The politics of the artificial: essays on design and design studies

THE

OF THE ART Essays o n Design and Design Studies

Victor Margolin

The University o f Chicago Press Chicago and London

To

Victor Margolin is professor of design history

my at the University of lllinols at Chicago. He is

wife

the author of TheSrruggle for Uropia, editor of

Sylvia and

the journal Design Irrues, editor of Design

my daughter

Discourse, and coeditor of Discovering Design

Myra.

and The Idea of Design. The University of Chlcago Press. Chlcago 60637 The University of Chicago Press. Ltd.. London

0 2002 by Victor Margolin All righrs resewed. Published ZOO2 Printed in [he United States of America 11 1 0 0 3 0 8 0 7 0 6 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 ISBN: 0-226-50503-0 (cloth)

1 2 3 4 5

ISBN: 0.226-50504.9 (paper1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in.Publ~cation Data Margolln. Victor, 1941The politics of the artificial : essays on design and design studies / Victor Margolin. p. cm. Includes bibliographicai references and index. ISBN 0.226.50503.0

(clorh) - ISBN 0-226-50504-9 (paper)

I.Design-History-20th

century I. Title.

NK1390 .M273 2002 745.4'0973'09045-dC2I 2001003511 @The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, AN51 239.48.1992.

Both have helped broaden and deepen

my idea of design.

CONTENTS

Introduction

r

1: DESIGN

Thinking about Design at the End o f the Millennium Design at the Crossroads The Experience o f Products Ken Isaacs: Matrix Designer Expansion or Sustainability: Two Models o f Development Design for a Sustainable World The Politics o f the Artificial 2: DESIGN STUDIES

Design History in the United States. 1977-2000 Narrative Problems o f Graphic Design History Micky Wolfson's Cabinet o f Wonders Design History and Design Studies The Two Herberts The Multiple Tasks o f Design Studies Sources

261

Illustration Credits Index

267

264

The prospect of inevitable global environmental disaster o r world-wide social upheavalmust not be the legacy which we leave our children. AGENDA 21: THE EARTH SUAIMITSTRATECY T O SAVE OUR PLANET

SUSTAINABL Since design's beginning, when it was conceived as an art o f giving form to products for mass production, it has been f ~ r m l yembedded in consumer cuiture. Design's first promoters in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Henry Cole in England and Herman Muthesius in Germany, saw it exclusively in relation to the manufacture o f products for the market. This was equally true when a new practice of consultant design emerged in the United States in the 1930s. In the postwaryears, American consultant practice became a model for industrial designers throughout the world as they sought to create a place for themselves in their respective national economies. This model continues to be influential in the emerging global economy. While the process of establishing design as an essential component of global economic competitiveness has progressed in an almost seamless manner, occasional critics have attempted to redirect design practice to other tasks. Perhaps the harshest cast~gationof industrial design came from the late architect-designer Victor Papanek who wrote the following in his seminal book of 1972. Design for the Real World: Today, industrial design has put murder on a mass.production basis. By designing criminally unsafeautomobiles that k i l l or maim nearly one million people around the world each year, by creating whole new species of permanent garbage to clutter up the landscape, and by choosing materials and processes that pollute the air we breath, designers have become a dangerous breed.'

OE1ICN FOR A SUSTAINABLE iYOllO

whose thoughts on design began evolving i n the late 1920s, envisioned aUcomprehensive anticipatory design science" as a human practice that would align men and women with the evolutionary forces o f the universe.' Despite some proposals that could never be realized, he demonstrated time and again the practical applications o f his vision. Unlike Papanek, who based his early thinking in part on the low-tech design wisdom o f indigenous peoples such as the Balinese and the Inuit, Fuller sought the most advanced levels o f technology to realize his projects. He also thought in terms of systems as well as i n terms o f single objects.' In the early 1960s, Fuller was invited to serve as university professor at Papanek's diatribe struck a sympathetic chord with many practicing designers and students around the world who were looking for some alternative to de-

kerosene burners* R'OdeJane'rO' ' g g 2 .

Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Illinois. While there, he participated in the launching o f the World Design Science Decade, a program intended to

signing more products for the consumer culture. Among the new practices Pa-

demonstrate between 1965 and 1975 how design in the comprehensive sense

panek proposed were working with people in developing countries to create

could playa central role in addressing major world problems. Many goals found

products using low technology, designing for the disabled, and creating new

i n the documentation o f that initiative parallel those called for today b y the

goods to counter growing environmental problems. Design for the Real World

leading advocates o f sustainable development. These include

came hard on the heels o f the student movement o f the 1960s and embodied the simultaneous rage and hope o f that period. Papanek's claim that designcontributed t o the deterioration of the environment introduced a new element into design discourse, though his position remained marginal and made no significant impact on the industrial design profession.

. . .

review and analysis o f world energy resources; definition o f more efficient uses o f natural resources such as metals; and integration o f machine tools into efficient systems o f industrial prod~ction.~

As part o f the World Design Science Decade. Fuller and his colleagues con-

Years earlier, the engineer R. Buckminster Fuller had considered the limi-

ceived an electronic display that would provide a continual update o f resource

tations o f industrial design differently. Beginning i n the 1920% he began t o pro-

availability and use on a global scale.' Fuller's ideas and his development o f the

pose new products t o challenge the traditional practices o f the American build-

World Came, a simulated planning process for allocating resources, engaged

ing industryas well as the constraints o f Detroit automakers. His early project

students around the world but never penetrated industrial design practice,

for prefabricated tower blocks, which could be dropped by helicopter into a

which continued to embed itself more deeply i n the expanding global manufac-

foundation and then connected to water, electricity, and gas, posed a strong

turing activities ofcorporate culture during the 1960s and 1970s.

challenge t o what he saw as the antiquated building trades with their hierar-

Since the 1970s the critiques and visions o f Fuller and Papanek, as well

chies o f carpenters, bricklayers, and masons. He continued the theme of pre-

as of others such as Tomas Maldonado, John Chris Jones, and Cui Bonsiepe,

fabrication in his subsequent Dymaxion House and his Dymaxion Bathroom.

have continued to ripple through design schools and conferences b u t have

Unconventional thinking was also evident in his Dymaxion Car, a three-wheeled

never strongly threatened the underlying premise o f design practice that the

vehicle designed on aerodynamic principles with wheels that could turn on a

role o f the designer is to provide services t o his or her clients within the system

90'angle so the car could move horizontally into a narrow parking space.

of consumer culture. This impasse has left many designers frustrated, particu-

Suffice it to say that none o f these inventions were adopted b y American

larly in light o f the growing pressures for sustainable development. Modest ef-

industry. Fuller did, however, eventually achieve worldwide success with his ge-

forts to create green products have certainly been valuable, but such products

odesic domes, whose economy o f materials as well as their durability, flexibility,

function onlyas compromise measures in comparison to what is needed.

and ease o f construction were quickly recognized b y the United States Marine

By the time o f the Earth Summit held i n Rio de Janeiro i n June 1992,

Corps and then widely adopted b y industry. The broad range o f objects, both

global environmental problems had already reached critical proportions. They

successful and unsuccessful, that Fuller had proposed b y the end o f World War

were amply described, as were hundreds o f proposed solutions, i n the con-

II, provided isolated examples o f his systematic rethinking o f design. Fuller,

ference report Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet. The

9 4 . 95

DESIGN FDR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

report, based on a number o f accords adopted and signed b y most

cessity. Designers make choices in response to particularcircumstances and

o f the world's national leaders, was a remarkable achievement. For

situations a n d ignore other possibilities. Today new choices present them-

the first time, the world had a d o c u m e n t that pulled no punches i n

selves, and designers need not be bound by what they have done i n the past. In

mandating extreme measures to counter the harmful environmen-

years t o come, design for consumer culture may be recognized as only one

tal effects o f the expansion model. However, the Rio accords con-

form o f practice among many rather than continue to play the domi.

