Literature review/horizon scanning
One of the lectures that really interested me is ‘Futuring’ lecture lead by Amy.
In the lecture Amy covered various topics that explained what futuring is and why it is important especially for designers. Futuring is think about our future. Thinking about our future is important so that we know the many outcomes that can happen which will help us avoid danger and follow the path that will benefit our future.
The reason as to why it is interesting is because if we were to think about a desired future we want, it is important to think realistically. We need to think about the many aspects that will impact our future based on what we do or not. For example, we have our utopian world which is a perfect world vs our dystopian world which is a ruined world that can negatively impact us and the many generations ahead. Our world can lead to either one and it is obvious that we want a utopian world, therefore we need to think about our future and head to the positive future.
What also interested me was thinking about the past to predict the future. I personally never thought about thinking about the history as i thought that what ever happened in the past stays there and so i found it very interesting. We should think about the past and see what people predicted for the future (now) and see how accurate they were. This helps us designers, as we can measure out and limit our ideas based on what happened between the past and future (now). This links in with my next point that i found interesting which is the key concepts that we should think about when thinking about the future. These are the four P’s, so it is Preferred futures which where we want to go and how we want our future, Probable future which where we are heading, Possible futures is where could we go and Prospective futures which what will we do to create a desired future. There is another key concept which is the many possible futures meaning that the future is not fixed as there are numerous possibilities but it is our responsibility to think about what we want and prepare ourselves for what may occur to us in the future.
Although this is very simple, I liked looking at the importance of visualising. When we think about our future, it is drawing what we imagine, creating collages of different aspects of our future like what we want our environment to like, animals and their homes, people and their social interaction as well as technology and more. The more we can see our desired further, the more we can come up with more ideas as well as having others understand the desired future we want. It is also important to label your visualisation to be more specific and helps viewers have a deeper understanding of what we are trying to visualise.
Human technology relationships:
Technology that influences the way we live are self moving technologies and machines placed in work areas. An example is self checkouts placed in shopping areas such as Coles and Woolworths. Self checkouts have been a positive aspect within shopping places as it benefits both employers as well as customers for many reasons. Customers like the idea of self checkouts as it is quicker without having to wait in que, there are no face-to-face interactions, better store capacity and more. Same with employers as employers don’t need to go through the stress of having to wait for impatient customers and conflict that may occur as well as saving time for employees.
Karl Marx who is intelligent in many aspects, made a theory that the use of technology within workplace areas can be beneficial especially for workers as technology can replace human labour so that humans are out of work. It can also be very beneficial as marx says that technology will help create a much more safe working environment. This links in with Herbert Marcuse’ utopian vision that technology within the workplace will allow humans to be free from burden as technology can take care of labour and humans can rely on tech.
A new technology that has influenced the way we live is the use of self checkouts. Due to self-checkouts, it has brought many individuals to get out of work. Although it is a big problem for workers, they still continue to keep self checkouts as many users prefer self-checkouts. This has influenced many people to consider using technology as objects that may benefit their working environment as well as buyers. Therefore this human technology has influenced the way we work creating a more tech reliant material for society.
This technology does not correlate to Karl Marx theory but another technology that has influenced the way we live is simply smart devices such as laptops, phones and more. Firstly technology has influenced the way we communicate as we are able to communicate with others around the world within seconds. This isn't only 1 to 1 communication but technology has influenced the way we communicate with the world. Due to social media, society has the ability to know what is happening around the world within seconds just by scrolling through instagram or facebook.
Technology has also had a major influence on education. Similar to the way we communicate, we can find sources or any other information within seconds and there will be multiple sources found. This has changed the way education runs as people relied on textbooks or their teachers to provide information. But now we see technology has benefited our learning environment as issues such as Covid has helped many children who require education.
A review of a future scenario (this could be a film, a piece of fiction, an exhibition not shared in class):
Meet the Robinsons is a movie about time travel. It focuses on a very intelligent school boy who loves to invent multiple prototypes that could benefit the future. Although it is a cartoon movie, the scenes that were shown are environments that reality predicted and how reality would’ve lived way into the future. The predicted future is seen as a utopian world where there is wide land, flying transports, technology that allows people to transport to other places, modern skyscrapers and more.
