Falstaff

almost every single product we use today is something that will end up in a landfill or disassembled for recycling, etc. Designers are working towards a sustainable use of resources to manufacture products, could they in fact design a whole new culture or improve what we have now to be sustainable, eco friendly and reduce the impact on resources?
we have an entire culture based on products that 10 percent of the worlds population uses daily, so can we create a new culture with different products.
Why must products be made to last?
Why must we replace the same product constantly with a new design.
Its almost a religion..
things we used daily have almost be come our AVATAR, or an expression of who we are, and yet ironically, when we are all driving, eating or watching a movie together, the differences seem to mean nothing.
Can we invent a new culture?
I wonder if we can. What does anyone else think?

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crowTrobot

Culture is just a reflection of the pattern we see and the desire for humans to form a community anyway.

An average person now belongs not only to a culture on a geographic level, they also belong to multiple sets of subcultures.

Falstaff

the dimensions of culture(s) is what makes the idea seem plausible
changing or inventing a culture by inventing or improving something.
designing something, etc.

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Optix

I suppose computer enthusiasts have a culture all their own and the manufacturers influence how it evolves in certain ways. PCI to AGP to PCI-E, SDRAM to DDR2 to DDR3 and IDE to SATA to SATAII to SSD's.

Those who are a part of it affect the culture as well with regards to how they treat their hardware such as mods, custom builds, paint, lighting, etc. It may not be in the same manner as the manufacturers who are ultimately driving the culture forward with new technology but yes, I do believe that it is possible to design a culture when the right aspects come along.

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Falstaff

that is kind of what I am talking about. I have heard that Mac users, Mac buyers and Mac enthusiasts are different than PC users for instance. I listened to a lengthy argument defending this opinion with a few nodding heads, smiles and affirmations and superlatives.
And yet I pointed out that many people own both, and a Mac, like a PC is just a tool, device or invention to accomplish the same or different tasks for the owner or user, and they are similiar.
I appreciate the Apple designs are a purely aesthetic level, and have used them, but I dont own one etc.
I listened to a Mac user and heard the same diatribe abouit Macs, and how from the first Apple, a different direction and goal was sought for their products.
I thought, nothing could be further from the truth.
If anything, and ironically. Apple enjoys a very comfortable niche making what some think are boutique computers, a bit more expensive, but low maintenance, etc.
I could make the same arguments for different automobile companies, phones, housewares, etc.
all of these things combined represent our consumer culture, no matter where you are.
Imagine if we just make all those things that are replaced every year or every other year, bio degradable, and resource friendly or Green by any other name.
We are filling up the landfills and choking the incenerators with the remnants of our consumer goods.
I believe strongly that our consumer culture is stealing the future away from our children.
Why cant we start with a computer, toaster, car or plastic furniture and design it to be recycled easily.
Just a thought.
can we redesign our culture?

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Optix

RoHS was a huge step forward however facilities exist where everything, and I mean everything from a computer can be recycled. There was a program on Discovery that showed one of each type of component, motherboard, video card, monitor, etc being completely recycled.

I suppose the next step forward would be a computer that can be completely recycled with almost no carbon foot print in doing so.

Now that would be a huge change for the better.

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Falstaff

I agree...
I think, that Apple might lead the way for innovation, they certainly do for almost everything.

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SeraphicSorcerer

the only way to reinvent a new culture is either have a apocalyptic event, or completely remove people to a different location and make them start fresh. Personally I think some of our culture will change as a result of this financial meltdown, but most likely not Wall Street

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Falstaff

The thing I see, is a consumer based culture based on consumption and use of products that cannot be recycled or have a huge energy footprint.

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Tyrsonswood

In my opinion this could be, and probably will be our downfall...... unless we wise up.

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Band sites....http://www.myspace.com/chromecrow ... http://www.myspace.com/zoneblues

SeraphicSorcerer

We had that, as a native american, I can pretty much assure you "America" was that dream long before Europeans decided hey let's go west, instead of East.

It's a matter of making harmony with the land. I think Society is the root of the problems you envision these days, it's a self-centered what will get ME advanced mentality world we live in, instead of a global human world.

^ Mr Wood's Sig pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

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Optix

I agree, Tyrsonswood.

I watch a lot of anime and a few have been set in a future where society is either buried under junk or has burned out completely. While I'll admit it is one of my favorite settings it is always in the back of my mind that it could become a reality.

