Making less stuff
This blog will cover my ideas on how we might develop as a society whilst dramatically reducing the amount of stuff that gets manufactured and subsequently trashed. The ideas presented will only be deemed useful, if they don't significantly affect the general public adversely. I will assume austerity is not an option here because, in our fragmented global society, collective action that has an adverse effect has proven itself impossible to implement.
The ideas will centre around how people can own the things that they want without the need of relentless trashing. People want up-to-the minute products, so how can this be done? And, anyway, how will products and services advance if the old and outdated aren't replaced? An unspoken assumption in the Darwinian process of evolution is the timely death of all that went before.
Two of the core ideas here are systems and modularity. Products are not merely a single isolated thing. They sit within a framework of other products with complementary and sometimes overlapping functions. They themselves constitute a system of elements, only some of which are innovatory at any one time.
A further idea is that of "bespoke mass production". This is different from mass customization which is a narrow thing in essence (i.e. ticking boxes on the menu/spec sheet of your next car). Bespoke MP depends on using the likes of multi-material 3D printing, low-temperature ink-jet manufacturing of displays and electronics and inket bio-printing all driven by expert system CADCAM, with which the customer can interface directly.
Another idea is about purchasing services rather than stuff. For example, the discarded idea of PCs being replaced by mere terminals, constantly online with a server may be ready for dusting off and reconsidering. Broadband data rates now exceed HDTV data rates, so any remote storage and processing of (remotely derived) data can be more than adequately monitored or enjoyed. Only local publishing of gigabit size files will be hampered by delay.
And a final idea is about the physical things we live amongst; that they be driven by aesthetic / ergonomic functions. That objects are retained as beautiful (or whatever), whilst their functional aspects may evolve independently.
This latter is a big change for me. I used to be a staunch form-follows-function chap. Now I am advocating that a device (a PDA let us say) should have a physical manifestation that is innately precious to its owner and thereby treasured beyond its function. In this way the perniciousness of fashion might be avoided. Further, the device's external appearance will no longer signal the degree of its function.
What I do like about this latter idea is the scuppering of one of the marketeers tools..."Ashamed of your mobile phone?" as one TV ad asked. A far more ecological tool would be an ad asking..."Ashamed of the quality of your phone service?"
The ideas will centre around how people can own the things that they want without the need of relentless trashing. People want up-to-the minute products, so how can this be done? And, anyway, how will products and services advance if the old and outdated aren't replaced? An unspoken assumption in the Darwinian process of evolution is the timely death of all that went before.
Two of the core ideas here are systems and modularity. Products are not merely a single isolated thing. They sit within a framework of other products with complementary and sometimes overlapping functions. They themselves constitute a system of elements, only some of which are innovatory at any one time.
A further idea is that of "bespoke mass production". This is different from mass customization which is a narrow thing in essence (i.e. ticking boxes on the menu/spec sheet of your next car). Bespoke MP depends on using the likes of multi-material 3D printing, low-temperature ink-jet manufacturing of displays and electronics and inket bio-printing all driven by expert system CADCAM, with which the customer can interface directly.
Another idea is about purchasing services rather than stuff. For example, the discarded idea of PCs being replaced by mere terminals, constantly online with a server may be ready for dusting off and reconsidering. Broadband data rates now exceed HDTV data rates, so any remote storage and processing of (remotely derived) data can be more than adequately monitored or enjoyed. Only local publishing of gigabit size files will be hampered by delay.
And a final idea is about the physical things we live amongst; that they be driven by aesthetic / ergonomic functions. That objects are retained as beautiful (or whatever), whilst their functional aspects may evolve independently.
This latter is a big change for me. I used to be a staunch form-follows-function chap. Now I am advocating that a device (a PDA let us say) should have a physical manifestation that is innately precious to its owner and thereby treasured beyond its function. In this way the perniciousness of fashion might be avoided. Further, the device's external appearance will no longer signal the degree of its function.
What I do like about this latter idea is the scuppering of one of the marketeers tools..."Ashamed of your mobile phone?" as one TV ad asked. A far more ecological tool would be an ad asking..."Ashamed of the quality of your phone service?"
posted by Phil Rimmer at 5:00 AM
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