Design for the First World

I love [this contest idea](http://designforthefirstworld.com/):

> Dx1W is a competition for designers, artists, scientists, makers and thinkers in developing countries to provide solutions for First World problems.

While my lovely wife works tirelessly to help the rest of the world develop, I’m working in the “first world” to make sure there’s a worthwhile and sustainable lifestyle for them when they arrive. The current example we’re setting in the U.S. (low rankings on [health](http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html), [happiness](http://www.happyplanetindex.org/explore/global/index.html), and [world respect](http://www.scribd.com/doc/24369375/Reputation-Institute-Country-Rep-2009-Complimentary-Report)) doesn’t seem like a worthy goal for the rest of the world.

Efforts like [Design for the Other 90%](http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/) are valuable and important, but I love that designers from that 90% are trying to help us too.

The game of life

A fascinating and sometimes frightening look at the way games are invading every aspect of our lives, and where they may be going next. The last 8 minutes are a wild exploration of one possible future.

Flavors of the human experience

At [a talk by Wade Davis last night](http://longnow.org/seminars/02010/jan/13/wayfinders-why-ancient-wisdom-matters-modern-world/), I was inspired by the variety of human experiences he showed: people who dedicate their lives to meditation; cultures that evolved to prize generosity above all; nomads and sequestered nuns. There was also a lot of discussion about the value of a spiritual life, and in learning about the mind, versus technological progress.

I just wrote a fair chunk about why it is important for humanity to survive. I’ll probably still publish it, but Davis’ talk made me realize that a lot of my conclusions were based on our ability to evolve technology.

But what if, [as Kevin Kelly writes](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/01/what_technology.php), technology is a force pursuing its own agenda? And what if instead of us using it, it is using us? Davis showed that the western view of the earth as a resource is the minority view. Most other cultures see it as a stewardship; a responsibility. Similarly, the attitude of viewing our role as technology’s evolvers is unique to my culture; others value relationships and mental/spiritual growth much more highly than the ability to shape and change our physical world.

Technology itself is a particular cultural strand, and a relatively small slice of the human experience seen around the world and throughout history. By focusing on it almost exclusively, our culture has ignored vast areas of growth, health, and happiness. (See: [surveys on happiness around the world](http://lifestyle.in.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=3537722), or the [poor health care value we have in the U.S.](http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/6/1718), or the high divorce rate here). Other cultures have grown tremendously in these areas.

One of my favorite quotes is by Lhasang Tsering, a Tibetan writer and philosopher, [who said](http://www.artlic.com/press/kits/tibet_kit.html) “For centuries our best minds, our saints and our philosophers concentrated all their time and energy to understanding the nature of the mind. And who can say which would really matter in the end–the landing on the moon or the understanding of the mind?”

So what would it look like to incorporate other cultures’ learnings into our own? For one, we might start making more decisions based not on their tangible, technical value, but on their social and spiritual value. Davis shared one quip about the obligation to eat whatever you’re served as a guest in a new culture: “You can always treat the giardia, but you can never rekindle the relationship that was hurt by your perceived act of superiority” (refusing food).

We could revere other languages, which Davis called “flashes of the human spirit” and “canaries in the coal mine of a culture”, studying, preserving, supporting, and using them for insights into other ways of thinking and being. (To those who propose a single, universal language to promote communication and commerce, Davis says “Great–let’s make it [Tagalog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language) or [Quechua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua) then”, which usually drives home the point that giving up your own native tongue feels like a tremendous loss). In some Anaconda (Amazonian rain forest) tribes, you can *only* marry someone who speaks a different language than yours. How’s that for tolerance!

And we would practice and honor religions more. One thought I had along with that of technology using us is that the greatest technological advances have come along with the collapse of much religious practice. It made me wonder if technology, to further its own agenda and become central to our lives, had to first displace and eliminate religious reverence from the landscape. Preserving religious practice, both our own and that of others, seems essential to protecting and growing culture.

Fortunately, humans are not so single-minded as technology. We can, if we choose to, incorporate several different strands of culture into our lives. We can enjoy and contribute to technology, and build strong relationships, and revere the divine. Certainly it takes discipline and practice, but it can be done. What is dangerous is becoming too entrenched in any single cultural strand and having that turn into ignorance or intolerance of other ways of being.

Davis described one cultural (and, um, [chemical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine)) experience from a rain forest tribe as “being shot out of a rifle barrel lined with baroque paintings and landing on a sea of electricity.” Now who would want to ignore something like that?

“Having obtained the difficult-to-obtain, free and endowed human body, it would be a cause of regret to fritter life away” – one of the [Ten Causes of Regret](http://books.google.com/books?id=GjDEf0Hit2sC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=”ten+causes+of+regret”&source=bl&ots=dyxjdli3aX&sig=Tbn9WiigJPiEoug1AF5gXTQdQhI&hl=en&ei=LmxPS-fqIIHUtgPf5rX3BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22ten%20causes%20of%20regret%22&f=false)

“An optimistic story about the future”

The Power of 8 is a set of concept videos, fake products, landscape designs, architectural plans and stories that combine to show what a future where technology brings people together might look like. Really well done and unique.

Accept credit card payments with your cell phone

Square – really slick way for anyone to accept credit card payments using their cell phone. Awesome.

Bomb-powered hair dryers

“Salvaged bomb material now generates about 10 percent of electricity in the United States — by comparison, hydropower generates about 6 percent and solar, biomass, wind and geothermal together account for 3 percent.” – Electricity for Americans From Russia’s Old Nuclear Weapons – NYTimes.com

Come back when you have a demo

“Many VCs tell entrepreneurs to ‘come back when you have a demo.’  They aren’t wondering whether your product can be built – they are wondering whether you can build it.” – Chris Dixon.

Screens and their discontents

Every product trend seems to be toward putting things on screens, and putting those screens in new places; adding a layer between ourselves and the world.

In 10 years, I hope to be looking at screens a lot less than I am today. Russell Davies has an interesting concept for mobile technologies that don’t use screens in the [Situated Audio Platform](http://vimeo.com/7505689).

If someone’s checking their email in your meeting, maybe your meeting isn’t good enough.

Technology and happiness

“Since the 1950s, reports of major depression have increased tenfold…People are more anxious, trust government and business less, and get divorced more often…There is, though, one group of Americans that is imperturbably sunny: the Amish. Their depression rates are negligibly low relative to the rest of society’s. Their happiness levels are consistently high.” – James Surowiecki. See also: Better Off