{"id":10907,"date":"2016-01-02T19:10:47","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T19:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/you-can-design-a-better-mouse-trap-but-someone\/"},"modified":"2016-01-02T19:10:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T19:10:47","slug":"you-can-design-a-better-mouse-trap-but-someone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/you-can-design-a-better-mouse-trap-but-someone\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou can design a better mouse-trap, but someone has to be persuaded to try to catch some mice.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

schoolofmaaa<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

American science fiction writer Bruce Sterling in discussion with Rachel Uwa talking malleability of humans, maker culture, and mousetraps<\/i><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Hi Bruce,\u00a0<\/b>thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! I\u2019m a fellow Texan\u2013<\/b><\/p>\n

No kidding? \u00a0Wow.<\/p>\n

so have to start off with a question about your beginnings\u2013\u00a0in what kinds of ways would you say growing up between Texas and India influenced your body of work over the years?<\/b><\/p>\n

A lot of science fiction writers have early experiences of living in foreign cultures. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t have to be Texas and India as it was with me, it just has to be a situation where your standard cultural rule-book gets thrown out the window. \u00a0That lived experience radically broadens the imagination.<\/p>\n

Do you think you would have dreamed up these thought-provoking and fantastical ideas had you come from anywhere else?<\/b><\/p>\n

Of course. \u00a0There aren\u2019t many Texan science fiction writers. I could have been an Indian guy who went to Texas and then wrote fantastic works within India. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Or I might have been \u201cBruno Argento,\u201d a Turinese fantascienza writer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

A lot of science fiction writers have early experiences of living in foreign cultures\u2026That lived experience radically broadens the imagination.<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

What percentage of us is us<\/i> vs. the us that is a product of our environment?<\/b><\/p>\n

The percentage doesn\u2019t make much practical difference. \u00a0You can just change environments. \u00a0I\u2019m writing this in Belgrade. \u00a0I know Belgrade pretty well, it\u2019s one of my homes, so I must some percent Belgrade guy by now, but so what?<\/p>\n

Even individuals are more malleable than law and philosophy like to admit. \u00a0The \u201cyou\u201d that was seven years old is somewhat like the \u201cyou\u201d that is 87, but not really. \u00a0Could these various you\u2019s, 7 and 87, even talk to each other? \u00a0<\/p>\n

In societies that aren\u2019t Western and obsessed with individuality, it can be pretty common to abandon your supposed you-ness: marry a second husband, take religious vows, join an army, become a pilgrim, get promoted into the aristocracy and change your name to \u201cBaron\u201d something-else\u2026 If you go through some formal ritual and the people around you agree that it\u2019s proper, then you don\u2019t have to remain 100% you. \u00a0It can be a big relief, actually. \u00a0A blessing, even. \u00a0Pope Francis, he wasn\u2019t always Pope or Francis<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Bruce Sterling at Casa Jasmina, a two-year experimental project intended to be the connected home of the future.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

The \u201cflow of data\u201d thing is a big deal and a modern issue, but it\u2019s not the only problem there is in the world.<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

As someone who has played a significant role in defining the cyberpunk movement, you clearly see the connection between technology and its impact on individual members of society. In your opinion what is the advantage of using tools such as world creation and narrative in exploring the promise of a \u2018smart future\u2019 and the power systems and networks that support them?<\/b><\/p>\n

There are various advantages and disadvantages here, depending on what you want to achieve and what the situation seems to demand. \u00a0In design fiction, it\u2019s said that you want to deliberately use \u201cdiegetic prototypes\u201d to \u201csuspend disbelief about change.\u201d \u00a0That means you\u2019re in a situation where somebody who matters has a starchy attitude like \u201cI don\u2019t get it, I don\u2019t want to believe it, show me,\u201d and you adroitly set up some theatrical situation that shows them what\u2019s possible, and then they go, \u201cHuh. Never thought of it that way.\u201d \u00a0Mission accomplished, the end.<\/p>\n

