DESIGN 231 BLOG 5: PLURIVERSAL REFLECTION

PLURIVERSAL REFLECTION

FUTURE DIARY REFLECTION

After exploring different design approaches in the past five weeks, I would like to make several changes to my future diary.

The first problem I realized was that I did not include anything related to my cultural background. During the process of writing the speculative design blog, I was able to gain some basic understanding of pluriversal design and indigenous futurism. Several designers incorporated their indigenous roots and cultural background into their design works. This reminds me that I could also relate to my cultural experience when imagining my future self in 2037. How would traditional Asian philosophy impact the future society? Will the future world become less eurocentric? These are some of the questions that I would consider when rewriting my future diary.

Another thing that I noticed is that I was missing out on the impact of wicked problems that could bring negative consequences. Global warming causes the sea level to rise continuously; our future living environment might change drastically. Other than that, there is a severe issue concerning people's mental health. Especially in East Asia, there is an increasing rate of suicide due to mental health illnesses (mainly depression). Will there be a shift of value where mental health is more important than physical wealth? What could things be designed to improve people's mental health in the future? I will want to dig into that vision based on the local context if I am going to rewrite my diary.

DOMAIN REVIEW

Looking back on my domains, I would like to refine them and narrow my focus to three themes. For now, my domains would be "emotions and biotech", and "reviving ancient mythologies through future technology".

The first domain is emotions and biotech; I was inspired by one of the case studies I did in the previous blogs. I am interested in the intersection between what could happen when emotion is a relatively abstract and intangible feeling when we can quantify/visualize it. What potential outcomes will be if we can control our feelings and emotions through biotech? We have a precedent example of prescribing medicines for depression, but it has multiple side effects, and the medication can only sustain the illness for a limited time. What will the future become if we prescribe "happiness" or "joy" to a person? Would it become a solution or a dystopia?

Placebos and Culture of Hope from designawards.core77.com/speculative-design/Placebos-and-Culture-of-Hope

The second domain that I wanted to explore is reviving mythologies through technology. When I was doing the case study of Sputiniko's Red Silk of Fate, her project was inspired by ancient mythology that is very well-known in East Asia. And I noticed a trend where the scene described in ancient mythologies is coming "alive" through technological development. The backcasting process of transition design and the ideologies of indigenous futurism would be helpful with my final design product.