wet dreams. living machines

I’ve been moving along slowly but surely with the project this week…THinking about plants, organic solar cells, chlorphfyll cyborgs and implementation into common, everyday products.. etc etc.
The research continues but at the moment it’s just more of the same and little bits of information here and there regarding the fairly new technologies I’m looking into.
Here’s some interesting stuff:
Not related to photosynthesis but I thought this was quite cool. A robot plant that connects to the internet and reacts and remains alove due to online stimuli from across the world. I think the image of a robotic flower is just something nice to use as inspiration for this project.

ANyway, because I’ve done quite a lot of research and it’s now slowing down and I know the technology I want to implement, by the weekend I thought that I would start to look towards specific ideas for a final proposal that could help focus research even further and bring me forward into the project development stage.
I know now for sure that the technology associated with my project will be the synthetic use of photosynthesis to harvest electrical energy; Most likely through the chlorophyllic dye techonology discussed last week although other technologies might be implemented as the design proposal begins to take shape in my mind.
In order to spark idea generation I looked back at the questions answered last week. I then tried to think, in the broadest sense, why I wanted to merge organic plant systems with household items. Skipping all the detailed stuff discussed in my homework last week, the key reason is simply that the attributes of plants symbolise 100% efficiency in sustainability and energy use.
I then thought about household products and which, if ANY, share attributes with plants… in any way. This will hopefully help to later develop some of the ethics and sci-fi ideas that I want to intergrate into this project.
So I was thinking about modular products which feed off, give energy to or are rooted to another product…Objects which gather input from a surrounding system. Much like leaves collecting the Sun’s energy and feeding other parts of the plant’s system…
Things that came to mind were TV and radio aerials, internet routers and such but although I came up with a few little scraps of ideas, I think I still need to do a lot of out-of-the-box brainstorming in order to get hold of the ‘killer idea.’
WHen I thought about the wireless router and the robot flower I thought it would be interesting if maybe a potential product could take an input from a totally natural system (ie; the Sun, photosyntheis, the environment etc) and produce an output that not only powered a product electrically but also a variable digital outcome for use in the the internet- The largest ‘digital system’; which in many ways, due to it’s current complexities, is now at a cause-and-effect state of being that the enviornment is in… Good for provoking discussion perhaps.
Anyway that’s where I’m at with personal stuff.

In terms of this sustainability question that Boo asked in the homework, what I often find is that people want instant gratification from any effort they make outside of their normal boundaries.
With that said, it seems to me that the majority of the general public will make “small increments, little changes” but will not follow them through to the extent that they should be.
In the UK, various government and eco-organization ideas have been put into place over the last few years to try and convince [or 'bribe'] local communities into recycling (One of these being, for example, halfing the number of trash pick-up collections in some communities).
When we look at the stats, such small changes seem to have lead to wide spread recycling. However, what those trying to implement such change are realising is that virgin materials, not reused ones, are still those being recycled: People are still only at the stage of putting their waste in a different bin. Focussing on the output and not, likewise, on the input. Vast differences in individual needs make it harder to try and implement strategies for regulating or encouraging that which people consume as opposed to how the re-use said consumables.
At the moment it still seems that the general public, even those who claim to be eco-aware, will only move towards sustainability as far as their hand is held.
It is true that what we need is not a ‘mass answer’ but a mass of answers, which should build up to take effect over time. But, while we ARE progressing, I still feel that we are a long way of from each household thinking about how they could, on a personal level, tackle their specific sustainability issues. How individuals themselves making little changes that become routine.
I find it hard to answer a question such as the one put forward in Homework_5. WHen asked where such small changes and baby steps could lead, I’d like to think it would eventually lead to a point where people will buy, consume, dispose and generally live in a way that is as sustainable as possible and do so in such a way that seems as natural and routine as one would feel throwing away an empty bottle. However, the ever evolving nature of this issue and the general human mindset associated with it makes it hard to both cite specific ideas or theories and suggest a time scale or rate for the change to occur.

Things’ve developed a fair bit since my last post.
You may remember from my last posts that I have been fairly adament about researching bio-mimicry and trying to draw out a project which focused on this, at least from the technology point of view.
I also wanted to bring forward several other key fields that have struck me as interesting from conversations we’ve had in the last month of Wet Dreams and from thought trains of my own: These being:

1) The ethics of bio-engineering
2) The concepts for organic/machine interface
[See previous posts for speculations on these first two]
3) Sustainability

I was aiming to form a conceptual design which brought as many of these elements together, in a form that could -perhaps- be just as much a thought-provoking piece of art as a functional product design.
Briefly in the last class I mentioned possible routes for this; one of these being an article I found from a few years back that spoke of how scientists were hoping to harvest the chemical energy from plants, gained by photo-synthesis, straight from the plant for use in electrical generation via energy transferal. Experiments had been done in powering low level machines like clocks and attempts were being made at battery charging. This past week I have looked into this idea more.

Here are some links:
Direct Plant/Machine fusion ideas and discussion can be found here (although this wasn’t the original page I brought inspiration from..struggling to find it again).
An interesting area of current research is highlighted on this page which looks at the developments one company is making in the production of synthetic chlorophyll derived from the light-harvesting pigment plants use for photosynthesis. The application of which would be a “10th of the cost of current silicon-based photo-electric solar cells.”

Here we see research on electrical charges being produced from vegetables and bacterial proteins.
More pages on various research…

Thus, I have decided to pull focus towards plant/chlorifyll use in electrical generation and create a conceptual design which hopes to use this technology in a functional home application. This path should hopefully lead to a concept which encompasses (even if vaguely or at tangent to) the above chosen topics.

With regards to the questions Boo asked…

What kind of future would such a design allude to?
Well, the very nature of this concept looks towards a purely sustainable future; one in which humanistic systems work alongside natural ones, each giving something of value to the other. The simple idea of a plant in someone’s living room, having to be nurtured in order to uphold our technological well being is quite a powerful one.
We are currently already harvesting organic chemicals for direct electrical generation in the burning of fossil fuels- A highly unsustainable, environmentally unfriendly process which relys on millions years of natural systems at work to breakdown organic material. The antithesis to the ‘destructive’ act of burning dead organic forms for one-way gain would surely be such a concept as the one mentioned I’m trying to develop; One which encourages man to take care of surrounding natural systems so that they, in turn, can take care of him (Not just in terms of basic needs like providing oxygen but in taking care of modern technological needs).
However, such a concept could have darker connotations where speculations are made as to greater levels of application in the future. My topics of organic/machine assimilation and the ethics of bioengineering come back into play here.
For example, does the fusion of plants with technology look towards a cyber-punk-esque future of cyborgs created from higher level life forms? Cloned cows being assimilated into a milking machine? Or even just a disembodied Cow organ that sits on a kitchen top and produces milk..!?
Is keeping a plant alive for the harvesting of it’s natural output with the use of technology similar to farming or does it seem now to be more of a pre-cursor to slavery?… Etc.

What further research needs to be completed before I can coherently present my ideas for this project?
I’ll keep working away at that one and get back to you…
In terms of what could the design be, I’m not sure yet. A basic household item which connotes the ideas stated above through both its function and aesthetic. I guess those are the limitations and parameters of this, in a way: Something small with basic chlorophyll/electrical technology (or at least easily understandable) and presented in a visual way suitable for connoting my chosen sub-topics. An organic looking clock that’s fused with plants or covered in synthetic chlorophyll dye or something?… Well, hopefully something with a bit more thought and more sophicated design put into it ;p

Firstly, an update on the research I’ve been doing this week and some interesting articles and such I’ve come across..
Since the start of this project with early class references to biomimicry, I have been determined to try and focus on this topic, or make it a key aspect of my project.

This video is quite interesting. I found I found it a while ago but youtube is sketchy with my software so I’ve only been able to watch it all the way through this week. I’m sure most people interested in Biomimicry and/or sustainability have seen it by now:

I found this video that shows a Nokia concept phone, incorporating a lot of nano tech and several biomimesis applications. (The communication of the video is quite effective too if your into presentation techniques etc etc)
This is a good example of how future technology can be used in real world products.

This video on synthetic biology and applcations in sustainable energies is quite lengthy and hard going but give it a brief skip through.