tained no measures for mandatory enforcement, and subsequent

nant role that it does today. As design theorist Clive Dilnot has noted,

implementation efforts have fallen far short o f what was originally called for. On the positive side, the Earth Summit, which Included a parallel meeting o f

Eve~yncrumach~~ogofor

Rio'92 Earth Summit. Re. oroduced bvoermissionaf

Movement towards a "post-product" society, i.e., t o one distin. guished b y a more explicit social management of man-environment relations, i s likely t o b r i n g back t h i s historic sense o f design's

hundreds o f clt~zens'groups, has resulted I n an emergent culture ofsustain-

EVelynCrumach The logo

ability. Individuals and groups around the world n o w have a set o f principles

represents the ubiqu~tous presence ofmountains and waterin Rio'slandscape. The small ~ e a k athe t top is

d i g m o f giving form to objects, i t is necessary t o clarify exactly what

SugarloafMountain'aRio Icon. The designer also

designers contribute t o a project. To the degree that design has been

t o work w i t h and a basis on which to develop strategies for change that m i g h t be effective desDite the ~ o w e r f u ql r i p that the expansion model still has o n world economics and trade policies.' Given the growing force o f this new culture o f sustainability, the question arises as to what role the design professions will play i n it. Until n o w they have done Ilttle. With the exception o f Papanek. Fuller, and a few othervisionaries and critics, designers have n o t been able t o imagine a professional practice outside mainstream consumer culture.' isolated initiatives have occurred in-

placedRio symbolicallyat

,he top ofthe world rocon. note the signif~canceofthe EarthSummit'sagenda.

significance [as planning]. Design becomes once again a means of ordering the world rather than merely of shaping commodities." Once design has been uncoupled from the dominant para-

historically recognized as an art o f giving shape t o commodities, insufficient attention has been paid to the types o f knowledge that would enable designers to work w i t h other professionals in engineering, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. As a result, most design students are exposed t o a limited

cluding special design projects w i t h i n the United Nations Development Pro-

range o f situations i n which design could be an intervention. This type o f so-

gram, the sponsorship o f the International Council o f Societies o f Industrial De-

cialization, which beglns in school and continues i n the design magazines and

sign (ICSID) o f the conference "Design for Need" held i n London in 1976, and

at professional conferences, reinforces a narrow image o f product design. It

ICSID's Humane Village congress i n Toronto in 1997, b u t most product design.

privileges an awareness o f consumer culture and its situations rather than the

ers have been locked into the aims and arguments o f their business clients.

realm o f local and global problems that are being addressed by those in the cul-

believing themselves unable to take any initiatives o f their own.'There is a his-

ture o f sustainability.

tory o f calls for a new ethics o f design, but these ore mostly reactive rather than

Nonetheless, there is a shift developing i n mainstream design thinking.

generative.' They arise as urges t o resist unsatisfactory situations rather than

Kenji Ekuan, aJapanese product designer, former Buddhist m o n k , a n d long-

as impulses to create new and more satisfying ones. The result is a lack o f em-

time lCSlD activist, wrote in a 1997 article, published in the lCSlD News, that

powerment. In those areas i n which designers d o have the autonomy for free

design gives the impression o f being i n a state o f stagnation i n terms o f b o t h

discussion, notably conferences. journals, and in the college or university class-

ideology and activities. One gets the impression that design has drawn apart

room, the proposals for change have been all too modest and have rarely come

t o simply keep watch while the world grapples w i t h numerous serious prob-

o u t strongly against the expansion model o f economic growth, which is still

lems including the environment, welfare, natural disasters and traffic.

considered to provide the designer's bread and butter.Io Hence, designers settle

things are left i n this state, the times w i l l simply pass b y w i t h nothing a t a l l

for small victories that are ultimately dependent on the willingness o f manufac.

taking place. I n order t o make a commitment t o the main flow of the times a n d

turers to undertake some form o f good work such as a green product.

succeed i n playing a n important role, i t appears that the necessity has arisen

The primary question for the design professions thus becomes h o w t o reinvent design culture so that worthwhile projects are more clearly identified

And i f

for design t o redefine i t s purposes and devise a new organizational structure fori~self.'~

and likely to be realized. Just as other professionals are finding ways t o earn

I n an earlier article, which appeared in the same publication, Ekuan envisioned

their living in the culture o f sustainability, so too wiil designers have to d o the

a new task f o r t h e designer. He argued that "what design can and m u s t d o is the

same in order t o create new forms o f practice. The first step is t o recognize that

proposal o f a new life image and lifestyle that is compatible w i t h the environ-

design has historically been a contingent practice rather than one based on ne-

, life, global life and life in the workplace."" ment in daily I ~ f ehome

DESICN FOR A SUSTAINABLC WORLD

Ekuan took a necessary first step b y recognizing that the historic model

continued to grow and solidify its relations with the United Nations since 1992.

o f industrial design practice is inadequate, and he sought to uncouple design

Currently on the World Wide Web is the Earth Charter, which is intended t o cod-

from the dominance o f its past identity. For him, the solution is in "interdiscipli-

ify many o f the values o f the sustainability movement."

nary and international collaboration in all fields o f design."'" His call for a new

Design will change as its practitioners develop a new consciousness.

purpose is significant and forms part o f an emerging dialogue among some de-

Broad proposals and visions are a stimulus to this process but cannot replace

signers. However, the terms o f this dialogue are not yet well enough defined to

the hard, sustained work o f rethinking one's identity as a professional. What

lead to viable strategies o f practice.

makes this process so essential right now is the clear evidence that older mod-

As another voice in this new dialogue, the product designer Alexander

els o f practice are not working. Many new concepts are responses to this situa-

Manu believes that responsible design must be shaped by an ideal. He found

tion, but most o f these are aimed at reforming consumer culture rather than at

this ideal in the HumaneVillage, the theme he proposed for the 1997 lCSlD con-

contributing to a new vision o f professional practice.'' Design must disengage

gress inToronto. 'The Humanevillage," wrote Manu. "will help us to instill some

itself from consumer culture as the primary shaper o f its identity and find a ter-

moral passion and a sense o f purpose. We will make idealism legitimate once

rain where i t can begin to rethink its role in the world. The result ofthis activity,

again. Perhaps the social responsibility that the Village implies will bring about

i f successful, will be a new power for the designer to participate in projects for

our ability to put balance back in our lives. It will make us human."" While

the welfare o f humankind both inside and outside the market economy.

Manu's call t o action is admirable, it is nonetheless onlya first step and must be

There are several obstacles to initiating this process. First is a crisis of

followed b y a process o f critical reflection that leads to a program o f strategic

will. Until a designer honestly confronts the reality o f his or her work in order to

intervention. A profession cannot be grounded in the expectation that all o f its

determine whether and how it contributes to the sustainability o f the planet,

practitioners will share the same moral vision, and it must therefore focus on

there is little incentive to change. Until now, design discourse has too often sup-

the concrete issues o f practical work in order to define its social identity.I6

ported a rhetoric o f idealism that is at odds with the reality o f daily practice.

