Ephemeralization

Abstract: This article discusses perspectives, and principles of R. Buckminster Fuller´s philosophy and possible implications on the future role of industrial design. The article is aimed at professional designers and students of design, looking to challenge their philosophical basis for design practice. The point of departure is an existentialistic question for the design profession. What one should design towards in general terms and what rationale can back up designing in general? The background is a review of texts by R. Buckminster Fuller, including also ideas from Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek. The following discussion is inspired by concepts from the book “Open Design Now” by van Abel, Evers, Klaassen and Troxler. Current trends in design and technology; digital fabrication, open source, open design and blockchain technology increase the freedom of the designer, but also the responsibility. These may be seen as potential remedies for humanity’s shortcomings in sustainably operating Spaceship Earth. Finally we can conclude with the fact that we are collectively going to design our future. What we want this future to be is up to us; we should consider truthfully what is important, and what is not. We should also in our pursuit of constructive practice, allow ourselves the privileged of letting go of “lovingly administered nonsense

Abstract: First paragraphs: I am often asked why so few agricultural economists seem interested in sustainable agriculture or sustainable community development. Perhaps it's because unlimited growth is one of the foundational assumptions of neoclassical economics. If there are no limits to economic growth, questions of sustainability are needless or pointless. Ecological economists challenge this assumption and call for a steady-state economy, meaning one "that develops qualitatively without growing quantitatively... maintained at a level that is both sufficient for a good life and within the assimilative and regenerative capacities of the [natural] ecosystem" (Daly, 2013). However, most economists seem to believe that human imagination and creativity is capable of finding a substitute for any natural resource we may deplete and finding a technological solution for any problem we might create — given adequate economic incentives. One argument for unlimited economic growth is limitless dematerialization, meaning an infinite ability to extract more economic value from fewer natural and human resources. As ecological economists point out, this conflicts directly with the law of entropy, which is the second law of thermodynamics. Everything of any use to us, including everything of economic value, ultimately depends on the usefulness of energy. According to the law of entropy, whenever energy is used to do anything useful, some of its usefulness is lost. Accepting the law of entropy, there are physical limits to dematerialization and thus limits to economic growth. Unlimited economic growth would require ephemeralization, a term coined by Buckminster Fuller, meaning the ability of technological advancement to do "more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing" (Ephemeralization, 2013, para. 1). It doesn't seem reasonable to bet the future of humanity on this possibility....