Design of My Study

Design Studies 4 Reflective Essay

Title: The Modern World, Distinct from Religion

Response:
As I stated during my recent presentation, during this semester my direction of study changed quite substantially, however, the method and thought process behind my ideas did not. My approach was initially driven by a disgust towards sustainability and an effort to give content to an argument that would not necessarily be generally regarded as wholesome. My complaint towards the decline of religion and pure thought in an established western or ex-colonial context. As my study progressed I found it would be more acceptable to broaden my investigation, generalising religion as a system of social beliefs. This also meant I would be able to moot with representatives of a wider variety of alternative topics and create a more utilitarian outcome. Eventually I realised that due to my take on the subject I would be unlikely to develop a single conclusive argument. At this point I decided it could be interesting to compose a system, based on my research of many cultures and peoples, which would generate a more sustainable lifestyle for westerners. I was insinuating that western ways and colonialism are most of what is wrong with the world today however my research lead to the illusion of the noble savage; this was no help. From here my assignment lost structure and became more of a research free-for-all. This was vaguely disconcerting at first, however, I kept atop of the situation and eventually I saw arguments surrounding many of the aspects of research I had originally set out on. I feel that the resulting presentation represented this journey as well as the resulting content quite honestly.
If I were to continue or readdress this project I would start by establishing a clear agenda for my work and suggesting a breadth of research to further my understanding. I would then try to gather a group of similarly inclined people and create a conversation forum to develop fundamentally diverse solutions. It is likely that the outcome would eventually be in the form of a map based publication including explanations of specific parts of the work with case studies and illustrative logical experiments. I am interested in this area of study and I hope to one-day have reason to pursue the investigation. It is not likely that I will on my own as I am convinced it is a job for an established panel of researchers not someone in my situation.
Though I thrive on theory and lateral thought in general and hence design studies by default, I am less enamoured with the general approach that is taken at RMIT. I have enjoyed parts of these classes however I feel that the obsession with sustainability is doing little to develop us as designing thinkers, which seems the be the direction everyone suggests is ours. I feel that it may be a good exercise in thinking in ways one would prefer not to but we have been thinking with the same convolution for three semesters now. If this class was supposed to be purely sustainability evoked thought then perhaps it could be named more appropriately. I believe design studies is a more generally accessible subject. That said, I found your class quite informative and the ensuing conversations interesting. Similarly, the lecture series for your class included some intriguing speakers.

Submissive First

Design Studies 4 Submission 1

Title: The Secularity of Need

Reading: “The World of Goods” (Reading A)
Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwood

Question: 2. Discuss human needs as being either physical or spiritual. Discuss the assumption that physical needs are “more justified” as they are based on necessity whereas spiritual needs are considered to be somewhat superfluous and unjustified.