My wife and I live a very simple life. We only buy what we need, keep "wants" to a minimum, recycle all we can including our old florescent bulbs, old hardware, etc. While ultimately recycling has a carbon footprint I doubt it is anywhere near as bad as allowing those products to sit in a landfill and leech chemicals into the soil.

It's really picking the least worst.

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Falstaff

I know the society I live in is very dedicated to consuming with no thought to the enviornment at all, it is only a matter of time.

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dawgXdenta

hello all, back to work 4 everyone ,

cultures aren't designed they are emergent and evolutionary from principles of adaptation and change. We are thus because we have both allowed ourselves to become thus and also because of natural biological needs (sex, greed, anger, power,) have brought us here.Our bio-chemical instincts embedded within our evolved psyche.

However logic science and reason are now emerging from the confides and limits of the past like a flower are bursting forth emerging from the smaller green crucible of its young childish and selfish tendencies to a grander more beautiful thing. These two forces are now at odds with one another, for now we think we are civilized but we are as barbaric as cannibalistic tribes living in the jungles, only the facade of science and education hides this fact.

The flower doesn't decide what it will burst and turn into, but hand in hand with nature we can decide the 'NOW' path of our evolution even if the future will remain a secret for eternity.

From all the literature and scripture I have read all these years one thing is clear, the future will both be deeply terrible and then unimaginably beautiful, so beautiful that no past generation even this 'civilized scientific' generation will fail to imagine how grand that culture and society will be.

So no, we cannot design our future but I believe we can shape it.

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Falstaff

perhaps we dont intentionally design a culture, but eventually by the nature of what we consume, what we value and what we build upon, we have a culture as you mentioned.
I am just saying, why not?

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RE III - Frankie

This should be in "flame zones". It makes me think of making VitC in a mud bowl full of oranges. Do you even have a choice? Noone "now" could design a physical culture... It's like choosing a place to live or country. Yeah, yeah I know, but the thing is they already exist.

dawgXdenta

This Frankie is barely even a heated debate its a friendly conversation, it doesn't need warrant ,FWZ at all.

Falstaff I hear and agree with what you say totally, we are both 'what we eat' (what we consume culturally economically spiritually....) and what we release(culturally economically spiritually), unfortunately we cant control anyone or anything else, so the best we can do is radiate/release an element of the culture we wish to see.

That way others might do the same and the culture will change, Frankie I disagree bro we can change culture we are not powerless drones.

I read a Persian poets (Baha'u'llah)quote that said: "at the heart of every man lieth an fierce indomitable lion," but unfortunately we must find it and change our worm-like foetul selves into a beast we can be proud of.

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Senor_Mota

Eventually, a progeny of subserviant peons will be bred and born strictly for one purpose - to serve a more powerful, genetically perfect master race, or "Celebrites", as we know them now; and the deity they will worship will be the 120 GB iPod Nano with VideoScopic Porn windows and automatic TMZ.com updates linked directly to their brain.

Call me crazy, but in 37 years, WHO WILL BE THE ONE LAUGHING?

Falstaff

ROFL...indeed...
will we become what we covet most..

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dawgXdenta

I like this thread so hopeful

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demarc

what's the difference between designing and shaping the future? i think the two words are interchangeable

to answer your question: can you design a culture? i would say yes

isolate a group of people from birth and introduce your own culture, a culture different from what we live in today. it's much like leaving a baby to grow on a jungle and it will adapt the current jungle "culture" he lives in

can you influence the culture we all currently live in now? yes

let's categorize the things you buy today as "material" culture. it get's influenced easily. new better product comes along and that's what people would buy. familiar with the term - white is the new black? black used to be / or is still is a symbol of elegance but white is the current "in" thing, white apple gizmos anybody?

how you treat people or view murder, let's call it "moral" culture. murder would always be bad anyway you look at it because that is how we are shaped / brought up by our families. good luck shaping your kids to view murder as necessary but you can do it if you so "choose". choose meaning conscious decision

plants growing, people aging, having sex, eating that's not culture that's called nature. HOW you do it though is what's called culture. it's the how

there are many more, too tired to think

Falstaff

yes, I think when people design consumer goods, I wonder if they consider the footprint it has on nature, on us, on the future.

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