The Futures Archive S2E6: The Bug Zapper

Note: This episode addresses topics notably sensitive in gentle of this week’s school shooting in Texas. While Design Observer has by no means shied away from difficult conversations, the editors acknowledge that this content could also be difficult for some listeners. Content Warning: Violence, killing, and death are discussed on this episode. It would be exhausting to find someone who desires to share space with a mosquito. Hence, the creation of the bug zapper. But as designers, how do we handle what lives and what doesn’t? On this episode of The Futures Archive Lee Moreau and Sloan Leo go deep on how human-centered design doesn’t at all times mirror humanity. With extra insights from David MacNeal, Juliano Morimoto, Spee Kosloff, Paula Antonelli, and Lindsay Garcia. There may be a necessity for pest control humans to exert their authority, however there can be a need for Zap Zone Defender us to exert our love. The thing that I hope we hold area for is: This is all observe as a result of it’s not going to be resolved, Zap Zone Defender USA and it shouldn’t be.



That might create some sort of stagnancy. Life is definitely about holding area for dynamism, changes and cycles. Lee Moreau is President of Other Tomorrows, a design and innovation consultancy based in Boston, and a Professor of Practice in Design at Northeastern University. Sloan Leo (they/he) is a Community Design theorist, educator, and practitioner. They're the founder of FLOX Studio, a community design and strategy studio. David MacNeal is a author and the writer of Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them. Dr. Juliano Morimoto is an entomologist and lecturer at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Spee Kosloff is an associate professor of psychology at California State University in Fresno and co-author of "Killing Begets Killing: Evidence From a Bug-Killing Paradigm That Initial Killing Fuels Subsequent Killing". Paola Antonelli is an creator, architect, and the Senior Curator within the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, in addition to MoMA’s founding director of Research and Development.



Lindsay Garcia is an artist, scholar, and an assistant dean at Brown University. Kathleen Fu created the illustrations for every episode. A giant thanks to this season’s sponsor, Automattic. Hi, everyone, that is Lee. Every week is just a little different on this present. And this week, whereas we’re still speaking about design, we’re going to be speaking about some pretty critical issues. And so I need to ensure that everyone who’s listening is conscious of that is in a good place when they’re listening. And i encourage you to check our present notes previous to listening to the episode so that you perceive the context of what we’re speaking about and prepare ourselves a bit. Beyond that, I welcome you to the dialog and i hope you find this dialog as powerful as it was for us. And that i thanks for listening. Welcome to The Futures Archive, a present about human centered design where this season, we’ll take an object, look for the human at the center and keep asking questions.



… and I'm Sloan Leo. On every episode we’re going to start out with an object with energy. Today the object is the bug zapper. We’ll look at the historical past of that object from our perspective, as designers who’ve accomplished work in human centered design. Not just the way it seems to be and feels and sounds and smells, but additionally the connection between that object and the folks it was designed for… … and with different humans too. The Futures Archive is dropped at you by the design group at Automattic. Later on, we’ll hear from Vanessa Riley Thurman, Zap Zone Defender USA a member of Automattic’s Designer Experience Team. Sloan Leo, it’s great to see you again. Thanks for becoming a member of us. Lee, it's a thrill to be here. So I’m wondering-for this explicit episode, I’m questioning if you might inform me a little bit about your history as a child with bugs and insects. Where you this form of like, like child that like cherished the creepy crawly stuff?