Response:
Humans are animals so it can be suggested that they have certain basic needs. These needs can be seen as the setting necessary to sustain life of a species. Available Food, water and air as well as the appropriate environment and enough of a community to avoid destructive inbreeding embody this requirement. It is often suggested that without these an animal, or for that matter a human, will start by searching to fulfil immediate needs such as a consumable atmosphere, then search for food, following this they will live to find shelter of some description. When personal survival is ensured efforts will be made to find a mate. Of course this model is a vast generalisation and there are known anomalies such as many insects that live with a complex societal structure in large groups. Without there society, these animals cannot live very effectively so for many species evolution has allowed a lone insect to start a colony if it must. However a given element of the community will only do this in dire circumstances, for instance, when the rest of the population has been decimated. Humans also require social interaction, as without it they generally develop to become defined as insane or inhuman. The difference between humans and animals lies here, humans have a mind to break, in a sense that in this day is not treated as physical. Hence the creation of something more than the physical world, which we seem to require to survive as part of our social network.
Given that “spiritual needs” can be extended to include anything that is not immediately required by a creature to sustain life, it is by definition that we can conclude that with physical needs fulfilled, life is liveable, for a while at least. As noted earlier there is some proof behind the suggestion that humans will not survive without fulfilling at least some of these spiritual needs. “Need” is by definition logistically exclusive so we know that to survive in the most complete sense we do in fact need to provide for all the spiritual needs as well as those of the physical world.
Evidently it is possible to show that needs are present and that they can be classed and, as “The World of Goods” states so clearly there is ample misinterpretation of how they are classed. Though a rough definition and an analytical proof for the relevant aspects of need can be generated everything becomes unclear as complexity increases and society is introduced. For the sake of this argument, lets reassert the distinction between physical and spiritual needs as found in the reading. Physical needs are those that directly support the life cycle, spiritual needs are those that seem accessory. An American term describes this well, “creature comforts”; the things that make life better. Based on the earlier argument we can state that these things are not accessory and hence do not make life better, likewise in can be suggested that since we can conceive of more there is no such thing as happiness or one’s needs being fulfilled. This is not completely mad because as we well know need is a function of consumption. When something needs food, it searches for and consumes the food it can find. Hence when we consume things that some would consider accessory, we are proceeding to the next tier of need. This is then labelled spiritual need. In this case it seems best to discern between conventional spiritual need and this new “consumer need”. Consumer need is the modern human need for more and more, the psychological requirement for such goods as televisions and new shoes. This was once known as gluttony however as it is part of our current nature it has become well known and appreciated by economists of the world. People have not always been so bad.
In the context of today’s society we see people in need quite often. This is arguably a necessity in maintaining the western societal paradigm; nevertheless there is visible need of a basic kind on the streets of any city. As mentioned in “The World of Goods” needs are not uniform from place to place, because setting and systems are vary hugely. This, however disheartening, is a prim illustration of the fundamental function of needs and their classification. With our tailored definition we have developed we know that a need is primarily what is required to survive. Hence a need is only existent in the right context, as need is functionally related to context; when there is no food, there is need for food. A solution it so seeks an environment where food is generally available. Then the next level of need becomes important. The important point is that there is no ideal solution, as far as we know. Otherwise, there would be no need for us in the first place. Amoeba would have been good enough except for the concept supply and demand.
The fact that we, the western world, are capable of making judgements of need means little to the actual reality of how people react to their requirements. Where our existence becomes important is with economic systems. Economics and the world scale systems of today are so complex that they have fallen from human control. However, by the nature of their design they are composed of need based relationships with classification and not much more complexity that our own. Human need may be superfluously definable as either physical or spiritual, but like all systems, resolution does not exist and a model is not accurate until all the possible information is gleaned. We are destined to keep going far beyond this illusion of sentience and intelligence. We are alive to survive at the cost of the greater good.

Perception

And so a writing will grow to be formed in the depths of the world.

Learning to Agree

Design Studies 4 Learning Agreement

Title: Religion and the Modern World

Alias: Sam Good

Student Number: Ask

Aim: The intention of this project is to look into state of religion in the modern world while keeping history and human nature in mind to achieve a greater understanding on this subject and divine the future of humanity. At the same time I would like to establish a reinforced argument against they typical solution, sustainable living, to the problems of today, capitalism and free market economics. To this end I will discuss theories regarding the life-cycle of religions and the basis of effective secular cultures.

Background: It is my belief that modern humanity, especially in the Western world is being greatly compromised by the lack of concentration on concepts of religion and heritage. Most modern humans seem to uphold the misconception that they understand religion and can chose, without loss, to take no part in any such beliefs or activities. Though generally people can live in this way, without noticing any major effects, I feel that the future of humanity will be sacrificed if this trend persists. I see this as a mid-term problem as opposed as the more short-term problem of sustainable living. Life with no religion or fear of god is a major paradigm shift for humanity at large. However, it is suggested that religion can be an outcome of sentience or developed thought, and a product of lack of confidence. My interest lies here, are people a function of religion or is religion a function of its people and what is the nature of this working relationship. This forces the questioning of the nature of other high complexity systems, such as PLM systems, global relations and the world wide web, which can demonstrate the outcome of faith or lack there of.

Objectives: It is my goal to determine some approximation of the midterm fate of humanity based on the decline of religion. The extensible outcomes of the project will include generic media casting and production of research and concept assets. I wish to include metadata as well at more common forms of media such as audio, film, and image data. The outcome will be documented digitally and the workflow will be completely paperless.

Method: To do this project I will look at the ways in which religions and cultures have developed hand in hand. Specifically very long living cultures such as those of the Aboriginal people and ones in which religion is still strong such as Islamic cultures. I also intend to research the psychological value or religions systems and studies on this matter. To complete the project I will also look at alternative embodiments of complex systems with emergent sentience and how they tend to deal with the concept of religion or higher order.

Timeline: It is my intention to make this a relatively continuous project with a largely ambiguous structure. I imagine that it could and will go on for an extended period. I hope to have completed it to a mature stage by the end of the semester.