Reading Response #7

to Artful Design Chapter 7

Reading Response: Social Design

From this week’s reading, I’d like to respond to principal 7.12, “Not everything worthwhile is a problem to be solved”.  Ge states, “As society grapples with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, it is perhaps too easy to frame everything as another problem to be solved…”. I think this idea is extremely prevalent in parts of society today, especially in places like Silicon Valley and Stanford. There is this general atmosphere that we always need to be solving problems, moving our career forward, and being always productive. Spending time on things like Art, Music, or Games is simply not celebrated at the level of these ideas of constant progress. The other day I played some guitar with a buddy of mine. It was incredibly fulfilling as I usually find making music with others to be, yet in no way or at any point did it feel like a problem needing to be solved. It was an ends in itself and that was more than enough for me to feel my time was worthwhile. One thing I have really appreciated about this class so far is Ge’s relentless emphasis on the importance and value of things that are, by the Silicon Valley and sometimes Stanford perspective, useless. I find myself putting more work into my Sequencer, an inherently useless piece of software in the sense of solving problems, than my other classes that are teaching practical computer science concepts. Yet in no way do I feel that I am doing things wrong. Principle 7.12 speaks to a broader need for balance among work and play/art. In a place like Stanford, where the pressure to innovate and excel is immense, it's easy for the values of simply living, enjoying art, music, and the company of friends, to get buried under the values of productivity and career success. I would argue that these worthwhile non-problem-based experiences influence and shape our lives in more impactful ways than our academic pursuits, as they are inherently based on who we are as people instead of what we want to do. One is internal and deeply tied to our sense of self while the other is more external and could even be tied to what we want others to see of us. The idea behind principle 7.12 is one that I wish to spread and share with anyone I interact with because there is no question the world could think a little more along these lines sometimes.