My prototype is a comparison of what a bedroom would look like for each of the two classes in our predicted future – the lower/middle class, and the upper class.

In the lower class bedroom, there is an influx of gadgets. Your room is supposedly a reflection of your mind, which explains why this room is very messy – as this class of people lead very chaotic and unhealthy lifestyles due to difficult circumstances.  It can be seen that they are willing to spend most of their money on gadgets and technology (which can be seen strewn across the entire room), however they aren’t as willing to spend their money on necessities, like a bedhead (in this case, this person just has their mattress on the floor). Their walls are also very dilapidated, and there are stains all over the floor.

All of the technology they have is in an attempt to try and recreate a “back-to-the-land” lifestyle that the upper class leads. For example, they have a huge projection of a “window” looking out on “nature” (as most rooms in lower class areas are windowless and there isn’t any nature in the cities) a solarium to make them look “naturally” sun-kissed, and a “sleep-hacker” to maintain their health while they are sleeping.

In the pictures below you can see what a day in the life of this person would look like – I’ve modelled the person with clay. They would be spending a lot of time in their room, specifically using their technology.

The room of the upper class person is very minimal. This is reflective of the natural, back-to-the-land lifestyle they have.

On a daily basis they would spend time doing yoga and meditating – occasionally looking out their window and onto the nature outside. In their room is a real plant (to maintain high oxygen levels), a yoga matt, and a Japanese floor mattress. They wouldn’t be spending a lot of time in their room – the majority of their time spent there would be sleeping, otherwise they would be outdoors and in nature.

Love’s multi-faceted nature allows it to exist in many forms, and evolve as humankind evolves. However, love has always been based around humankind’s interaction with and in their environment. Through research, I’ve discovered that in Indigenous culture, ones ability to love is heavily tied to the earth, and the condition that it is in. In addition to this, humankind’s experimentation and progression with technology has allowed for a new kind of self-love to evolve.

An indigenous persons’ understanding of love is heavily connected with ontology, and a sense of self. This sense of self is heavily based on their surroundings in their environment. For example, as Saltwater people, the “motions of the tides, phases of the moon, movements of wind and sand, each structure and inform (their) worldview.” This means a decrease in the quality of the environment would “(cause) sickness of (their) physical, mental and spiritual health.” (Martin & Mirraboopa 2003) This is demonstrated through Brisbane, which is “known to be the largest capital city in the Southern Hemisphere in terms of geographical size.” (Martin & Mirraboopa 2003) Subsequently, the “river gets very busy, very polluted and very tired, and so does the country and so do the Entities.” (Martin & Mirraboopa 2003) Thus, to be able to love, one must take care of their environment, as in turn, they are taking care of themselves. This symbiotic relationship is vital for Indigenous people, and demonstrates the love they have for the earth, and therefore themselves.

Humans have always been experimental with technology, and this has allowed for an evolution of a different kind of love – self love. This experimentation can be extremely simple, like in 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Apes discovering that using a weapon (in their case, a bone), was much more effective way to fight their rivals. This discovery was revolutionary, in that making use of the materials that surround us in our environments has led to the invention of some the most complex forms of technology – like satellites (as the scene foreshadows) (This scene is linked below in references). “This invention of technology revolves around humans relating to their environment,” (Fry 2010) and consequently, recently egg freezing has come about, due to the increase in women in the workforce, and in higher time-demanding jobs. Women are focusing more on achieving their personal goals in the workplace, and choosing to have children later in life. Egg-freezing is a technology that allows women to put themselves first, thus acting as a form of self-love. It has also allowed companies to show their own love and respect for women, including Google, Apple and Spotify (The Great Egg Freeze 2017). Our interaction with our environments is therefore allowing us to progress as a technologically evolved society and subsequently, love ourselves more.

Our relationship with our environment is intertwined with the way we love, and how we define love. Indigenous people understand that taking care of the Earth is what allows them to love, and humankind’s experimentation with technology has allowed for self-love to be at the forefront of our evolving society.

References

Fry, T. 2010, Design futuring: sustainability, ethics and new practice, Berg, Oxford.

Martin, K. & Mirraboopa, B. 2003, ‘Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods fro indigenous and indigenist research’, Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 27, no. 76, pp. 203-214.

Movieclips 2011,  2001: A Space Odyssey #2 Movie CLIP – From Bone to Satellite (1968), videorecording, Youtube, viewed October 10 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc&t=82s&gt;.

The Great Egg Freeze 2017, radio program, BBC Radio 4, UK, July 2017.

I interviewed my aunty, who is a dentist, about the future of technology in the dentistry field.

As a synopsis, there seems to be an increase in people undergoing aesthetic dental procedures, and the technology that is being improved/changed is all in an attempt to make their outcome look more natural.

My aunty has been a dentist for 32 years. In this time, she has “most definitely” seen an increase of people coming in for aesthetic procedures. This includes procedures relating to “veneers, bleaching, crowns, and implants.”

She attributes this to people just wanting to look “better.” After dentists got control of the decay situation by putting “fluoride in our water,” and society became more “affluent,” with “more money to spend,” people began “spending it on looking better.”

My aunty explains that she has seen a lot of change in the technology dentists have used over her lifetime, and that “The need, the aesthetic need … to look better, has lead to better technology.” For example, people are doing more crowns. Originally, crowns used to have a metal base, with porcelain over the top, “but that created a shadow in the tooth.” Now, dentists are making crowns that are just porcelain, or zirconia (which can also be layered with porcelain) (pictured below) so that they don’t shade the tooth, and it appears white from underneath “and much more natural.”

In addition to this, at her dentistry practice, “(they) don’t do many silver fillings anymore, although they do still exist.” Nowadays, they have cerec filling, which begins which a machine taking a picture of your tooth, then the filling is cut to shape in a machine. This filling also has a porcelain component to it, which makes it last a lot longer. Overall, the result looks extremely natural (pictured below).

My aunty then explained that in the future, “there will be more veneering, there will be more bleaching” and “they will be better quality.”

This demonstrates that our desire and demand for better quality restorative dentistry has lead to this advancement in dentistry-technology. This technology “lasts longer, functions better, and looks better.”

From this interview, and after talking to my group about it, we began to explore the idea of a society evolved around aesthetics; a society that is trying to be look more natural through a means that is definitely not. However, we knew that a lot of people are against cosmetic procedures, and decided that in our own society, it was the wealthiest of the wealthy that didn’t undergo these procedures. Think Bill Gates, Gina Reinhart, Steve Jobs. They don’t wear designer clothes and flaunt their wealth in an attempt to “look rich,” instead, they look very natural.

This is what we based our Task 2 scenario on. In 2040 society will be divided into the wealthy class, and the rest of society would have merged into another class. In the lower class there would be a big focus on biotech, and aesthetic procedures. They would be undergoing these procedures in an attempt to “look” natural, like the wealthy class actually are.

All quotes are from my aunty.

Image References

Cerec milling unit c.2018, viewed 16 October 2018, <https://www.perezdentalgroup.com/cosmetic-treatments/cerec/>.

Full smile makeover 2013, viewed 16 October 2018, <https://www.dayodental.com/get-a-zirconia-smile-in-mexico/>.