On Transitions

Understanding our interdependence in the global ecosystem.

We are now responding to a series of transitions - 'we' being each planetary citizen. These transitions are a response to inherent structural failures in a system constructed upon the designed vulnerability of the ordinary consumer. The methods in which markets are sold objectifies the surrounding environment, creating a disconnect between producer and consumer. Commercial language reduces plastics to single-use, "trees reduced to timber", food considered a throwaway commodity with a 'sell-by' date.

"This reductive capacity has been fantastic for propelling civilisation to one type of complexity. I think what we are seeing is the end of that worldview."

These planetary transitions including climate change, inequality and polar malnutrition can be seen as feedback from an ecosystem imbalance. The imbalance lies in the consistent depletion of natural resources in which not enough time is given to recuperate and regenerate. We have now begun to feel the negative effects of this fatigued system. This feedback highlights our interdependence with other species in the wider ecosystem, which has too often been forgotten. Perhaps this moment in existence can be seen as a saturation point, in which behaviours are beginning to shift in recognition of the aforementioned interdependence. This brings the question of the human-machine ecology into perspective and is of great importance in our present and future. The rapid advances of social media, 5G and technological accessibility, for example, have enabled communication on a global scale, in which it's full potential has not yet been recognised. Recognition of ecological interdependency will lead to a redefinition of value in a human-machine ecology.

Language, branding and marketing play a large role in environmental degradation. Commercial language reflects the value we ascribe to objects we buy, which then further supports a wider global economy and production ecosystem. Current objectification of language in commercial environments means we fail to ascribe meaning to purchasing and the creative process of making. This transaction is currently valued on price, branding or availability; all actions which fail to acknowledge the wider ecosystem and intensive energy process of production. The rise of distributed design, maker-movements and manufacturing justifies hope for a present and future system based on meaningful exchange. In transparent production practices, open-source knowledge sharing or revival of craft, we associate physical tactility to value. Transparency and acknowledgement of ecosystems production can, therefore, surpass the commercial setting and price tag - interdependency becomes embedded into design itself: whether it be educational models, market platforms or de-objectified environmental language.

"I would argue there’s a new class of 21st-century business will not be about private value — it will be about financing common value through massive interaction points and contracting. And that applies to hundreds of other things that we can talk about off the back of it. So I think we’re fundamentally transitioning to a new model of capital facilitated by pretty much zero cost bureaucracy and actually a new transaction architecture."

What does recognising interdependence mean in a human-machine ecology? As mentioned before, it may be through mechanisms based on the transparency of production processes, founded on common values. Common values may range from developing alternative markets to looking at implementing robotics for micro-farms. Open-source, sharing platforms and circular economies are also examples of common values. Once these mechanisms are scalable globally, we can begin to construct new identities which recognise true value, thus fostering positive ecological feedback.

"Whether it’s climate change or plastics or inequality: these are all about us recognising our interdependence. The great transition we are on is actually this transition in how we see ourselves, but also how we see ourselves in the world. The machine-human-ecological relationship is being transformed. And when you look at it from that perspective, I think that’s the first thing we have to recognise."

Recognising interdependence also acknowledges a change in the language we use towards material culture - take Precious Plastics for example. Precious Plastics have done wonders in changing how we view plastic as a material. Through addressing the underlying drivers of excessive consumption Precious Plastics has reworked the language around single-use, to re-use, rather than attempting to change the immense demand that the human ecosystem has around plastics. Precious Plastic is one example of alternation of language, Distributed Design is another. There lies speculation towards how the increase of movements such as Precious Plastic and Distributed Design could change how cities and environments are sculpted on a global scale.

The need for rethinking the motivations placed into economies, markets and commercial environments is critical - environmental feedback is already causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human life. Recognition and allocation of value appropriately will lead to non-precarious economies which offer space for experimentation, creativity, respect and the freedom to care.

This article was written as a synopsis extract of a longer interview with Indy Johar, an architect and founder of the studio Dark Matter. Indy works with global multinationals and institutions to create positive systems economies. The interview “Moving from an Individual to a Collective Worldview” was conducted by Future of Good podcast on the 17th July 2019. The transcript can be found below.