Ekuan and Manu feel strongly that design must change. Ekuan hopes

Second is a crisis of imagination. Too few examples o f projects that are

that interdisciplinarity will make a difference, and Manu believes that the vision

socially directed serve to stimulate or inspire designers. While such projects d o

o f a humane village will draw designers toward work that is beneficial to hu-

exist, they are, for the most part, closed out o f academic design courses and

mankind." Both o f these visions precede the hard work o f mapping a terrain o f

belief that product design is a way to cultivate professional publi~ations.'~The

situations and tasks that will expose the conditions o f a new practice.

artistic sensibilities and make a lot o f money is still quite strong within design

To move forward with a new agenda for design we can make use o f the broad framework proposed b y Fuller, which can help us explore the possible

culture. To counter this conviction, I want to make reference to two projects that suggest successful alternatives.

relations o f design to a number o f proposals and actions that are currently

One is located in Curitiba, Brazil, where the former mayor, Jaime Lerner,

emerging within the culture o f sustainability. The challenge o f creating a sus-

an architect, established an Institute for Research i n Urban Planning to identify

tainable world has moved from the realm o f idealism to that o f necessity. The

problems within the city that could be addressed by designers, whatever their

understanding o f sustainability as an essential value will result from a coming

field o f expertise. The case o f Curitiba shows what can happen when

to consciousness in the field ofdesign similar to that which many social groups

a designer gains political power. Lerner's broad mandate enabled Cu-

have gone through since the mid-1960s. We can note the new relations be-

ritiba's design staff to invent projects in response to discovered

tween men and women that feminists have fought for, the respect for all the

needs."

world's cultures that multiculturalists believe in, and the recognition o f different

street signs in Braille text to creating innovative bus shelters that of-

sexual orientations that gays and lesbians have insisted upon.

Many different concerns were addressed-from

adding

fered protection against inclement weather while also speeding up

In all cases, social forces were at work that demanded a rethinking o f

the boarding process. A special system o f bus routes was worked

current attitudes, which has resulted in real differences in behavior. Little by lit-

out so that color-coded express buses could take riders to distant

tle, such social changes have moved from citizens' initiatives to codification in

destinations while local buses circulated within the city center.

official documents such as United Nations reports, accords, conventions, and charters. This is happening now with the culture o f sustainability, which has

Recyling was a high priority for Curitiba, and the planning institute initiated a number o f efforts from using recycled plastic containers for

98.99

OESlCN FOR A SUSTAINABLE iVORLO

urban structures t o starting a factory that converted used plastic materials into

sign thinking-the

toys for Curitiba's schoolchildren. Old buses were transformed into information

its historical focus on shaping objects, particularly those for the market.

art of conception and planning-has

t o be separated from

kiosks and downtown daycare centers where people could leave their children

Designers have the ability t o envision and give form t o material and im-

while they shopped. Wooden carts were provided for scavengers t o go around

material products that can address human problems on a broad scale and con-

the city and gather materials which they could sell, and special mobile stalls

tribute t o social well-being. This goes far beyond green design or ecodesign,

were created for vendors i n the city's various marketplaces. Underlying these

which until n o w have represented designers' attempts t o introduce ecological principles t o the market economy. Pauline Madge has identified a transition from green design, a term popular a decade ago, through ecodesign t o sustainable design, which she says, "represents a steady broadening o f scope i n theory and practice, and t o a certain extent, an increasingly critical perspective o n ecology and design.'"'

Several thinkers cited b y Madge see the difference be-

tween green design and sustainable design as that between a focus on single products and a larger systems approach t o human problems. i n support o f this broader approach. Agenda 21, the report o f the Rio Earth Summit, identifies many problem areas that can engage designers alprojects was the idea of integrated service. The designs arose from an investi-

though some of these fall outside the traditional sphere o f design activity. The

gation o f needs and were implemented in such a way as t o locate individual

report is extremely direct in its presentation o f the challenge facing humankind.

projects within a largervision o f urban planning.

Achieving a sustainable standard of living f o r all people requires a

Another approach t o design is that o f Nancy and John Todd, who began

bold new approach-an environmentally responsible global approach

their work in 1969 at the New Alchemy Institute, located on Cape Cod in the

to confront theseproblems. A largevariety o f techniques can be used

United state^.'^ What distinguishes the Todds' rethinking o f design from that in

t o accomplish this goal. Greater efficiency i n the use of the Earth's

Curitiba is their stress on integrating urban life with biological processes. Recy-

limited resources, minimization of waste and fundamental changes

cling is the primary ecological practice in Curitiba, b u t theTodds envision com-

i n production processes are some methods that can be employed.'6

pletely new living environments that incorporate "principles inherent i n the

This broad mandate is then d i v ~ d e dinto six themes: quality o f life, efficient

natural world i n order t o sustain human populations over a long span o f

use o f natural resources, protecting the global commons. managing human

time.""TheTodds'

settlements, the use o f chemicals and the management o f human and indus-

method is characterized b y their design of"living machines"

consisting of algae, bacteria, fish, and other organisms. "Living machines,'' they

trial waste, and fostering sustainable economic growth on a global scale.

suggest. "can be designed t o produce food or fuels, treat wastes, purify air, reg-

Within each theme is an extensive list of tasks t o be accomplished. Those that

ulate climates, or even t o d o all o f these simultaneously. They are designed

have a particular relevance t o design as we still know it today include re-

along the principles evolved b y the natural world in building and regulating its

search and development efforts for new and reusable sources of energy, recy-

" ~ ~ Todds base their great ecologies of forests, lakes, prairies, and e ~ t u a r i e s . The

cling waste products into the world's ecosystems, altering wasteful patterns

design thinking on an understanding of how natural systems function and are

o f consumption, reducing excessive product packaging, develop-

thereby able t o propose highly original solutions t o human problems. Among

i n g affordable health care technology for rural settings, designing

the projects they have envisioned are neighborhood sewage treatment facili-

environmentally safe mass transit systems, creating a new aes-

ties, drum composters for urban waste, rooftop gardens, and bioshelters that

thetic for products made of recycled materials, inventing technol-

can support urban farming. None of these projects are typical of those that socialize design or archi-

ogy t o reduce the production of industrial waste, expanding ecoand cultural tourism as new forms of consumption, making more

tecture students into their professions. In most cases, design training is driven

efficient use o f forest products, finding alternatives t o products

b y the act of giving form t o materials, and design is rarely brought into relation

that burn fossil fuels, creating better environmental impact statements for

with the natural or social sciences. As Dilnot noted in a quote cited above, de-

new products, inventing new mechanisms t o monitor global resource use,

100.101

.............. ....... Victor Papanek. Design for the Real World: Human EcologyandSociai Change, 2d rev.

improve methods o f recycling waste materials into new products.

ed. (1972: reprint. Chicago: Academy Editions. 1985), ix. Papanek may have taken

and assisting indigenous peoples to become entrepreneurs.

some of his points from an earlier diatribe on a similar theme by the journalist Vance

While some o f these challenges are being addressed b y de-

Packard in his book The Waste Makers(NewYork: D. McKay, 1960).

signers within the existing framework o f the emerging global econ-

R. Buckminster Fuller, "A Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science." in Fuller, No

omy, many are not since they do not fall within the objectives o f the

More Secondhand God and Other Writings (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern

designer's traditional clientele. Because there has been no funda-

l l l i n ~ i sUniversity Prers/Londonand Amsterdam: Feffer & Simons. 1963). 84-1 17. See

mental reinvention o f design practice in order to play an active role

also his essay "comprehensive designing." trans/formalion:

in the culture ofsustainability, clear paths to new forms o f practice

environment I. no. i (1950): 18-19, 22-23. Here. Fuller anticipated many of the cur-

arts, communicalion.

rent concerns about resource depletion, though he predicted optimistically that

do not exist. Designers must rethink their practice both individually

everyone in the world could achieve an advanced standard of living.

and collectively in order to find ways o f engaging with the massive

See Fuller's account of his research in "The Fuller Research foundation. 1946-1951."

problems that confront humankind. One o f the greatest of these is

Fuller, No More Secondhand God and Other Wrirings, 65-74.

the accelerating growth o f cities, particularly in the developing

"The Five Two-Year Increment Phases of the Ten-Year World Facilities Redesign" i n

countries where urban populations are expected to double i n the

World Design Science Decade. 1965-1975: Phase 111964J, Document 2: The Design

next twenty-five years. This will create inordinate demands for

lnitiarive(Carbondale: World Resources inventory, 1963). 107-108. A bill to construct a facility forlhis display was submitted in the U.S. House of Repre-

housing, waste management, water purification, food supply, and health care.27 However, it is not only essential to confront the problems o f a future population, we must also face the enormous cleanup operation that is required in order to rectify the mistakes o f the past. The final chapter o f Agenda 21, which addresses the question o f imple-

Man Sharpening knives in

sentatives, but nothing came o f it.

apub"csquare' Florianopolis. Brazil. 1992.

