1Production
For thousands of years humans have visually expressed their perception of the world and their imagination of possible worlds. Already prehistoric cave paintings from the Paleolithic age show the human perception of familial organization and hunting scenes, as well as their imagination of possible shelter decorations for ritual and religious contexts (Wildgen 2004). Since then, humans have visually re-perceived and re-imagined their familial organization, hunting scenes and shelters again and again (Michl 2002, Jonas 2007). Today we live in an age of globalized familial organization, industrialized hunting scenes and smart shelters as well as of mobile communication, automated mobility and so forth. Whether prehistoric or modern, what all these activities have in common, is the usage of the same methodology to shape the environment and self. The perception and analysis of the existing and the imagination and communication of the possible is what we call design. In its general meaning, design is therefore the planned, conscious and aim-oriented visualization of human perceptions and imaginations.
Whether it is a cave painting of shelter decorations, an organizational chart of a large cooperation, a system map of food distribution, the architectural drawing of a building or the construction plan of a nuclear bomb, design is the mental and visual search for how something could be. It is an exploration of the space of imaginable possibilities. Such exploration is an activity, to design, that produces an outcome, a design. The activity, to design, is a mental and social process in which humans try to make sense of the existing, the historically developed, and on that basis imagine and visualize the possible. Through visualization, imagination can be communicated and therefore becomes discussible in diverse social contexts such as between stakeholders, citizens or family members. The outcome of design, a design, is the visualization of the imagined such as a building construction plan or prototype, and the reality that emerges out of a design such as the actual building. Therefore most humans, prehistoric and modern, are born into a humanly designed reality, and due to their imagination have the ability to design.
Though, what someone imagines during the activity of designing does not yet exist in the present and rather in the imagination of possible futures (Tonkinwise 2015). It is part of the experience of freedom that the future is perceived as open, as futures, and shapeable through present actions and decisions (Bieri 2003). But such kind of experience is only possible due to the ability of imagination. Without it, one could not design its environment and self, and life would be much more structurally determined by instincts. Designing, can therefore be seen as the activity which made and still makes primates into humans (Jonas 2007). So it is not only the ability of imagination that differentiates humans from other animals, it is the ability that humans started to design their environment according to their needs (Arendt 2012). Due to no or a less developed ability of imagination many other animals do not design or at least to a lesser extent. As far as we know only humans are able to consciously imagine and produce possible realities. Though, certain birds such as parrots are able to socially interact and through these interactions produce novel melodies (Maturana & Varela 2009). These unique creations are produced realities that did not exist before, and could therefore be considered as a form of animalistic design.
The activity of imagining and visualizing possible futures can only be observed in human design activities. It is the act of bringing something imagined to the present reality, by giving it a perceivable and discussible form before its development, what distinguishes humans from other animals. Such ability makes development possible. The outcomes of such design are the designed realities that humans inhabit, the realities in which communication is mobile and housing smart. Though, depending on the system the design addresses, its influenceable world differs in scale. Whether design addresses planetary scales, societies, political or economic systems, organizations or individuals, its outcomes have widely different effects on the production of future realities. Though most complex systems are not designable as such and their formation is based on many small designed interventions. But whatever system design addresses, humans and other living systems have to live with designed realities and their causal effects. Thus, all humans are embedded in the product of their own species space of imagination. Humans are not passive actors, instead everyone designs its influenceable world according to individual and collective beliefs and out of the perspective of prior designs (Simon 1990). As a result, design projects and subjects possibilities (Von Borries 2016; Braun-Feldweg 1954). It projects possibilities into the future and subjects the further projection of possibilities through the designed conditions that a human experiences. That is what makes the ability to design so powerful and similarly problematic and dangerous. It enables humans to intentionally intervene in the structural determination of living systems, the instinctive forms of behavior. Though, such interventions also unintentionally determine the imaginable possibilities of following interventions. This has large scale effects on the human self and its environment, because the long term and complex causal effects of designed interventions often remain unforeseeable.