From Dyadic Reciprocity to Giant Interaction Engines

Posthumanist Perspectives on Interaction ‘Under Construction’

Abstract

In this paper, based on posthumanist theory and posthumanist linguistics, we discuss specific elaborations of the term interaction as found in linguistics and sociology, where interactivity, reciprocal awareness and agency are discussed as possible characteristics of human interaction. We problematise to what extent this is distinct from interaction between humans and machines. We bring these discussions in relation to illustrative observations on how users of ChatGPT report on their experiences with large language models, drawn from Reddit threads. We show that the concept of interaction is ‘under construction’, not only because we have new interactional partners but also because meaning-making is now intertwined with the changing and individually customised and at the same time collectivised media affordances of machine-learning technologies. Interaction is no longer perceived as typically taking place between two humans but as embedded in and distributed across time and space in large networks of speaking subjects, massive historical and ever-changing data sets, and algorithmic affordances.