Adrienne Cruz, eds., tmplementing Agenda 21: NGO Experiences from around the

For a series o f case studies o f implementation projects, see Leyla Alvanak and World (Geneva: UN Non-Governmental Liaison Services. 1997). Victoria TauliCorpuz's essay in this volume. '"The Implementation of Agenda 21 and indigenous

mentation, names various groups whose participation is deemed crucial for

Peoples.' points out that some indigenous peoples were dissatisfied with the

achieving sustainable development. These include women, youth, indigenous

Agenda 21 document.

people, farmers, and labor unions. Nowhere are designers mentioned. Once

An excellent example of such a pracrice is the work o f Luiz Eduardo Cid Cuimaries, a

again design remains invisible because the design professions have not done an adequatejob o f explaining to themselves and others the powerful contribu-

Brazilian design educator in Paraiba who has been developing ways to help improve the goods that are produced by mlcroenterprises and consumed by poor people in less developed economies. See Luiz E. C. Cuimaries. "Terra incognita: The Uncharted

tion they could make to the process o f creating a sustainable world.28 The

Realm of Low-Budget Design,'' Innovation (fall 1998): 24-26, and 'Product Design

world's design needs are evident, but the plan for reinventing the design pro-

and Social Needs: The Case of Northeast Brazil." lnternationaljournal of Technology

fessions is not. Thedevelopment o f such a plan will require an aggressive move

Management: Special Issue on Access to Technological and Financial Resources for

by design professionals to seek out colleagues already immersed in the task o f

SME Innovation 12, nos. 7-8 (1996): 849-864. A somewhat different design ap-

creating a sustainable world-biologists,

forestry experts, agronomists, urban

planners, waste management engineers, and many others.

proach is exemplified b y the Connecting Foundation, a project initiated by Peik Suyling and Cerda Hahn, designers in Amsterdam, who have been working with craftsmen in India and Morocco "to create a new design process which enables the

The necessary shift o f purpose for designers is a more complex process

cultural memory present in traditional craft techniques to be activated into a new

than envisioned by Victor Papanek or called for b y R. Buckminster Fuller, with

industrial context.' See the booklet Cabinets of Cultures: Connecting (Amsterdam:

his unequivocal faith in advanced technology. It will entail looking at economic

Netherlands Design Institute, n.d). One can also mention Archeworks, an alternative

and social development from a global perspective and addressing the gross in-

design school in Chicago directed by Stanley Tigerman and Eva L. Maddox. Their stu-

equities o f consumption between people in the industrialized countries and those i n the developing world. It will necessitate confronting the full force o f the current ecological crisis i n order to help return Planet Earth to a condition o f sustainability. If the will exists among designers, it will surely be possible to

dents design products and service in response to requests b y Chicago community organizations and social service agencies. Seelullan Bicknell and Liz McQuiston, eds.. Design for Need: The Socral Contribution ofDesign(0xford: Pergamon Press, 1977). I have taken the distinction between reactive and generative design from m y col

reinvent design. I f it doesn't, designers will simply remain part o f the problem

league WolfgangJonas.

whose solution other professions will need to invent.

In recent years, a few design manifestos have been published, some as statements

102

. 103

DESICN

FOR A

created in conjunction with design conferences. See Antonio Barrese. Angelo

Jahrhunderl des Wissenschafrszenrrums Nordrhein.Wesrfalen (Berlin. Easel, and

Cortesi. Cillo Dorfles, and Jonathan De Pas. '"Scientific Program on the Themes of the

Boston: Birkhauser. 1997); Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek and Ursula nschner. Produkfenr.

1983 lCSlD Congress." Design lssues I. no. I (spring 1984): 64-78: Angelo Cortesi.

wicklung: Nurzen Gesfalren-NarurSchonen (Vienna: WlFl Oslerreich. 1997); and The

Martin Kelm. Tapio PeriBnen, Yuri Soloviev, and Frederik Wildhagen. "The Cuzzini

inrernationai Factor I 0 Club's Statement ro Government and Busi,ress Leaders

Memorandum: From the Ethic of Projects to the Projecr of Ethics." Design issues 5.

(Carnoules: Factor I 0 Ciub. 1997).

no. I (fall 1988): 87-92: Giovanni Anceschi et al.. 'Charter on Graphic Design: Pro-

A number of such Projects have been inspired by the Appropriate Technology move-

posal for a Debate on Visual Communication Design." Design lssues 8, no. I (fall

ment. See, for example. John Kurien. "Case Study 12: Kerala Fishing Boat Project,

1991): 67-73; Dieter Rams e l al.. "The Munich Design Charter," Design lssues 8, no. I

South India." and Monica Opole. "Case Study 14: Improved Charcoal Stoves Pro-

(fall 1991): 74-77;Jens Bernsen e l al., "A Scandinavian Design Council Manifesto on

gramme. Kenya.' in The Greening of Aid: Sustainable Liveiiiroods i n Practice, ed.

Nature. Ecology, and Human Needs for the Future." Design lssues 8. no. I (fall 1991):

Czech Conroy and Miles Litvinoff (London: Earthscan Pubiications. 1988). 108-1 12.

78-79: "Declaration o f the Central European Design Conference." Design lssues 8.

118-123. For an overview of appropriate technology, see Witold Rybczynski, Paper

no. I (fall 1991): 86-88: and Jonathan Barnbrook e l al.. 'First T h ~ n g sFirst 2000: A

Heroes: A Review OfAppropriare Technology (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1980).

Design Manifesto."Adbusfers 7, no. 3 (fall 1999): 52-57.

After serving as mayor of Curitiba for three terms.Jaime Lerner became the governor

Clive Dilnot. "Design as a Socially Significant Activity: An Introduction." Design Stud-

of the state of Parani where he was influential in creating a major auto.manufactur-

ies 3. no. 2 (1982): 144.

ing hub. He also worked with investors to establish a leather industry in the state

Kenji Ekuan. "Organizational Creativity at a Turning Point in Time." ICSiD News 3

and has supported the development of clothing and textile industries in towns such

Uune 1997): 7.

as Apucarana, which began by simply producing cotton. See "8uilding the Detroit of

Kenji Ekuan. "A New Age. New Design Values" lCSlD News 2 (April 1997): 4.

Latin America." Business Week. September IS. 1997. 27.

Ibid.

See Nancyjack Todd and John Todd, From Eco.Ciries to Living Machines: Principles of

Alexander Manu, "Chasing Butterflies: Thoughts on the 8ig Idea of Design. Redefini-

Ecological Design (Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. 1994). The book is a revised

tions and Responsibilities." Humane VillageJournal2, no. 1 0995): 23.

version o f an earlier edition that was published as Bioshelrers. Ocean Arks, Ciry

On July 23, 1998. Design for the World. the organization that Ekuan and lCSlD had

Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. 1984). 11s

been promoting for several years, was established in Barcelona. its founding mem-

reissue was In large part a response to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

bers include the major internat~onaldesign organizations, and its intentions are l o

Todd and Todd. From Eco.C!ties to Living Machines, I.

work wtth organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Red Cross

Ibid., 167.

