design futures

I've been reading a report on NASA's "Exploration Technology Development Program," the agency's plan for implementing Bush's ambitious "Vision for Space Exploration." Fundamentally, it says that there isn't enough money to do the job right an on schedule.

But reading into the more subtle details, there are a couple of other interesting weaknesses in the organization that it points out. One is underperforming researchers -of course the majority of NASA's people are highly qualified and do world-class work. But there aren't enough of those for all the work. Also the report indicates that the program isn't paying enough attention to nuclear propulsion for getting to the moon and to mars. I had no idea this was even an efficient way to get there!

But there are two other aspects that are really relevant to designers: one is that the report concludes that none of the research groups is doing a good job considering human factors. This is one of the historical strengths of industrial design and is a huge area of current growth - I think it represents the best opportunity for designers to get into the space exploration business. Second is that the report indicates widespread - but not quite endemic - lack of systematic planning and coordination across NASA projects, and to a greater degree among all government research projects, as well as with the private sector. I don't know if those scientists and engineers would like a non-specialist coming up with the bigger picture, but it seems like a perfect fit to me.

singularity

I saw in the NYT today a thought-provoking article about Verner Vinge (a sci-fi writer) and Ray Kurtzweil. They both write dramatic stories about computers taking over.

I love sci-fi and I'm delighted these guys are writing books that get people thinking about the future. But I totally disagree with their underlying assumptions. Without getting to far into all the details of how and why the specifics of their arguments are far out and unlikely, I'll skip straight to the philosophical reason they're wrong:

Computers are fundamentally different from humans and don't compete with us for resources. They depend on us, not just in the short term to feed them electricity and repair them, but also in the long term to tell them what to do and let them evolve.

A reader of the article summed up the basis of what I have felt a little more poetically than I can, so I'll quote her:

"
The simple reason we don’t have anything to worry about regarding computers out thinking us is that they don’t need to and never will. What I mean by this is that *we* think because we need to to survive. Computers will never think because they don’t need to survive - they cannot ever care if they are switched off. We can ‘lend’ them biological imperatives but we cannot produce life and *that* is the big mystery that trumps consciousness and thought.
— Marie
"

I've got a book on this subject brewing in the back of my head but I don't know whether it will be more profitable to publish a short-ish article about it now or to wait and give a fully-formed thesis on it in about 5 years.

green architecture

I ran a research project this summer focusing on the use of remote collaboration technologies (like phone and email) among young architects. I learned that one of them is building a water-neutral building in Seattle. This means it will reuse all of its gray- and black-water - there's no need to connect it to the public mains or sewer.

He mentioned it in passing as we were looking at photos of him giving a seminar on how to overcome all the different regulatory hurdles to accomplishing this. I'm amazed it's possible, but even more amazed it hasn't been splashed all over the design-world press.

I can't wait to get more specifics and copy it!

Focus

I have thousands of compelling ideas - a dozen or more I'm sure would make a fulfilling life's work for me. I want to be able to choose one and stick with it for the couple of decades it will take to get me tenure at a good university in a warm climate. This may require honing my intuition to pluck the right one out of the air like a fly, or building up a logical framework to reveal the optimal choice, but even if it's just repeated blows to the head until I can only remember one option I'll have achieved the goal.

new language

School starts tomorrow but I just installed Maya and I want to stay up all night playing with it. Maybe if I go to sleep now this tonsil infection will go away before there's any real work to be done?

a tshirt design I've been working on. It's not finished yet but I figured I'd get it out there before I possibly forget about it.