Mike mentions a New York Times article on “Seeing Double to the Perfect You” that talks about the decreasing differentiation between human and non-human beings. As part of “the relentless, and uniquely American, drive to self-improvement” people are augmenting their bodies, for enhancing either form (e.g., plastic surgery) or function (e.g., pacemakers); a reference to a photo layout in the Italian Vogue magazine suggests that this “fascination with artifice” may not be quite so uniquely American.
Given my obsession with large displays, the following reference to content shown on displays in the Prada flagship store is [also] of interest:
On large and small plasma screens all around the store, a succession of naked, computer-generated humanoids goose-stepped with eerie precision toward some far-off unseen goal. For this young customer, it was all a bit much. “This store gives me the creeps,” she muttered, then turned on her heel and, with ponytail swinging, darted out the door.
A poignant example, though in a different domain, of what Desney Tan, et al., have demonstrated in their research into large displays: namely, Physical Size Affects Social Perception of Information.