A Cultural Design Science Renaissance
Design Science is a problem solving approach which entails a rigorous, systematic study of the deliberate ordering of the components in our Universe. Fuller believed that this study needs to be comprehensive in order to gain a global perspective when pursuing solutions to problems humanity is facing. (see gallery below)
The Pioneers of the field:
Jacque Fresco & the Venus Project- www.thevenusproject.com
The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions.
Buckminster Fuller - founder of the Design Science Revolution, one of the greatest thinkers in modern history
The BFI Design Challenge - http://challenge.bfi.org/
The Buckminster Fuller Institute Challenge is an annual international design Challenge awarding $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a strategy that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems.
Truly great technology products blend software and hardware together into a cohesive user experience; one where the technology recedes into the background and people can truly enjoy the capabilities and experience it offers. By focusing on functional benefit and emotional connection, even the most sophisticated technology can be made to feel simple and become an integral part of daily life.
“Important skills for everyone to have in the next decade and beyond are those that will allow us to create valuable, compelling, and empowering information and experiences for others. To do this, we must learn existing ways of organizing and presenting data and information and develop new ones. Whether our communication tools are traditional print products, electronic products, broadcast programming, interactive experiences, or live performances makes little difference. Nor does it matter if we are employing physical or electronic devices or our own bodies and voices. The process of creating is roughly the same in any medium.” [Nathan Shedroff (1994) A unified field theory of design]
Here are two free e-books from the Bucky Fuller Institute on Design Science and Future Culture:
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The Venus Project presents a
bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the
total redesign of our culture. There are many people today who are
concerned with the serious problems that face our modern society:
unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology,
over-population and a decline in the Earth's ecosystems.
As you will see, The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions. Through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium.
Here are some of their designs and innovations:
As you will see, The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions. Through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium.
Here are some of their designs and innovations:
The Design Science Lab at BFI & the Venus Project is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving, planning and design methodology called Design Science, pioneered by Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems that is based on innovation and thrives on transparency.
A Living Example of Design Science: Vortex Immersion Media & Technology
Vortex Immersion Media (VIM) delivers visionary immersive entertainment and education technology to venues and related products and services. Click on the images below to enlarge them:
More Design Science examples: