Designing technological beings: Taking a non-human perspective in design

How do we design something that does not exist? Is such an act truly possible? What are some of the approaches we can take to help us? As the title of my lecture “Designing Technological Beings: Taking a Non-Human Perspective in Design” suggests, my main proposition is that adopting or creating new perspectives – in this case, non-human ones – would facilitate the design of something that does not exist. However, where did this shift to the non-human come from and what tools and mediums can help harness this shift to produce something new? In answering this, the lecture compiled several concepts, methods, and perspectives from a variety of sources and included examples from my work as well as contemporary design, scientific, and philosophical works. This paper offers a further discussion of some of the approaches and mindsets that can be used to facilitate the design of the non-existing. Although this paper recognises that there is no such thing as a “right way” to “guarantee” the design of the truly non-existing, it concentrates on methods that create discourse and demonstrate possible alternative realities through design; creating frameworks and new worlds by reflecting on designed artefacts and drawing on a diverse range of relevant and irrelevant inspirations as one way to get as close as one can to the creation of the non-existing. It also discusses one result of applying these approaches: the technological being framework. This paper concludes with a review of the topics discussed after the lecture as well as a summation of the main points.