Assignment 1/ Handin; Theory Construction

The following essay is a personal reflection into the concept of Theory-based Design. As a Digital Media Design student at Victoria University, the following report investigates, how theory relates to the field of design, and why is it important to the designers, those specifically driven by technology and its development.

Firstly, a theory can be defined as a set of statements devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about phenomena. To coherently understand this concept of a theory, I have looked into a pre-existing theory, which is commonly considered within the discipline of Digital Media Design.

The theory of ‘The Singularity’ is of particular interest to me. ‘The Singularity’, as it is often called, refers to ‘The Technological Singularity,’ as put forward by scientists and futurists such as Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil. Borrowing a term from physics, singularity suggests a horizon beyond which we can’t see. It has been described as the point at which some form of intelligence spawned by technology gains the ability to rapidly improve its own programming — becoming so powerful that we cannot predict what it might do. At that point, its capabilities could exceed even the power of our imaginations. According to telegraph.co.uk, just before Sir Isaac Newton died, he described how humbled he felt by the thought that he had glimpsed only a fraction of the potential of the great scientific revolution he had helped to launch: It is apparent to me and those living and consuming within the 21^st century, that the theory of singularity is not in any way an antonym of “fact”. Since recently computer capacity doubles every two years or so, we expect that in about 40 years, the computers will be as powerful as human brains. And two years after that, they will be twice as powerful, etc. By and large I do agree with the theory of  “the singularity”, although it is my personal opinion that, scientists such as Vinge, and Kurweil have overestimated the rapidity of the speed and rate of technological advancement. I assume it is more probable than not that; technology will develop at half the rate previously speculated, i.e. 2040 = 2080

The theory of “Singularity” is extremely important to designers of today. I see the “Singularity” as a methodology to approach and analyze, which in-turn enables designers to forecast and interpret the possible technologies of tomorrow. By calculating the rate of

“Singularity”, allow designers to conceptualize more innovative design possibilities for the future. These technologies will change how we live our lives in the coming decades. Cars that drive themselves, lab-grown human organs, 3D television, robots that can perform household tasks, eye glasses that double as home-entertainment centers, the exploitation of genes that alter human ageing and the possibility of invisibility and forms of teleportation.

Science fiction movies illuminate the possibilities of technology-driven design. An example of this is the movie Minority Report, released in 2002 and envisioning the future UI where Tom Cruise could drag objects across the screen and manipulate them in all kinds of ways, or “push” them aside to bring up something new. Does the concept of a manipulative screen seem relatively familiar? Does the recently released “apple iPhone” incorporate all these UI features as mentioned above on a far conventional scale? The “apple iphone” is an example of innovative design made possible by the technologies it incorporates.

I feel honored to live, within this universal phase of human and technological development. It is only a matter of time till each design has the possibility to achieves its technological solution, and thus be bought into the reality of the 21^st century. The “Theory of Singularity” will change and redefine how we look at life, our values, our interests and how we interact with each other and the physical environment. Ultimately it has the possibility to affect and influence any and every aspect of humanity, no matter how big or small. 

Reference

Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and methods, Friedman, Ken; Retrieved 11 July 2008.

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/watdes.html, what is design? Retrieved 10 July 2008.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk, Retrieved 11 July 2008.

http://www.aleph.se, The Coming Technological Singularity: How to survive in the Post-Human Era, Eder, Dani; Retrieved 12 July 2008.

http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Singularity/sing.txt, Technological Singularity, Vinge, Vernor; Retrieved 12 July 2008.

http://www.notjustatheory.com, Evolution is Not Just a Theory, Retrieved 14 July 2008.

http://www.singularity.org/, Technology reaches towards…Singularity, Retrieved 14 July 2008.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory, Theory – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Retrieved 14 July 2008.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Scientific Theory, Scientific Theory  – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Retrieved 14 July 2008.

http://www.sfgate.com, Smarter than thou? Abate, Tom; Chronicle Staff Writer, Retrieved 15 July 2008.

http://sss.stanford.edu/, The Singularity Summit at Stanford, Retrieved 15 July 2008.