That sounds pretty small and limited, but it can also be a similar yet more consequential situation where you say, \u201cHey investor. \u00a0Why don\u2019t you give me ten million dollars for my startup,\u201d and he says \u201cwhy,\u201d and you say \u201ccheck out this private demo reel we just made,\u201d and he looks at this more or less fictional, provisional pitch that you have, and \u00a0he says, \u201cwhere do I send the cash\u201d? \u00a0Very similar \u201cworld creation narrative\u201d skills there. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to operate in the design world without at least a few skills of this kind. \u00a0You can design a better mouse-trap, but someone has to be persuaded to try to catch some mice.<\/p>\n

Can individuals and collectives thrive in smaller networks or will we inevitably be at the mercy of those with more money and more control over the flow of data?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s not how history actually works. \u00a0It\u2019s more like some of the smaller networks actually BECOME tomorrow\u2019s giant merciless networks, like, say, Apple is now a thousand times scarier than the much older IBM is. \u00a0Even an \u201cinevitable\u201d thing isn\u2019t a permanent situation. \u00a0Also, being \u201cat the mercy\u201d of something isn\u2019t all it seems. \u00a0Like, I\u2019ve been \u201cat the mercy\u201d of various guys with atomic bombs during my entire lifespan. \u00a0You too, but, you know, so what?<\/p>\n

This is one of those \u201ctragedy of the human condition\u201d issues. \u00a0It\u2019s very human and tangle and literary, and lacks any clean design or engineering solution. \u00a0It\u2019s like being 17 and realizing that your Mom is a tyrant, and thinking, \u201cAm I doomed to be tyrant like my Mom when I have the money and the control, and I\u2019m also 47?\u201d \u00a0And then one day you really are 47, and you go into the sullen teenager\u2019s room where she\u2019s blasting some Skrillex and Grimes, and you\u2019re like, \u201cI hope I\u2019m not a tyrant! Look darling I baked you some cookies,\u201d and she eats the cookies and she scowls and is like, \u201cMom, you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cflow of data\u201d thing is a big deal and a modern issue, but it\u2019s not the only problem there is in the world. \u00a0Like, try \u201cflowing some data\u201d at a religious fundamentalist some time. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t care. \u00a0He\u2019s got his ancient Scripture, that\u2019s all the data he wants.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Students begin constructing their devices during the Fabricating Empathy program.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

What Makers really want is collaborative networks<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

What do you think about ‘making\u2019, in terms of crafting experiential scenarios and moments as a means of engaging an audience?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m quite the fan of Maker Culture, actually. \u00a0It surprises me \u00a0and is fun to watch. \u00a0It\u2019s not perfect, because nothing is. \u00a0I notice that \u201cmakers\u201d who move around industrial equipment without proper safety training tend to have scarred fingers. \u00a0"Hardware is hard,\u201c and tech-shop machinery is not lightweight theatrical paste-board. \u00a0People who come out of cyberculture tend to think that a blowtorch must have an undo button.<\/p>\n

Makers do get audiences, but aren\u2019t all that interested in entertaining audiences. \u00a0What Makers really want is collaborative networks, fellow developers. \u00a0Like: how do I persuade you to advance our joint open-source interests without actually hiring you? \u00a0There\u2019s a lot of political song-and-dance there. \u00a0Yes, you certainly do have to “engage\u201d them, but sometimes you wish you could just simply point a gun at them, or offer them cash, like governments and corporations do.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

If people were sincere about \u201cethnic diversity,\u201d they\u2019d be keen on legal immigration for the 60 million refugees living in UN camps right now. \u00a0But they certainly don\u2019t want actual, statistical, world-scale \u201cdiversity.\u201d<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

The world is large and diverse. How would the IoT movement and indeed any movement which desires to help shape future societies benefit from more gender and ethnic diversity? <\/b><\/p>\n

Modern people really treasure this word \u201cdiversity,\u201d but the practice there goes through historical vogues. \u00a0Like, in the 1990s heyday of the Internet boom, digital globalization was beloved of most everybody. Now that Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and to some other extent Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung have the old Internet sewn up into new social-media commercial silos, resurgent nationalism is re-appearing all over the planet. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If people were sincere about \u201cethnic diversity,\u201d they\u2019d be keen on legal immigration for the 60 million refugees living in UN camps right now. \u00a0But they certainly don\u2019t want actual, statistical, world-scale \u201cdiversity.\u201d What they want is from \u201cdiversity\u201d is the broadened stakeholder insights that allow corporations and governments to make more profitable investment decisions. \u00a0That\u2019s where the \u201cbenefit\u201d is suppose to come from. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If you wanted actual, statistical diversity, then you\u2019d find the weirdest, most extreme human beings in the world and put then onto your board of directors. \u00a0Of course you\u2019d go broke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

