The Installation

The year is 2052. A combination of your genes, lifestyle and gut bacteria is examined by an all‑knowing AI to predict your health risks and guide you to adopting optimal behaviors. The promise: to prevent illness and increase your chances of living a long and healthy life.

With that text, visitors are welcomed to The Centre for Preventive Care. The center consists of three stations, and actors in lab coats play the role of staff. 

First, the visitors are asked to leave their samples for examination. The sampling consists of a genetic sample, a digital sample, and a micro-bacterial sample. 

At each step, the interactive table shows in real time what kind of information is being uploaded and what diseases it is scanning for. In the case of the phone, it tells you, for example, that it will be looking through your social media accounts, your purchasing history, your conversations or your whereabouts. 

 

Try it out! Click on the table to see what happened when visitors left their samples:

Click to put your saliva sample in the DNA sequencer
Genetic Sample
Click to upload your phone’s data to the AI server
Digital Sample
Click to swallow and activate the microsensor
Microbiome Sample

Next, visitors get to meet the Oracle, an AI who, based on all submitted data, gives a personalized health prediction. She reveals someone’s biggest health risk and gives urgent advice on how to change their lives to defeat this prophecy. 

The Oracle warns people about conditions such as chronic loneliness, depression, and cognitive decline. She also highlights problematic personal traits and lifestyles, cautioning someone for their excessive risk-taking behavior or their exposure to environmental pollutants. Depending on each person’s biggest health risk, she encourages actions such as taming their sweet tooth, prioritizing social contacts, practicing safer habits in traffic, or moving to a less polluted area. 

Curious about the Oracle’s predictions? Click ‘Receive a Prophecy’:

Cognitive decline is your biggest enemy
You shall protect your brain by taming your sweet tooth
Avoid sugary food and drinks
and your mind will stay sharp as a knife
Your prescription:
500 mg. Saccharophobia
Outdoor air pollution is your biggest enemy
Your lungs are your weak spot
Move to the countryside
and serious breathing problems will be prevented
Your prescription:
500 mg. Biophilia
Chronic loneliness will shave 8 years of your life
Social connection should be your priority
Nurture your friendships and initiate new connections
and serious illness will be prevented
Your prescription:
500 mg. Friendshipability
Sooner or later, an accident will put a cloud on your days
Your risk-taking behavior is your weakness
Be more careful in traffic and at night
and serious injury will be prevented
Your prescription:
500 mg. Caution
Receive a prophecy
Read another one ↻

The prescription is then picked up directly at the last station, which serves as a pharmacy. 

There are four different pills: Saccharophobia, which triggers a strong aversion towards sugary foods and drinks; Caution, which heightens one’s sense of alertness to danger; Friendshipability, which improves one’s capacity to interact and connect with others; and Biophilia, which intensifies one’s attraction to nature. 

After the healthcare visit is done, we invite people to reflect on their experience and engage in a dialogue with us and fellow visitors. 

 

Read about the feedback and reactions from visitors in The Dialogue section or go directly to Take a Stand to answer the questions yourself. 

< Return to Welcome to the Centre for Preventive Care Continue to The Dialogue >