Also, this month’s National Geographic magazine has a lengthy article on Biomimesis which I found very interesting, specifically for its inclusion of many biomimicry applications in real design practise.
The focus of many of these applications being a strive for greater sustainability within society by making the smallest of changes to everyday products.
Examples include the self cleaning paint, previously mentioned by Rainer on this blog i think, which replicates the biological structure of the lotus leaf, allowing rain water to form droplets and pull dirt away from the paint’s surface; A wind turbine blades which mimic the form of whale flippers to see if their efficient shape can generate more power with slower wind speeds than conventional blades; And a new Mercedes-Benz concept car that emulates the stream lined contours of the tropical Box Fish to enhance aerodynamics and greatly increase fuel efficiency:

(You can find the digital version of the article here but I’ve found NGM.com has a tendency to not load properly so I’ll bring in the magazine on monday if anyone has any trouble reading it online)
Although such examples are very inspiring, especially when the designers and biomechanists talk about the thought process which lead to these applications, several other applications seemed forced, unneccessary or given as the excuse for a challenge in engineering various synthetic organics. For example there are about three cases where synthetic animals are being developed for flimsy reasons such as for surveillance or the toy industry. It is even commented on by the author that it is sketchy as to whether much biomemesis research currently going on has any reasonable real world applications.
Thus I have become adement that any potential design outcome in my project would transcend the ‘novelty’ or inapplicable scientific successes seen in a lot of biomimicry application concepts.

With this thought in mind and following on from my previous thoughts regarding the future of synthetic biology, ethics and such, I’ve come up with a very rough brief for my project.
This being to design a product (whatever it may turn out to be) which uses basic biomimicry techniques drawn from the animal kingdom to offer a sustainble or eco-friendly alternative to a common household or workplace appliance. The product should have real functional value and not meerely be a novelty. The product should create a statement on the ethics of synthetic biology and provoke discussion on the future of new technologies and emerging styles of life.
Yeah, very sketchy. I’ll make it more specific for next week.

Lastly, regarding Boo’s question of how interests have develop through discussions and class material, I think that throughout this project I’ve been fairly focused on bio mimicry as a topic of interest which I can pull out a potential design out of at the end of all this. However, our various discussions, video watching etc have expanded my general interest in bio-engineering although maybe not in a way I could apply directly to industrial design at this early stage of discovering the topic.
However, I think the whole fish/worm incident and the more disturbing research we’ve looked into has made me more aware of the everyday ethics which seem more apparent and important in a professional and group environment and I’m quite adement about implementing a purposely ethical dilemma in a project to stimulate similar trains of thought a discussion.

[Firstly, a lot of this might not seem 100% relevent but it shows my train of thought....]

Biomimicry is a topic I had never even heard of prior to our introduction to the Wet Dreams elective. However, without even realising as much, biomimicry has been a topic which I have thought of and considered in the past many times- if perhaps very vaguely…
The following information and thoughts have come from the culmination of two streams of consciousness: Firstly, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ethics behind biomimicry and the future paths of science it could lead to. Secondly, Boo’s anecdotes of aspects of bioengineering being used throughout history before the real scientific practice existed (eg; making stained glass; brewing beer etc etc etc):

If we are to look at the history of product design as a modern profession, we can see that originally, emulating or mimicking nature within manufactured goods was seen as the purest design form. This was because the ‘designs’ of Nature were ”the creations of God” and thus seen as the highest point of aesthetic perfection. This spawned many goods from the mass manufacture of floral patterns in ceramics to weird, messed up shit like taxidermed squirrels being made into sewing machines.
It was soon decided by the design community, that copying nature within human design and trying to emulate God was in fact morally wrong (”How can it be right to try and emulate God?”) Such debates from yesteryear struck me as being relevent to our topic…

Also, Boo’s question concerning “how far biomimicry might go before it meets up with synthetic biology” jumped out at me as an area of particular interest: Some years ago, I was asked to write an essay as part of an Media / English literature assignment regarding theoretical ethical issues outlined in several 20th century texts. The two main articles for analysis and comparison were William Gibson’s classic novel Neuromancer and Masamune Shirow’s cult manga publication, Ghost in the Shell. Each deals with the morals regarding the future paths that bioengineering. Theological ideas around the idea of a ‘soul’ are put into question for example. Would the creation of synthetic biology with the consistently increasing level of AI lead to objects being classifed as ”alive’?(Also, more abstractly and maybe diverting too far away from the topic, such hypothetical questions as if a machine used organic tissue as components and had a high enough AI, could it be regarded as alive?)
However, all this seems very sci-fi, and apocalyptic. After looking more into biomimicry and the many possible advantages it offers the us in the future -particularly with regards to sustainability- the line between ‘right and wrong’ is extremely blurred. I may this this blurring of ethics in biomimicry as the platform for my project, however:
I am interested in products that engage the user and challenge their perceptions of various issues through object interaction- Pieces that somehow merge the aims of political art while maintaining function and integrity as a an object for practical use. Perhaps such a topic is perfect for inspiring such a design. Something that is ”morally right” because it is encourages sustainability but captures it in a form that makes a feature of the political/ethical issues…? Just an idea.
(I’ll find some examples of such products and post them if people don’t get my disjointed explanations)
I’ve been looking more into biomimicry on the nano level for biological motors and stuff. I’ll put up those links and notes shortly…It’s hectic cos I’m chilling in New Zealand at the moment … (wanted to get that in somewhere on this post ;p)

