Reading Response #2

to Artful Design • Chapter 2: “Designing Expressive Toys”

Oluseyi O.

10/8/2023

Music 256A / CS476a, Stanford University

Reading Response: The Purpose of Technology

From this week’s reading, I’d like to respond to Artful Design Principle 2.6, which states “Technology Should Create Calm”.

I find this to be a striking sentiment and statement on the purpose of technology, if only because of how frequently it feels as if people create technologies that do quite the opposite of creating calm. A major part of this discussion is the intent with which a technology is designed vs. how that technology actually ends up being used. Should technology be designed to make calm, or should it be used to make calm? What is ultimately more important? Maybe that’s a moot question and the obvious answer is both, but I’m conditioned or more inclined to believe that the latter is more important. However, it definitely goes without saying that it is easier to create calm with something that was designed from a fundamental level to make calm. I don’t think it would be as easy to create calm with technology designed to harm such as a gun as opposed to a musical instrument.

Bringing up lethal technology such as a weapon leads to a philosophy I find interesting. I’ve heard it stated before that war and conflict breed innovation in technologies, such as advances in aviation and radar technologies. These technologies were not designed with the intention to create calm, though there is a dark argument that could be made that bringing a war or conflict to a swift solution with superior technology could create calm. Still, I would believe that the primary purpose of them was to cause harm at the time, even if that harm was believed to have been for a greater good. Ultimately, though, it could be said that with the direction of these technologies post war, they have been able to shift more into technologies that have created calm, even if that was not the original intent. Air travel allowing us to visit distant places, loved ones, and friends certainly are an example of technology creating calm. Even though these technologies were not initially designed to create calm, people have ended up finding ways to use them to do so. I think there’s something beautiful about that sentiment; of being able to utilize something not designed to create calm. It’s perhaps for that reason I lean more to the inclination that it is ultimately more important that we find usages for technology to create calm, even when we aren’t designing for it. Of course, a world without war and conflict shouldn’t equal a world where technological innovation and progress stops. Instead, we should then turn our attention towards making a world where we all flourish as you’ve stated in class.