"to promote design solutions for problems that are beyond the scope of a single field

Pauline Madge. "Ecological Design: A New Critique.'' Design lssues 13, no. 2 (sum-

of design." Both Ekuan and Manu are involved. See Kenji Ekuan. 'Design for the

mer 1997): 44.

World." ICSlD News 3 Uune 1999): 8.

Agenda 21: The Earrh Summit Srraregy ro Save Our Planer, ed. Daniel Sitarz, with an

Manu conceived the Humane Village as a compliment to and amplification of

introduction by Senator Paul Simon (8oulder: Earthpress. 1993). 31-32.

Marshall McLuhan's global village, which lacked the spirit o f his own concept. Per-

See Richard Rogers, Cities for a Small Planet, ed. Philip Cumuchdjian (London: Faber

sonal communication with theauthor. 1997.

and Faber, 1997).

More fnformation on the Earth Charter Campaign can be found on the charter Web

According to Maurice Strong, the initiator of the Eanh Summit, n o designers'groups

Although I use sustainable develop-

came forward during the planning process to contribute ideas for the event. Strong

ment as my frame of reference for designers, I should also note that it is only one

made this statement during a press conference at the ICSID Humane Village Con.

among many ways to think about the environment. Some, like ecofeminism, are

gress.August 24. 1977.

site, www.earthcharter.org/draft/charter.hrm.

more radfcal while others, like green design, are more conservalive. For a gamut of environmental philosophies, see Carolyn Merchant. Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World(New York and London: Routledge. 1992).

One of the strongest reform tendencies is the Factor 10 movement, which advocates reducing the amount of material in products by a factor of 10. Research has been concentrated primarily at the Wuppertal Institute fur Kiima. Umwelt. Energie. Factor 10 ideas have been most widely disseminated in Friedrlch Schmidc-Bleek. Wieviel Umweh Brauchr der Mensch? Fakror 10-das

Mass fur Okologisches Winschaffen

(Monchen: Deulrchen Taschenbuch. 1997). See also Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek, Thomas Merten, and Ursula Tischner, eds.. Okoinrelligenres Produzieren und Kon. sumieren: Ein Workshop i m Rahmen des Verbundprojekfes Technologie6ednrf i m 21

SUSTAINABLE

iYORLO

THE POLITICS OF THE ARTIFICIAL

1930s and in the resistance to those products by the design staff at New York's

itivist construction of the natural was also the model for his explicit method-

Museum o f Modern Art.

ology o f design.

Although the modernist belief in simplicity was turned on its head by the

The critique o f scientific discourse mounted by Paul Feyerabend, Donna

expressive furniture o f such groups as Studio Aichymia and Memphis in the late

Haraway, Stanley Aronowitz, and others has since called into question the way

1970s and early 1980s, the terms o f the discourse were still focused on objects.

we claim to know nature as real. This critique has at least succeeded in contest-

It was this emphasis that gave rise to the profession o f industrial design we

ing the easy equation o f the natural with the real and has thus problematized

have known until recently. But various theorists such as Herbert Simon and

unqualified references to nature. By focusing on scientific thought as a linguis-

John ChrisJones have argued that a process of design underlies everything in

tic construct, critics have attempted to challenge a previous faith in scientific

our culture, both material and immaterial. Simon has gone so far as to consider

truth. Hence, we have two contested terms. "meaning" and "reality." that se-

design to be a new "science o f the artificial."'

verely undermine the certainties on which a theory and practice o f design was

Where Simon and Jones proposed a broadening o f design's subject mat-

built in the first modernity. Since we can no longer talk about design as i f these

ter to embrace all that we might call the artificial, other theorists have ques-

terms were not in question, a new discourse is needed, although the way this

tioned design's meaning. In the discourse of the modernists, the locus ofmean-

discourse will develop as a reflection on design practice is not yet clear. How-

ing was twofold: form and function, for which we might substitute the

ever, I believe the central theme to be addressed in this discourse is the artificial

theoretical terms "aesthetics" and "pragmatics." Early modernist designers be-

and its boundaries.

lieved that meaning was embedded i n the object rather than negotiated in the relation between the object and a user. Objects were considered to be signs of

T H E BOUNDARY PROBLEM

value with uncontested referents such as clarity, beauty, integrity, simplicity,

ences o f the Artificial." delivered at the Massachusetts Institute o f Technology

In the first o f his Compton Lectures, "The SCi-

economy of means, and function. The reductive slogan "form follows function"

in 1969, Simon characterized natural science as descriptive, as concerned with

assumed that use was an explicit, unambiguous term. Thus, the meaning o f ob-

how things are, while he defined a science o f the artificial as "normative" in its

jects was to be found in their relation to a value that was grounded i n belief.

engagement with human goals and questions of how things ought to be."The

Poststructuralism challenged the idea o f grounded belief as well as our right to

two sciences were differentiated by the term "should," which marked the task

appropriate "meaning" as i f it were a term that itself did not raise questions

of humans to invent the artificial world in order to achieve their own goals

about the possible conditions o f its use.

while honoring the parallel purpose o f the natural world.

Besides the slippery subject matter o f design and the questions regard-

Simon proposed four indicia to distinguish the artificial from the natural.

ing the conditions under which we can talk about its meaning, we must also

Three define the artificial as the result o f human agency. He said that artificial

confront a more difficult problem at the heart o f the politics ofthe artificial, and

things result from an act o f making, which he called "synthesis." while theact of

that is the nature ofreality. For the "first modernityu-and here I will use Andrea

observing, "analysis."is the way humans relate to nature. Furthermore, he char-

Branzi's distinction between two modernities-reality

acterized the artificial by "functions, goals, adaptation" and discussed it "in

was an uncontested

term.' It was the stable ground for the attribution of meaning to objects, im-

terms o f imperatives as well as descriptive^."^

ages, and acts. Today, this is no longer the case, and any mention of "reality"

When Simon compared the artificial to the natural, he posited the natural

must be qualified by conditions. just as the use of the term "meaning" must be;

as an uncontested term, arguing that the artificial "may imitate appearances in

hence we are unclear as to how or whether boundaries can be drawn around

natural things while lacking, in one or many respects, the reality o f the latter."6

the real or authentic as a basis o f meaning.

However, the equation of the natural with the real has been heavily contested in

When Simon called for a new "science o f the artificial" i n 1969, he des-

recent years, most notably by poststructuralists and deconstructionists. Roland

ignated nature as the ground o f meaning against which such a science or a

Barthes's and Michel Foucault's challenge to authorial intentions in literature

broadly conceived practice o f design would be defined. "Natural science," he

and art,Jean Baudrillard's claim that simulacra are signs without referents, and

wrote. "is knowledge about natural objects and phenomena."' The artificial,

Jean-Fran~oisLyotard's refusal to acknowledge any metanarratives or "grands

on the other hand, was about objects and phenomena invented by humans.

recits" that shape social values all exemplify this tendency, as does Haraway's

The difference between the two was clear to Simon, although his implicit pos-

discourse on cyborg culture.

