The spaces where we once gathered to imagine alternatives have been systematically dismantled. Empty buildings sit locked while communities search for places to meet. The architecture of possibility must be constructed and we have work to do.
What is critical design and can it provide the lead for better sensemaking? We explore how critical design as cultural cartography makes visible the social relations that commercial design naturalizes, creating entry points into complex discussions about values, power, and futures.
Listen, there are two realities that we should be aware of. AI exists to make your job obsolete because the alternative is that AI makes managers obsolete. Let me try to break down this theory, which is very simple in its premise: those who control the technology will never allow
Today's design leader holds an impossible position, performing care work within extractive systems that optimize for engagement over well-being. This cannot be resolved through better processes or ethical frameworks; it should be a condition within which design's potential emerges.
Curiously, art gravitates toward questioning and dissent because art's essential function is to make the familiar strange, revealing the contingency hiding beneath what appears natural and inevitable. This is why radical art like Picasso's Guernica retains its urgent vitality across decades.
Substack's latest steps illustrate a predictable trend for venture-backed platforms. Migrating from Substack to Ghost despite the real costs demonstrates a refusal to adhere to platform discipline. Writers must choose between optimizing for audience size and keeping ownership of their work.
Fragments of care and responsible design
A professional journey from craft to commodity
When half of the public believes your technology is the problem
Narratives of contrasting but converging approaches
Designing while the red light keeps flashing
How tech workers can prefigure economic democracy
tech workers
And the deskilling of knowledge workers
Newsletter
Asimov's warning was not taken seriously...
Newsletter
Welcome to the tenth edition of "Three Signals to the Future", a newsletter where I share resources that I find useful and thought-provoking. Let's dive into the latest discoveries.
attention economy
How technology monetizes the allure of and need for human connection
design
Call to action: Reimagining business in an age of technological abundance & artificial scarcity!
innovation
Why Silicon Valley can dream up artificial general intelligence but not universal healthcare?
metacrisis
Bureaucrats chase Silicon Valley's shadow while real crises unfold all around us
labor
Performance fetishization leads to burnout, dehumanization, and the emergence of what some call technofeudalism. A critical analysis on performance metrics and AI systems
cultural sameness
Welcome to the ninth edition of "Three Signals to the Future", a newsletter where I share resources that I find useful and thought-provoking. Let's dive into the latest discoveries.
design
On design workers and corporate greed
care
Welcome to the eighth edition of "Three Signals to the Future", a newsletter where I share resources that I find useful and thought-provoking. Let's dive into the latest discoveries.
Newsletter
Welcome to the seventh edition of "Three Signals to the Future", a newsletter where I share resources that I find useful and thought-provoking. Let's dive into the latest discoveries.