This scenario can be seen as a possible future scenario in our world. With the increasing improvements of technology and many intelligent people finding new tech equipment, there is a possible way for them to invent and create ways on how to create these flying technology cars. This is because in the past people relied on horses to travel to places as well as carriages. It took a few years for people to invent cars which makes it easier for people to travel, however cars are also factors that affect our environment as pollution affects the quality of air and many more. Therefore, to avoid any more damage to the environment in the future, people will find ways to avoid cars that affect the environment.
Although there are already skyscrapers, this movie was made in the early 2000’s where skyscrapers were seen in the future. This shows that my chosen scene is highly possible as most architects are most likely to build skyscrapers mainly because it was theorised that skyscrapers are seen to be more beneficial as stated in an article saying “Skyscrapers maximize land use, increase urban density, and lead to lower energy use.” (Giants in the sky: Why are skyscrapers important? 2020)
In the movie, I chose to focus on the machine that Louis, the intelligent boy, invented. The machine that he had created is a machine that consists of many different random objects such as a toaster, fruit bowl, headphones and many more. The purpose of the machine was to allow users to wear the headphones which will catch the person's memories which will be shown on a screen connected to the machine, allowing them to actually see what exactly happened moments in the past. This is seen to be possible as it is a machine that can be made as long as the materials that are required are found and works functionally.
Primary Research:
For my primary Research, I have decided to interview a family member who is in age 60 or above. This is because People at that age would have experienced multiple drastic changes since they were born. Therefore, this will help benefit this research as they can predict what could possibly happen in the future based on what they’ve experienced from past till the present. The person who I chose to interview is my mom's Aunt, Cely Villianueva, who is currently 68 years old. Due to Covid, this interview was done through a phone call where I had asked multiple questions as to what she thinks that future could possibly or probably look like in 2050.
Questions asked:
Throughout the years since you were born, how would you say the world has changed? Has it changed drastically or were there only minor changes?
With the changes that had occurred would you believe that our world is living in a utopian or dystopian world?
Based on what you've witnessed throughout the years, how drastically different do you think the world would be in 2050?
Do you think the world would be seen as more utopian or dystopian?
As a whole, what do you think 2050 would possibly or probably look like?
What do you think technology would look like in 2050?
Do you think technology will be highly beneficial in the future?
How do you think people will interact with each other
Do you think there will be a change in work and education systems?
Before COVID happened, were your views of the future different?
Based on the responses that my interviewee had given, she says that whilst living through the changes, she never realised the major changes as they come so slowly, but only looking at it now, she does agree that the world now is completely different from her past. For her, she found it difficult to pinpoint whether the world we lived in was utopian or dystopian but she had explained that the world is trying to create a utopian world where things can be easy for us. Now that we have all this new technology, she believes that it is the material that the world will rely on, however just like some theories, she sees that the way society live and how we interact is more dystopian. This is because she sees how the younger generations interact more differently compared to how she did in the past and she believes its because of technology and what happens behind it. However she does not know a lot about social media but she chooses to stay away from it as she does not like how it is one of the factors that has impacted the way society is. However she did mention how technology can still have its benefits and that it communicates better with family members and keeping in touch with them.
When asked about how she views 2050 based on the changes occurring from her younger years till now, she believes that 2050 won't be a world with flying cars, or transportation etc. it is more of seeing evolutions of technology that slightly makes a difference. She says that people are aware of how technology is negatively impacting our society, therefore, there will be people that do not rely much on technology. She thinks that we will all live the same as to how we are now but with just slight changes. 2050, can have utopian visions but they could create a dystopian society as many people will have many values and beliefs.
In response to what she would think 2050 could possibly look like, she was more specific and not really clear on what the world will look as a whole but she sees 2050 the same way as she sees today's world but more reliant on technology and the way we interact will be slightly different. She believes that there wont be flying cars, skyscrapers or talking robots in 2050 but it is something that people will consider and make it happen further into the future. She also says that the way we interact with the world outside our homes will be the same. For example, we will still be going out to buy our groceries but we will most likely see so much technology usage in supermarkets that can make our shopping experience more easy. Based on society, she believes that it can be more difficult to interact and communicate with others. Based on what she’s seen from the last 5 years, people are finally speaking out for justice and stating their beliefs, however this causes a lot of controversy because people have different beliefs and values. Therefore she thinks that our society won’t be able to communicate the same, especially after Covid.