THE POLITICS OF THE ARTIFICIAL

While these attacks on the real legitimately challenged implicit assumptions o f positivist thought that closed out many o f the voices that now consti-

even designed themselves but without an external ethical imperative or an inner sense o f self to guide them.

tute our cultural community, they also strove to abolish any presence, whether

Neuromancer is a fictional portrayal ofJean Baudrillard's world o f the

we call it nature, God, or spirit, that might exist beyond the frame o f a socially

simulacrum. As in Gibson's novel, the real for Baudrillard is "nothing more than

constructed discourse. Hence, Haraway, in her 1985 essay "A Manifesto for Cy-

operational."" The simulacrum, according to Baudrillard, is a sign for the real

borgs." could argue for the cyborg, a hybrid of human and machine, as "a fiction

that substitutes for the real itself. The result is what he calls the "hyperreal."

mapping our social and bodily reality,"' and Gianni Vattimo, the Italian philoso-

Baudrillard believes there can be no representation since "simulation envelops

pher who has postulated "il pensiero debole." or "weak thought," as the appro-

the whole edifice o f representation as itself a simulacrum.""

priate philosophy for the postmodern era, can claim that "only where there is no

The world of Neuromancer is a reflection o f Baudrillard's own nihilism.

terminal or interrupting instance of the highest value (God) to block the process

He sees the West as having lost what he calls the "wager on representation."

may values be displayed in their true nature, namely as possessing the capacity

This wager was based on the belief that signs could exchange for depths o f

for convertibility and an indefinite transformability or pro~essuality."~ Vattimo

meaning and that something external to the exchange-he

concludes from his readings o f Nietzsche and Heidegger that "[nlihilism is thus

could guarantee it. However, Baudrillard himself expresses no faith in God or in

He does not mean this in the merthe reduction o f Being to exchange-val~e."~

any metanarrative o f equivalent power. He expresses his doubt as follows:

mentions God-

cantile sense o f selling the self but in terms o f the selfs convertibility without a

But what i f Cod himself can be simulated.that is to say, reduced to

ground such as nature or God against which it can be defined.

the signs which attest his existence? Then the whole system be.

We also find evidence of a convertible self in William Gibson's cyberpunk

comes weightless, i t is no longer anything but a gigantic simu-

novel Neuromancer, in which the artificial is unbounded b y any presence out-

lacrum-not

side it. Gibson's characters have no grounding in the real; they are constructed

what is real, but exchanging In itself, in an uninterrupted circuit

o f motives and impulses that are facilitated by the manipulation o f artificial

without reference or

unreal, but a simulacrum, never again exchanging for

circumference."

products. While some characters are more human than others, none possess

Although Baudrillard is a prophet o f doom, his ability t o explore the im-

any inherent resistance to the incursion of the artificial in their bodies or their

plications o f a world without the presence o f the real is useful. As i n Gibson's

lives, and some, like the Al Wintermute (an artificial intelligence [All that inter-

Neuromancer, meaning only exists for Baudrillard in the operation o f ex-

venes in social life), are totally artificial. Part o f the fascination with Neuro-

change rather than in a reality outside it. In his book Simulations, he dis-

manceroutside the cyberpunk milieu is Gibson's portrayal o f a world in which

cusses the difficulty o f finding meaning in a world without a metanarrative, a

the artificial is dominant and where the ability to manipulate it is the most po-

termJean-Francois Lyotard defines as any large idea or presence that exists as

tent human activity.l0

an uncontested phenomenon outside the realm o f human social action. And

Neuromancer offers us a scenario o f design triumphant in a world in

yet postmodern theorists, led by Lyotard, have insisted that metanarratives

which the real is no longer a point o f reference. Simon's postulation o f theartifi-

are no longer possible. As Lyotard states in The Postmodern Condition, "I de-

cia1 as an imitation o f t h e natural carries no weight in this context. In the world

fine postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives."'" He believes that

portrayed b y Gibson, being is convertible into infinite forms, and values o f

knowledge may be accepted as legitimate for reasons other than its inherent

identity are constituted primarily through the manipulation oftechnology. The

truth, and he wants to guard against the dominance o f knowledge that, in his

materials that constitute the substance of design have already gone through so

perception, may be illegitimate. I use qualifiers to account for Lyotard's inter-

many transformations that their locus in nature is no longer evident. If design in Neuromancer is triumphant at the expense o f reality, how do we reflect on the issue o f meaning in Gibson's world? We first need to question

pretation o f legitimate and illegitimate knowledge to ensure that I relate his thought t o his own perception of truth rather than to anything that is o r isn't inherently truthful.

what meaning is in a world in which reality no longer constitutes the ground on

Lyotard's skepticism has usefully stimulated a critical analysis o f how

which values are formed. Meaning then becomes a strategicconcept that exists

social discourses are constructed, but i t has also reinforced the belief that so-

pragmatically at the interface o f design and use. Its value is determined b y op-

cial life has no ground o f meaning. The disbelief in metanarratives, particu-

erational rather than semantic concerns. The characters in Neuromancer have

larly among prominent cultural theorists, is an essential factor in the argu-

110. 1 1 1

THE POLITICS OF THE ART1

ment that the postmodern is a rupture with the modern. Although metanarra-

knowing it. Instrumental reason continues to alter species and biosystems for

tives of the modern have been variously defined, the belief in progress ani-

human use, particularly for economic profit. This is design, but, as in Neuro-

mated by instrumental reason is a central one, as is the credence in univer-

mancer, it flourishes only at the expense of the natural. The confusion between the artificial and the natural engendered by the

sals rather than differences.

capabilities of biotechnology exists because both realms have been reduced to EXPANDING T H E D I S C O U R S E

The collapse o f a particular modernist para-

exchange-value. When they are seen as interchangeable, as biotech managers

d ~ g mhas opened the space of social discourse t o many voices that were for-

prefer to do, one can be substituted for the other without any sense of loss.The

merly marginalized or suppressed. But the recognition of difference has also

only way to distinguish between them is to identify one with a value that is

led to a widespread refusal to postulate the world in terms o f shared values.

missing in the other.

Lyotard refers to the situation of difference as "a pragmatics of language parti-

Extreme views of biotechnologists and ecologists who collapse the dis-

~ l e s . " 'However, ~ many people, including myself, are unhappy with the post-

tinction between the artificial and the natural can be contrasted with another

modern condition as Lyotard and other scholars, critics, and artists have de-

set of views that regard nature as sacred. According toJames Lovelock's Gaia

fined and elaborated it. But this does not mean that it has to be countered by

principle, the Earth is a living being with whom we must cooperate. Ecofemi-

sustaining a modernist position that is no longer valid. In the most profound

nists, who have adopted the triadic values of feminism, ecology, and spiritual-

sense, the specter of instrumental reason, with its increasing technological

ity, also share the beliefthat the Earth is alive. As Paula Gunn Alien writes,

power, let loose on what remains of nature without any moral or ethical imper-

The planet, our mother, Grandmother Earth, i s physical and there-

atlve to govern it, is terrifying.

fore a spiritual, mental, and emotional being. Planets are alive, as

Mark Sagoff has described the potential impact of advances in biotechnology on the environment:

are all their by-products or expressions, such as animals, vegelables, minerals, climatic and meteorological phenomena."

The goal of biotechnology i s to improve upon nature. to replace nat-

Both the Gaia metaphor and the Goddess narrative, which is at the core

ural organisms and processes with artificial ones. i n order to in-

of ecofeminist spiritual belief, have generated a strong critique of instrumental

crease overall social efficiency and profit..