Hey.
My name’s James Montgomery. I’m a 3rd Year Industrial Designer from Scotland who’s here on a ‘study abroad’ semester.
Unfortunately, due to your Southern Hemispherical craziness, I have to go back home, mid-semester, at the end of May in order to complete end-of-term examination procedures back at my home institute. . .
I’m devastated. Not only because the Scottish summer is usually just as shit as its winter but because I’ll be leaving Australia without completing most of my course projects, including this Wet Dreams elective.
So I did a fair bit of research this week (as far as I go anyway) to try and get as far with this project as I can before I leave.
I started by thinking about the aspects and theories for future design which interest me and how I might be able to pull a bio-technology project out of them:

I have always been interested in moving towards sustainable design and living.
Perhaps similarly to Ti (although maybe on a less-direct level), I could say that I am quite interested in certain aspects of bio-mimicry but more specifically when cited as a possible area of study in the development of sustainability.
This came about when I recently read the 2006 book ‘Designers, Visionaries + Other Stories,’ a collection of sustainable design essays written by a variety of professionals from across all areas of design.
Each essay analysed a variety of factors regarding the state of our planet, offering historical, economic and ethical reasons for our downfall; citing the designer, not only as one of the key causes of such problems but also as the one with the social power and insight with which to help solve it.
An issue brought forward in many of the essays, which I found very interesting, was the identification of man’s ‘self-removal’ from nature as the reason for his arrogance and complacence regarding his impact on the world: We as human beings tend to speak of nature as an ‘other’: A force which we are in some way able to transcend. Yet the ecological threats to our wellbeing which are now, not only being predicted but becoming apparent, are showing us (in a rather pre-apocalyptic way) that this is truly not the case. While trying not to sound too much like a hippy, it seems that we must connect with Nature once more and find applications in future design which emulate to natural world in order to bring this about. (This ‘mimicry’ of nature could be just as much on a social level as well as physical[?] one. For instance it is suggested by one of the authors that if man was to operate a social system much like the natural give/take system of -for example- a rainforest, we would be living in perfect harmony with eachother and our planet… As dream-like and utopian as this concept may be, it’s an interesting foundation for research in such a project as this)
Although the various authors of these previously mentioned essays seemed merely to highlight such problems as opposed to offering a path to the solution itself, I feel now –after our initial presentation from Boo and some of my own research- that bio-technology may hold a path which made lead to one of many keys in bringing about a purely sustainable future.
Although I am still at a loss as how to specifically develop this idea for this elective I have found some interesting sources this past week which I would like to take as inspiration:

Through ploughing through the links given to us by Boo, I came across this project which interestingly suggested translating the captured solar energy from the plants for use in our everyday lives.

A bio-technology website/forum with various articles on sustainable bio-fuels and such.

I came across this Youtube video by chance on the Japanese/British clothing company, Terratag’s, website. (the lead designer takes a lot of influence from anime in his designs so he posts up anything vaguely cyber-punk on his site)
It offers a brief introduction to Nanotechnology. Although maybe not specifically relative to us, there are some interesting examples of scientists discovering organic mechanisms/machines such as motors or rotors on the nano-scale, which nature builds from protein assemblies; and how to use them in the real world.

This PDF is also quite interesting but fairly indepth and perhaps not the direction I’d like my to the project in.

Maybe my interests lie not so much in techonology emulating nature but the actual fusing of man-made-techonology into organica in the hope of giving us a greater understanding of nature and moving the world towards 100% sustainability.
Anyway, I’d like to do something outlandish. A bit science-fiction-esque.
I’m still a bit sketchy as to which path to take these few thoughts onwards. There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there. I’ll post up some more links as I come across them and develop my ideas.
Any ideas relating to what I’ve already written?

Sorry for the rambling.
J