional rules.
Weeknotes 355 - Mass Intelligence in Physical Reality: NutriSphere represents the ultimate expression of immersive AI by embedding intelligence throughout the physical kitchen environment—from illuminated surfaces that guide food preparation to ambient lighting that influences eating behaviors—creating an experience where intelligence is physically manifested at every touchpoint without requiring explicit conversational interaction.