..That i s why we spend

reason, which the ecofeminists identify with patriarchy. Carol Chr~st,also an

more to produce economically valuable engineered species than to

ecofeminist, believes that

protect economically useless endangered ones. And that i s also

the preservation of the Earth requires a profound shift i n conscious-

why we continually turn whatever natural and wild ecological sys.

ness: a recovery of more ancient and traditional views that revere

Iems we may have-from

the profound connection o f all beings i n the web of life and a re.

raln forests t o savannas t o estuaries-

into carefully managed and engineered (and therefore predictable and profitable) bioindustrial productive systems." The issues raised here are similar t o those previously referred to in Neuro-

thinking o f the relation of both humanity and divinity to nature." For ecofeminists the narrative of Goddess spirituality has been a powerful impetus to political action. They have led and participated in demonstra-

mancer and thus justify the critic Peter Fitting's reading of Gibson's world as

tions against acid rain, the destruction of the rain forests, the depletion of the

"not so much an image of the future, but the metaphorical evocation of life in

ozone layer, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and have, as well, been

the present."" The technical possibilities o f biotechnology, as described by

involved with numerous other causes promoting a healthy environment. Their

Sagoff, have already blurred the boundaries between the artificial and the real.

aim, as Starhawk, another ecofeminist, says, is not simply to oppose patriar-

Rather than an imitation of nature, the managed biosystem becomes a replace-

e chal power but "to transform the structure of power i t ~ e l f . " ' ~ T h accomplish-

ment of it.

ments of ecofeminists on two fronts-opposing

These biosystems still maintain the appearance o f the natural in that

groups that damage the Earth's

ecology and creating actions that draw women together to collaborate posi-

they draw theirenergy from the Earth, but theirtransformation from natural t o

tively with the life forces ofthe Earth-signify

managed systems may disengage them from a larger ecological balance o f

ing human action. From the position of ecofeminism, the postmodern philoso-

the power of a narrative in chang-

which their managers are either unaware or do not wish to take into account.

phy of Vattimo and Lyotard has little to offer those who wish to act together

Such managed biosystems might be simulacra of nature without our even

constructively. it can only acknowledge an absence of meaning.

112.113

THE P D L l T l C S OF THE A R T I F I C I A L

Ecofeminism has also made a valuablecontribution to the understanding

mate humans from within while also existing as a presence outside them.

of discourse formation through its resistance to a patriarchal narrative that has Spirituality, whether we link i t to God, the

closed out historical matriarchal cultures in which women maintained roles of

S I M U L A C R A A N D T H E REAL

authority. Starting from a marginalized location, the ecofeminists have.

Goddess, or some other transcendent source, is one of the most contested

through cooperative intellectual activity, created a place for themselves within

terms in our contemporaryvocabulary, but we have had little chance to explore

contemporary cultural discourse. They have simply begun from a different po-

its meaning because it has been suppressed b y a powerful intellectual dis-

sition than either positivists or nihilistic poststructuralists, with a project that

course of materialism. Hence. Donna Haraway states in "A Manifesto for Cy-

could be consistently and cooperatively pursued within the framework of a

borgs" that

new narrative. Ecofeminists have also demonstrated the power of spiritual con-

lace 1wentieth.century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous

viction and experience in generating positive action. Where they have been less

the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-

effect~veis in establishing a rhetorical stance from which to engage postmod-

developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions

ern theories in both a critical and an affirmative way. They have, however, im-

that used to apply to organisms and machines."

plicitly challenged Lyotard's dismissal of metanarratives b y producing a narra-

Haraway claims that we are moving to a "polymorphous information sys-

tive of their own that is clearly empowering. While it might be seen by some as

tem" in which "any objects or persons can be reasonably thought of in terms of

marginal because so few people embrace it, the Goddess narrative can

disassembly and reassembly; no 'natural' architectures constrain system de-

nonetheless form part of a more inclusive metanarrative of spirituality within

sign.''" Whereas Neuromancer is a dystopic narrative of self-interest and power

which difference can be asserted just as the postmodernists argue it must be

played out through design and the control of technology, Haraway views this

done socially.

new polymorphous flexibility as a vehicle for positive social change. However, I interpret spirituality here as a con-

the lack of a metanarrative that can serve as a source of normative values com-

serve as a basis for addressing the problems of

pels her t o emphasize power and economics as primary in determining the

Spirituality as a metanarrative-and nection to the Divine-can

meaning and reality that have arisen from an embrace of the artificial. If a broad

boundaries of the artificial and the real. Such an absence also makes resistance

discourse on the spirit can become as compelling for other social groups as the

to technology more difficult. A principal theme of technological discourse is

Goddess narrative has been for ecofeminists, then i t has the capacity to em-

that innovative devices will enable us to do things we have not done before. We

power large numbers of people to find meaning and fulfillment in action di-

are told that new experiences made possible by technology will be expansive.

rected t o the well-being and life enhancement of themselves and others. It is

Measured against a reductive understanding of "natural" experience, this cer-

difficult to say what form this action would take, particularly as regards design.

tainly appears true. But the power of lived spirituality can enlarge the experi-

but it would certainly be characterized b y the quest for meaning and unity in re-

ence of being and thus provide a stronger position from which to support or re-

lations with others.

sist new technologies.

A recognition of the Divine as neither exclusively matriarchal nor patriar-

Let's take virtual reality N R ) research as an example."

Brenda Laurel has

chal can overcome the breach between the modern and the postmodern in sev-

described the many experiences thatVR will make possible, as hasJaron Lanier,

eral ways. It can acknowledge the value of a social narrative in modernist

one of the medium's founders and early spokespersons. In a 1989 interview,

thought while recognizing the limitations of the first modernity's faith in uni-

Lanier spoke euphoricallyabout the new possibilities ofVR:

versal categories and instrumental reason. It can also recognize the signifi-

The computer that's running theVirtual Reality will use your body's

cance of the many incisive critiques of contemporary culture, which have di-

movements to control whatever body you choose to have in Virtual

rected attention to the problem of the artificial. There is much that design and technology have to gain from a metanar-

Reality, which might be human or mlght be something quite different. You might very well b e a mountain range or a galaxy or a pebble

...I've considered being a piano. I'm inter-

rative of divinely inspired spirituality, particularly as a ground of meaning that

on the floor. Or a piano

testifies to the limits of the artificial. While i trace spirituality to a transcendent

ested in being musical instruments quite a

source. I refer to it here as i t is manifested in human action. What characterizes

Needless to say, neither Lanier nor others involved in VR research privi-

the spiritual is both its immanence and its transcendence, its capacity to ani-

lege personal fantasy as the primary justification for what they do, but i t is

I

Is. I 1 5

THE POLITICS OF THE ARTIFICIAL

certainly a strong element and one that promises extensive economic payoff.

an era o f tangible things and relies on documentary evidence t o val-

Surely, virtual reality, which has already become a site for virtuai sex, will con-

idate transactions, incriminate miscreants and affirm contractual

tinue t o develop into a powerful entertainment medium.

relati~ns.'~

While it promises numerous advantages as a simulation device for train-

We know from the many accounts of hacker behavior and from novels such as

ing surgeons or pilots or for manipulating machines electronically at a distance,

Neuromancer that psychic engagement with electronic communication can be

the primary issue raised by virtual reality technology relates t o whether we ex-

intense. What is possible, as virtual reality research makes the visualization o f

perience simulation as a mark or a mask. This distinction was made b y Dennis

electronic identities more palpable, is that the potential for the increased blur-

Doordan in an article on simulation techniques in museum exhibits." When the

ring of boundaries between corporeal and virtuai identities will increase. In Bau-

designer marks the edge o f a simulation, it is distinguished as a second-order

drillard's sense, electronic identity for some may no longer be a representation

experience whose referent is more authentic. I f the edge is masked, the simula-

o f a self; instead, it may become the self against which life i n the body is poor

tion becomes a simulacrum, as Baudrillard has pointed out, with no reference

psychic competition.

to an experience outside itself. Thus the boundary between the simulated and the real collapses and the simulated becomes the new real. The counterbalance o f perceived constraints in corporeal society and the

