Airports and typefaces
Houses and parks
Roads and cars
Shops and pizzas
- Cities and hospitals
- Regions
- Countries
Hotels and doors
Lobbies and hairstyles
...we shape forests...
...landscapes...
the sea...
Not just the physical, measurable, weighable, countable things, and what we do with them, but
- Human science
- Natural science
- Different forms of language
- (By extension) our thoughts and
- The expectations they build
...are formed by humans for humans. And unlike most of our physical artifacts, language, science, and thought are not things we own but share.
What about the Milky Way? The Milky Way is an image we generated based on data coming from machines we built and use based on what we think they should do. We made this image.
We can see the Milky Way without the help of machines.
But most of the time we don't because we shaped the night sky to hide the stars.
Depending on what we presume, even the Milky Way looks different, is different, means something different, appears in a different shape. We can see it as out there, or we can see ourselves in the middle of it, or we can see it as Gods, or animals, or both:
We don’t experience the world as it is; we experience it through layers of thought, language, and the expectations they create, through intention or neglect, goodwill and ill will.
We built and live in cities that look like a hellscape made of concrete.
With dark alleys.
Tight rooms with low ceilings.
We built barriers against skating, cycling, having fun.
We build cages so homeless people stay cold.
We bar corners so no one can sit or stand there.
We built roofs with gaps so people without a roof can't sleep under them.
We segmented benches so those who do not have beds cannot get a rest.
We spike sills to tell people to go away.
We build playgrounds that look like prisons.
In our classrooms kids are trained to sit still, listen and repeat. We prepare them not to imagine a different, nicer life, but a life full of never-ending meetings and PowerPoint presentations.
We build schools like prisons.
We shape a society focused on rules and surveillance and punishment.
We watch stupid TV shows that portray mere popularity as something we need to "keep up with."
We kill our time watching superhero franchises that keep telling the same stories with the same heroes with the same actors.
We get flooded with stupid music that misplaces shock as depth.
We exhaust ourselves with social media nonsense.
We design, build and buy products that break, frustrate, and disappoint.
We create, install and use bacteria-distributing jet engines.
We keep up with the Kardashians and planet-destroying food systems that no one likes and no one would ever create if you asked them.
So, yes, everything is designed, and that's great, but why are we all doing such a bad job? Why, in a world where design is everywhere, is so much of it such utter trash? And why do we not improve, but often make things worse?
Businesses? People, we work in businesses. The rich who own businesses? They do shape their businesses, they do shape politics and society more than average people...
Technology? Do we have too much technology? Or too little? Will better technology, will AGI, save us from ourselves?
But since everything is designed, aren't the designers the problem?
Famously, Corbusier built a house with a roof that didn't hold what it promised and when its owner complained that raindrops were falling on their bed, the architect said: "Then move your bed."
It's everybody's fault, since everybody designed this world.
We build, sell and buy all this crap. It is there because we all create and want it. And if we look in the mirror, we know that we are all guilty.
Every pupil knows this. Practically every pupil's paper on any social or moral problem ends with "Let's start with ourselves." And if, as a pupil, you want a good grade, you won't say we should all rebel against stupid rules but follow the rules: do our homework, help mom, eat and sleep, and do as we're told.
If we want to improve, we need to obey less. We need to revolt more.
There is one fundamental difference between pupils and grown-ups. Pupils have little influence. Grown-ups do. We work. Our work is the primary way we shape this planet.
We could change what we influence, we could change the way we work, but usually we don't. We tell ourselves that we can't make a difference.
The truth is that we could make a change, but we don't really know how because, in a non-trivial way, we lack both the imagination to imagine how exactly things could be different. We even lack the courage to imagine how things could be different, because we are too scared to be seen as stupid, foolish, different, crazy nuts, insane.
We prefer to be normal not because normal is better but because normal is more convenient.
We all know this app. It's called Word. Supposedly, it's made for writing. In reality almost everything it does is against writing.
It is very unpleasant to write in it.
