Our next raison d’etre…
I went to see a new thought-provoking documentary at the RSA yesterday – Future My Love, by Maja Borg an Edinburgh College of Arts graduate.
The documentary asks a fundamental question on how we will come out of mass-producing and over-consuming society into one that could be a resource led and sustainable one. This is because she justifies (and rightly so) that technology has made it all too easy and is essentially making us redundant. It has freed us a bit from labour, however, we are stuck into thinking that we must find a way to continue doing the same thing and making things faster, sleeker, and continue to buying more. It’s the consumption function at it’s best. So is growth really good?
The one thing that Maja Borg did well is find a way to wrap in a love story (although a bit abstract at times) alongside the story of Jacque Fresco’s the Venus Project. I hadn’t heard about the Venus Project until the movie, which is surprising since it has been around for 30 years. Jacque is now 95 and back in the 70’s he was talking about sustainable design along with a resource based economy – one in which is a holistic socio-economic system. Putting his idea aside and knowing that sustainable design is gaining popularity today he did say something quite poignant.
If we look at inanimate objects as if they were humans (really as animate) then we can try to device better more and more sustainable products. So your home has a brain and can send signals to area where there is pain in the same way when we have pain and our brains is automatically triggered to send a signal to help soothe that pain. We then ask why can’t a house or a refrigerator fix itself in the same way. It should be smart enough to know when it isn’t working properly.
So how can we use the time technology is freeing up for us? ..Why can’t we have a 4 day work week and why can’t we get paid to find better ways of living in our community in our spare time?
We have set ourselves up on a course that has only made the wheels turn faster and faster..better and more efficient. It will only stop when there is mass catastrophe due to scarcity of resources.
Overall, where Maja leaves the door open is in finding local solutions. Her documentary begs you to think, but doesn’t necessarily provide you a way to take action. The Venus project certainly can’t be implanted anywhere but can be adapted. Now onto thinking about those solutions..
Watch Future My Love trailer here
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Our next raison d’etre…
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