Cynicism about the constructive possibilities of the American political system leaves avacuum o f meaning in civil society that offers little or no resistance to the artificial. in fact, the artificial as entertainment, from video games t o

envisioned freedom o f an electronic self raise questions about the value o f

interactive VR environments, may become even more engaging for some than

physical reality in relation t o its virtual counterpart. Virtual reality enthusiasts

corporeal life." It may also become such a powerful diversion that incursions

sometimes speak ofVR as an alternative to the physical world, a place in which

into the natural b y aggressive biotech corporations will g o unnoticed.

constraints can be overcome and new freedoms can be discovered. On one

The images o f becoming as explorations o f fantasy are a far cry from the

level, this is classic technorhetoric. New technology always promises more. For

discourses about human development embodied in the different strands of the

some, virtual reality suggests that electronic identity offers something greater

spiritual metanarrative. Within this metanarrative, becoming is part o f a conti-

or more fulfilling than bodily existence. Recali the comment o f Case. Gibson's

n u i t y o f development that results in a self that understands its purpose within a

antihero in Neuromancer: "The body is meat."

larger framework o f spiritual evoiution. For those who hold this belief, spiritual

For Case, jacking into cyberspace is a life-enhancing experience that is more meaningful than being in his body. In cyberspace, Case, a marginal figure

evolution is the ground o f reality against which the values o f the artificial must be assessed.

in real life, displays a shrewd intelligence in breaking through barriers t o crack

The late Jesuit theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin re-

information codes, and he shows considerable courage in maneuvering his way

lated the motivation t o embrace spiritual evolution t o the force w i t h which it is

through nets o f electronic opposition. in a world o f collapsed boundaries be-

experienced:

tween the artificial and the real, the symbolic world o f the Net becomes for

I n any morality of movement, on the contrary, which i s only defined

Case a more intense and expansive reality than his corporeal one. Bruce Sterling, the cyberpunk writer, takes the libertarian view that cy-

b y relation t o a state or object t o be reached, it i s imperative that the goal shall shine with enough light t o bedesired and held i n view.'"

berspace is a political frontier where the world can be invented anew without

For Teilhard theJesuit priest, it is the love of the Divine that animates human

constraints. But the expectation that this new symbolic territory will be im-

beings to strive together toward a higher unity. Yet as a paleontologist, he re-

mune t o the same tendencies t o regulate life that characterize the corporeal

alized that humans need to think about spirituality i n a new way that does n o t

world is unrealistic. Lawyers are already at work on cases in which electronic

oppose the realm o f the spirit to that o f science. As he wrote in an unpub-

events have threatened or violated constitutional rights and have resulted i n

lished text o f 1937, "What we are ail more or less lacking at this moment is a

psychological or even physical harm t o individuals. However, legal codes will

new definition o f h o l i n e ~ s . " ' ~

not be applied to virtual action without great difficulty. As attorney Ann Branscomb states,

SPIRITUALITY AND THE FUTURE OF DESIGN

Thecase with which electronic impulses can be manipulated, modi-

take up Teilhard de Chardin's question at a moment when the capabilities o f

fied and erased i s hostile to a deliberate legal system that arose In

technology are outstripping our understanding o f what i t means t o be human.30

We are n o w challenged t o I 16. I 17

THE POLITICS

As artificial beings like cyborgs or replicants more closely represent what we

Design theorist Tony Fry addressed this problem i n a lecture on eco-

have always thought a human is, we are hard pressed to define the difference

design given at University o f Notre Dame in 1993. Although Fry was referring to

between us and them. This is the problem that Donna Haraway addressed with

the effects o f too much design on the natural environment. I find his words ger-

her myth o f the cyborg, which draws humans into a closer relation with ma-

mane t o the larger issue o f boundaries for the artificial:

chines. "No objects, spaces, or bodies are sacred in themselves." she argued in

Designers have to become more informed about the environmental

"A Manifesto for Cyborgs"; "any component can be interfaced with any other i f

impact of what they do: they have t o be more critical, more respon-

the proper standard, the proper code, can be constructed for processing sig-

sible. They/l have to fully recognize, that whatever they/l design

nals in a common language."" The film Blade Runner plays with this idea o f

goes on designing. It/l/they also have t o dlscover how to stop de-

interchangeability, leaving ambiguous the relation o f the bounty hunter to the

signing, which implies learning how t o let essential systems be, o r

female replicant, whose feeling for him may or may not be the equivalent o f

designing mechanisms of artificial support that render future de.

human love.

sign action redundant."

To move toward aself that is more differentiated from rather than similar

A metanarrative o f spirituality can help designers resist technorhetoric

toartificial constructs, we need t o understand the connection to the Divine as a

that sanctions the continuous colonization o f the natural. It can provide instead

force o f evolution that is not in opposition to technology but at the same time

a more profound and conscious reflection on the artificial as a subject that has

offers some o f the equivalent fulfillment we currently seek in the realm of the

yet to be explored with any depth by designers and technologists. Such reflec-

artificial."

tion can resist the reduction o f the artificial to simulacra, on the one hand, or to

We are living in a moment that Teilhard de Chardin could not have

conceived in 1937, a moment where the real cannot be taken for granted but

violations o f nature, on the other.

must be wrested from the artificial. This is not an easy task, but it is one in

To the degree that a metanarrative o f spirituality is articulated as a dis-

which we need to engage i f we are not t o be engulfed by simulacra. It means

course on human purpose, it can enable technologists and designers to make

finding a way o f talking about the spiritual that does not present it in opposi-

decisions about what research directions to pursue and what t o design.34 I

tion to the artificial but instead recognizes particular forms o f the artificial as

don't want to make grandiose claims for spirituality as the source o f an entirely

fruitful manifestations o f spiritual energy. The task is difficult because of the

new design paradigm when, In fact, many products already fully satisfy human

plurality o f human experience and the lack of a discourse that can accommo-

needs. But I d o want to suggest that the more a designer or an engineer can

date the presence o f sp~ritualityeven for those who resist it or marginalize it. The first step, however, is to reintroduce the concept of spirituality into

conceive of a user as a person o f depth and worth, the more likely he or she is to design a valuable product."

the current philosophic debates from which it has been excluded. As a rhetori-

Design, understood in a deeper sense, is a human service. It generates

cal move, spirituality must be brought from the margins o f contemporary

the products that we require for productive living. To the degree that our activ-

thought to a more central position. By considering its place in our reflections on

ities are enabled by the presence o f useful products, spirituality can be a source

the artificial, we can raise questions about design and technology that would

for cultivating a sense of what is worthwhile. As manifested in product design

otherwise go unasked. For example, we would have t o wrestle with questions

and technological devices, spirituality is the attention to human welfare and life

of whether particular forms o f artificiality-a

genetic mutant, an artificial-life

environment, or an expert Al system, for example-were

enhancement seen in relation both to the individual self and to humanity as a

appropriate replace-

whole. As designers and technologists develop a more caring feeling for how

ments for equivalent phenomena we have designated as natural. In short, we

people live, they may also generate new products that respond to previously

would have to manage the boundaries between the artificial, which is human-

unimagined human activities.

made, and the natural, which exists independently o f human design.

OF THC A R T I S I C I A I

A greater attentiveness to questions o f human welfare and purpose can

While this distinction is more problematic than it may have appeared t o

also help us weigh the merits o f new technologies as well as the possibilities

Herbert Simon in 1969, it nonetheless empowers us to stake out a different ter-

they offer for the design of products. Bruce Sterling has characterized virtual re-

ritory for design, one that does not attempt to completely replace the natural

ality as the "ultimate designable medium," one that can absorb infinite amounts

but moves instead to complement it. This view is in opposition to the thrust o f

o f human ingenuity." The design of cyberspace, for example, runs the danger

technorhetoric, which always argues for the superiority o f the artificial.

of becoming a parallel economy in which electronic analogs o f corporeal

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