Masahiko Inami: “Enablement” is a loose translation of the Japanese word jizaika. Literally it means “making [something] freely controllable,” but it was originally a Buddhist term referring to the art of freeing one’s mind from existing constraints. In a similar vein, I use the term jizaika in reference to the removal of our bodily constraints through technology, which enables us to perform things that we’ve always wanted to but couldn’t. Even when our bodies get weak in sickness or old age, this sort of technology can help us remain just as active as before. In that context, jizaika is synonymous with “designing new body schema.” I chose this as a subject of my research because I knew this technology would only gain in importance going forward.

I have little doubt that automation will become more and more sophisticated with the progress of AI and robotics. If the trend continues, humans may face the danger of becoming irrelevant, unless we hold fast to our goals and keep accomplishing them with determination. And I think we would need some tools to assist us with this effort.

Masahiko Inami: I pursued biotechnology as a student, and chose biosensor-related themes for my bachelor’s and master’s theses, focusing on acquiring data from and giving stimuli to organisms on a microscopic level. In other words, I was studying microscale relationships between living organisms and machines. In the course of this study, I began to speculate that perhaps the right combinations of biological and mechanical elements may also serve to extend human abilities.

I had also joined a robotics study circle as a hobby. It was in the 1990s, and amid the first wave of VR development I collaborated with my friends at university to build a VR system. The experience led me to think that the extension of human abilities I was after may also be achieved by a macroscale approach, using external mechanical devices. Accordingly, I chose VR, robotics, and telexistence^*1 as my doctoral research themes.

Masahiko Inami: Even now, I’m more interested in humans than in machines. For example, if we have acquired machines that extend our abilities, how would that change us? And how does the society change its outlook when our abilities are extended? Those are the questions that intrigue me. I intend to learn more about humans through their reaction to technological development.

Humans haven’t changed much in the 20 years or so since I first took up this research theme, but technologies for producing machines have made giant strides. That is why new discoveries and research results keep cropping up in this field, and I find that quite stimulating.