lecture response - week 7

Wind it Back.

The lecture presented a short film titled: 'Corner Convenience'.  To me this film represented how different users responded to evolving technologies.  It was interesting to see, that each individual adapted in their own way.  Although we adapt in our own unique way, it was important to realise that the opportunity was there, so each different character was still able to inhabit the space, regardless of what latest product or technology was introduced to the space.

The 'Drunk' - was oblivious to the evolving environment and carried on his experience the same as I imagined he would.

The 'Hoodie' - seemed oblivious or uneducated on the new systems in placed and tried to be a rebel and steal items and wasn't able to exit without being charged for the items he took.  In saying this, it could also be seen that the 'Hoodie' preferred the new technology as he didn't have to chose to interact with the sales assistant.  Maybe this technology suites his ethos more than we realise.

The 'Truck Driver' - seemed to embrace all the new advancements with in the connivence store, he purchased the new panda meat and enjoyed the Big Booty magazine through the micro displays in eye glasses.  It was if he embraced the evolved lifestyle choices, but all for the wrong reasons.  Unless the panda meat is genetically engineered, and we aren'y now breeding, farming and consuming a once thought endangered species.  

More to the point, although we create new technologies and advancements, do we necessarily need them, or are they there simply because we can create them.  This question is crucial to our advancements - just because we can, doesn't mean we have to.  

assignment reflection - week 6

An Opportunity

I drew this diagram after our initial visit to Woodfordia.  After listening to Bill (Queensland Folk Federation Chairman), who introduced us to the site and took the group on a guided tour around the precinct.  It was obvious that the trees had extreme significance for himself and the committee.  Not only did he mention that since owning the land, the Queensland Folk Federation has planted 95 000 trees and counting.  But he also highlighted that Woodfordia lay in a unique geographic location, where Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western tree species were able to mix with one another as the mountain range Woodfordia lay on, opened up for Western tree species to meet eastern tree species.

I keep finding myself referencing back to this unique condition of the site in numerous ways.  I not only see it as a physical attribute, but am also able to use it as a metaphor to influence and embodied other aspects of the design.

The group assignment has been a place where 4 individual concepts have been integrated into an holistic unified output.  We came together to mix on the same playing field, and grow forward to evolve and adapt, grafting and influencing one another's knowledge to create new individual species (designs).

assignment submission - week 6

assignment summary - week 5

A future – should we take a step back? – is it a step back?

Our groups vision was to reinvent ‘trends’ which have similar values derived from past contexts, as our current status as an evolving organism is leading into a world of uncertainties. 

b.o.b (billions of people), which is also a critical trend which we face in todays times and future predictions – in which the expediential rate of population is increasing, was a key element which drove our concept.  We now live in a world where the nature of change has changed.

“ a problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking as created it”

                                                                                          - Einstein.

This problem seems to be left in the hands of the same organizations/bodies who created it – governments, professional, monetary system and architects (to name a few) – because most of what we now see as exceptionally stupid design concepts - such as the glass box - were initiated by architects and once hailed as exemplifying modernists ideas.  Therefore, do we leave it up to the same bodies to lead us on a journey in ratifying our current status or do we as a body of individuals create our own opportunities, create a momentum, an energy to plant within our current times , to direct our own destiny and inturn create a direction which disperses across the globe.

Our mindset is to evolve and become bigger and better (in simple terms) seems to be a continuous way of thinking in today’s evolution path.  Therefore if we continue this level of thinking we can predict we are only headed towards a consumed and depleted world.  So is taking a step back and basing our ethos on past doctrines, is it going backwards or rediscovering what it is to be human.  What do we need to survive? 

We can not wipe the plate clean and start again – that would incur a lot a landfill for a start.  No, we harness what is present, but redefine what is necessary – or at least start to.  Technology has allowed the nature of change to change.  We need to harness this evolution, but not exploit it. 

b.o.b and his community does this by implementing a think farm.  An organism integrated between the physical and non-physical realms to re-establish and re-invent systems, technologies, thoughts, and new technologies –really anything that is relevant and possible for the users of the think farm to solve.  What is the think farm?  It doesn’t need to be defined, it only needs to create a platform in which this process can occur.  It doesn’t need to be defined, as it would continuously need to be evolving to adapt to a future environments. 

THINK FARM – a collaborative, integrated platform form to harness the energy of you and me.

tutorial response - week 5

Communication

lecture response - week 5

Moving

Dwelling

Eating

Making

Breathing

technology |tekˈnäləjē|

noun ( pl. -gies)

the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, esp. in industry : advances in computer technology | recycling technologies.

• machinery and equipment developed from such scientific knowledge.

• the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.

What is a technological advance?  Projecting forward beyond our means in pursuit of accomplishment?  

image: Integral Theory. (Peter Buchanan)

Technology is only concerned with one quadrant of the Integral Theory approach which limits us to the superfluous tangible environments.

‘Integral theory is concerned with integrating, or bringing into relationship, knowledge fragmented between specialisms’ (Peter Buchanan)

To achieve a ‘sustainable’ future, we cannot merely rely on technological advancements.  To take a step away from physical technological is also an advancement moving forward.  Enlightening our conscious and sub-conscious to the realization that we need to change a train of thought on how we perceive the world and our environments is crucial to our evolution.

Summarizing our essential needs into; moving, dwelling, eating, making and breathing draws us back to the fundamental elements of being.  For we have evolved into a race of doing, not BEING.  The majority of beings have evolved in a world that admires mostly technological advancements.  And in doing so, we have created a world of machines.  Our focus, our energy is absorbed into a superficial world.  Wipe the slate clean – impossible.  Create a notion, a movement, a energy towards an integral way of life, which I believe is the only solution evolution.  A BALANCE

...... a place where ideas can be harnessed and interwoven to and from organisms.

http://blog.shiftboston.org/2010/06/tape-installation-by-for-usenumen-at-dmy-berlin