Bruce with his wife, serbian author, feminist, and film-maker, Jasmina Tesanovic, and Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino company. Together these three along with Lorenzo Romagnoli are the team behind Casa Jasmina.<\/i><\/p>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n

I realize that this cynical assessment of mine can hurt people\u2019s feelings. \u00a0Nobody likes to be told that their good intentions are actually self-serving. \u00a0That\u2019s why it\u2019s so helpful to place yourself in situations where you yourself become the ethnic or gender minority. \u00a0Instead of swanning around, parading your virtues, deliberately place yourself into the disadvantaged position. \u00a0That\u2019s truly educational and really broadens the outlook. <\/p>\n

Like, being the male arm-candy at a meeting of ethnic feminists who don\u2019t speak your language: that\u2019s quite an enlightening experience for a Texan guy. \u00a0After you\u2019ve done that a dozen times (like I have) you realize why the pretty girlfriend in the hacker club generally doesn\u2019t say much.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026it\u2019s so helpful to place yourself in situations where you yourself become the ethnic or gender minority\u2026That\u2019s truly educational and really broadens the outlook. \u00a0<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

As we find ourselves at the forefront of many new technological changes, I wonder, which character within your science fiction narratives you\u2019ve felt most connected to and what advice would they give to both corporations and to individuals today?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, you know, I made those characters up. I don\u2019t have the connection to any figure from fiction that I ever have to an actual human being. \u00a0Corporations do in fact ask me for advice, but I rarely tell them to go read some novel. \u00a0Generally I tell them, \u201cYou need to go talk to so-and-so,\u201d that person being some actual expert who isn\u2019t fictional and can genuinely expand their understanding, eye to eye.<\/p>\n

Amateurs who read novels are often like, \u201cGee I didn\u2019t identify with the lead character,\u201d like it\u2019s a failure that Ulysses in the Odyssey isn\u2019t your best Snapchat pal. \u00a0Emotionally connecting to the characters is not what literature is about. \u00a0The \u201cadvice\u201d in a Tolstoy novel isn\u2019t a pep-talk for the present day. The \u201cadvice\u201d is that war and peace are grand and vast and terrible, that those you love today can vanish tomorrow, that everything you depend on, and have always expected to be there, can perish in flames. And after all that grand mayhem \u2013 hundreds of pages of it \u2013 you\u2019re not even dead! \u00a0Maybe you even won. \u00a0You might even personally benefit by a world-historical transformation. \u00a0But the scope of human existence is colossal, and you, making your numbers for the next quarter, that\u2019s rather tiny and meek. \u00a0That\u2019s why people will still know who Tolstoy was when your company\u2019s name is long forgotten.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEvery day is a gift.\u201d<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n


<\/b><\/p>\n

Is it different from the advice you yourself would give? What is your advice?<\/b><\/p>\n

The thing I most often tell myself, when I look in the mirror, is \u201cEvery day is a gift.\u201d \u00a0You can know about the past, you can even have some good guesses about what\u2019s coming, but you can only be, within the day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

For more information and to apply to our upcoming program\u00a0\u2018Coming Soon\u2019, Feb. 1-28, 2016, taking place at Casa Jasmina, Officine Arduino, and Fablab Torino, in Turin, Italy, visit our website<\/i>:\u00a0http:\/\/schoolofma.org<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Holiday applications should be in by December 26.<\/i><\/p>\n

Applications close January 1.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I missed the deadline, d\u2019oh!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

schoolofmaaa: American science fiction writer Bruce Sterling in discussion with Rachel Uwa talking malleability of humans, maker culture, and mousetraps Hi Bruce,\u00a0thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! I\u2019m a fellow Texan\u2013 No kidding? \u00a0Wow. so have to start off with a question about your beginnings\u2013\u00a0in what kinds of ways would you say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[17,16],"class_list":["post-10907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words","tag-casa-jasmina","tag-iot"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-2PV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}