A forest of buttons, and, in the center, a white sheet of paper with a tiny blinking cursor. While most content today is read on screens of many sizes — mostly on mobile — Word still frames writing as placing text onto a fixed sheet of paper. Not metaphorically, but literally. Source: MyExcelOnline
What do you get? Content is framed as something destined for A4 or US Letter. This shifts the user’s focus toward how it will look in an outdated print format rather than how it will be read on modern devices. The text and cursor are small, optimized for layout precision instead of readability. And despite the dense interface, very few tools actually help improve the quality of the writing itself.
The model is omnipresent. The reason why all writing apps look the same is not just due to a lack of imagination. Everybody expects the paper-based MS Word model.
Word is modeled after what offices used to be. A place where you fill paper with words and then print and send and archive stacks of papers into files and cabinets.
And even though we have moved way past that type of work, it has shaped the office and made sure it doesn't evolve with time.
Microsoft Office was shaped after a prison and then it made sure that the prison stays a prison.
The Real Office, ca. 2001. MS Office is modeled after how the real office used to work. And at some point, in return, the real office became a bit like MS Office. (Source: Chilvrs and Loophole Magazine)
What You See is What You Get: Screenshot from an article that explains how to “Insert QuickTables in Word.” Doesn’t look very quick, but looks can deceive. Source: PCWorld
The problem is that they are built on an obsolete model.
Lars Tunbjörk, Office, 03: Food industry, Tokyo 1999 “The distinct visual style of Severance was inspired by Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk’s 2001 series Office, according to cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné.” Source: Chilvrs and Loophole Magazine
Severance. “At first, she hesitated to take on the project because of how dull and monotonous office spaces can be, but ultimately embraced it.” Chilvrs
From the get-go, Word was focused not on writing but on formatting.
The first change was adding colors.
Print was the goal.
Paper frames it.
Writing is boring. Let's add some fun.
Typography is cool, but we need more buttons and rulers!
Words are not enough. A picture says a thousand words.
More buttons for more control.
More color, more fun.
2007, paper on screens in a blue world.
With fun colors.
And more buttons.
Maybe we overdid the buttons. Let's reduce them, because now we have...
AI!
iA Writer in 2011: In reality this is all we need and not only does it suffice to just have words, it is more pleasant and focused to write with just words.
iA Writer in 2026
It's lighter, faster, more compatible, and future-proof.
AI loves Markdown.
Imagine not just your app with ChatGPT like everybody else does, but what happens when everyone uses AI...
What we need is something that helps us discern what we wrote and what we generated.
Build creepy things if you business is built on mass surveillance doesn't take much imagination.
Metaverse was a rehash of second life thought up by someone that famously lacks imagination. No-one wanted it.
Apple confirmed that they had completely run out of ideas, when they copied what no one ever wanted from the most unimaginative company in the word.
and it's not just lame IT projects that take an existing trend to an extreme, or rebuild and already failed product, practically every new song, new movie, and new book, every new app and every new product that hits the market lacks imagination. Not in a trivial way, but in a very profound one.
One reason why the world is going to hell is that there is more and more of the same and a gimping lack of courage to imagine it radically differently.
We could do better, but somehow we do not dare to even think about the world being different instead of more of the same. What kind of courage are we lacking?
Isn't it obvious how broken things are? Aren't we all mad about how broken things are? Why don't we, just do it then?
The courage to go beyond being mad. Going beyond being mad at something or someone, being mad about how broken things are. Getting mad enough to try to understand and accept why exactly things are broken, and getting mad enough to decide to fix them.
We lack the courage to be mad at ourselves for not doing something. Mad enough to accept the responsibility to fix what we can and should fix. The kind of madness that doesn’t just blame and complain. The kind of madness that tries to understand in spite of being mad, that wildly imagines—and then carefully tries to make—something better.
What if it turns out that we won't be understood, that we fail, that we were indeed crazy?
The good news is that we don't need to convince everybody. We don't need to change the whole world at once. We just need to find enough people that share our views, and are willing to be crazy together.
We just need to find enough people that make it possible to continue doing things differently.