Cultural Design

= as proposed by Joe Brewer

Description

Danilo Oliveira Vaz:

"n order for us no longer be the victims of unintentional evolutionary-cultural processes and have the certainty of life in harmony for ourselves and for future generations, we must take the reins of these processes and guide them with scientific rigor and according to solid foundations of coexistence and sustainability. This is what claims Cultural Design, an emerging field of interdisciplinary studies interested in the application of design principles for the intentional evolution of cultural elements. “Just as we find ourselves in greatest need, a new capacity can be brought into existence that enables us to shape the evolution of cultural systems at the local, regional, and planetary scales. This capacity is nascent across many knowledge domains. It will require a grand synthesis of many different fields that have been siloed in the past. I call this transdisciplinary synthesis ‘culture design’. “

As previously mentioned, the already established field of Cultural Evolution seeks to integrate the Theory of Evolution with the studies done by the Social Sciences in order to understand the change of social phenomena over time. Within this context, the field of Cultural Design presents itself as a scientific area interested in applying the findings of Cultural Evolution. If we return to the discussion of feedback processes between creation and creator, we can think of this as an effort that seeks to 1) raise awareness of the effects of cultural design on its “users” and 2) intentionally modify design choices in order to achieve results desired by these same “users”.

Complexity scientist and change strategist Joe Brewer have led the efforts in this field, and alongside strategic partners, he has taken important steps towards its de facto creation. Joe’s academic qualifications and professional experiences justify his decision to dedicate his life to such a difficult — but extremely necessary — task.

“Joe has a unique background in physics, math, philosophy, atmospheric science, complexity research, and cognitive linguistics. More than a decade ago, he left the academy to trail blaze a path for other research practitioners to follow. Awakened to the threat of human-induced climate disruption while pursuing a Ph.D. in atmospheric science, he has switched fields and began to work with scholars in the behavioral and cognitive sciences with the hope of helping to create large-scale behavior change at the level of global civilization. “

During the last few years the scientist has built solid foundations for the creation of the field of Cultural Design. These are represented in the numerous projects and partnerships created with institutions and research centers focused on the great human issues. And Joe is now very close to officializing the creation of the field and its infrastructure in partnership with a renowned US research center. But before we talk about that, it is important to clarify what is, in fact, the field of Cultural Design.

It is understandable that the idea of ​​intentional design of cultural processes may cause fear in some readers. After all, wouldn’t this be the same as imposing ways of behaving in a population? No! It is important to clarify this point to understand the real potential of the field explored in this text. A quick historical reflection shows that cultural impositions that restrict a people’s freedom and self-determination have one overarching feature in common: they happen from top to bottom. In other words, they are imposed by a group that holds a greater determined power (warlike, economic, etc.) over a group of lesser power. This was true for the conquests of the Roman Empire, for the colonization of the Americas and Africa, and for the recent neoliberal wave. Quite different from that, what the field of Cultural Design proposes is an active approach to evolutionary-cultural processes through bottom-up dynamics. Rather than passively and unconsciously receive the cultural elements imposed on themselves, people and communities would be equipped with the knowledge and techniques of the field to determine for themselves which cultural elements should be fostered in future evolutionary processes. Most importantly, such groups would act in a manner that ensures that those goals are achieved.

If we think about it, this is already true when we think of the organizations and institutions that today play an important role in the design of cultural elements. As for example, the various marketing and public relations departments of companies, different NGOs fighting for a cause, or groups of members of civil society that organize around local causes. However, these groups rarely collaborate with one another on systemic efforts, such as combating the depletion of a region’s natural resources. In addition, such actions in silos lack a rigorous approach to the determination of their effects (desirable and undesirable) and a theoretical line that makes sense. And it is precisely these points that the field of Cultural Design aims to improve.

“One way to think about the current prediction is that humanity has been gradually cultivating the capacity for culture for more than a century — through our efforts to craft social policies, use advertising to shape consumer behavior, deploy military and financial resources to gain power and create market economies, and so on. What we have not done well is to apply these skills for the betterment of everyone. “

By using the current technological resources at our disposal to empower groups and communities that wish to evolve their cultural elements in an active way, Cultural Design intends to establish the necessary connections between the different areas of scientific knowledge.

In more details:

“The keystone pillars of this field — which comprises hundreds of existing domains of research and practice — are complex research, cognitive science, and cultural evolution. ~ complexity research looks at the interactions among many parts that give rise to novelty in physical, biological and social systems. It includes topics like the study of tipping points, feedback loops, rules of local interaction, emergence of global behaviors, dynamic attractors, and so forth. ~ cognitive science brings together all that is known about human thought and behavior. It looks at the neural processing of language, how emotions shape reasoning, why the body and brain interact in profound and subtle ways that give rise to the making of meaning, and much more. ~ cultural evolution is the application of evolutionary principles to the emergence of fitness criteria for idea propagation. It looks at the spread of ideas and emergence of new cultural traits in social systems at the interpersonal and institutional scales. Taken together, these knowledge domains enable designers to engage in the many practices of “applied memetics” — uncovering the patterns of social change that arise when ideas and behaviors spread across social systems. The skills of this craft include creation of viral media events, shaping of cultural mythologies, crafting of social policies, diffusing innovations of both technical and social nature, and the host of social analytics for monitoring and shaping the process throughout. “ It looks at the spread of ideas and emergence of new cultural traits in social systems at the interpersonal and institutional scales. Taken together, these knowledge domains enable designers to engage in the many practices of “applied memetics” — uncovering the patterns of social change that arise when ideas and behaviors spread across social systems. The skills of this craft include creation of viral media events, shaping of cultural mythologies, crafting of social policies, diffusing innovations of both technical and social nature, and the host of social analytics for monitoring and shaping the process throughout. “ It looks at the spread of ideas and emergence of new cultural traits in social systems at the interpersonal and institutional scales. Taken together, these knowledge domains enable designers to engage in the many practices of “applied memetics” — uncovering the patterns of social change that arise when ideas and behaviors spread across social systems. The skills of this craft include creation of viral media events, shaping of cultural mythologies, crafting of social policies, diffusing innovations of both technical and social nature, and the host of social analytics for monitoring and shaping the process throughout. “ these knowledge domains enable designers to engage in the many practices of “applied memetics” — uncovering the patterns of social change that arise when ideas and behaviors spread across social systems. The skills of this craft include creation of viral media events, shaping of cultural mythologies, crafting of social policies, diffusing innovations of both technical and social nature, and the host of social analytics for monitoring and shaping the process throughout. “ these knowledge domains enable designers to engage in the many practices of “applied memetics” — uncovering the patterns of social change that arise when ideas and behaviors spread across social systems. The skills of this craft include creation of viral media events, shaping of cultural mythologies, crafting of social policies, diffusing innovations of both technical and social nature, and the host of social analytics for monitoring and shaping the process throughout. “

In this way, Cultural Design would serve as a source of scientific knowledge (practical and theoretical) for groups of people working towards sustainable social change and seeking an interdisciplinary and robust approach to the implementation, evaluation and iteration of their practices. In a more practical way, the field would act as a data driven social science that makes use of technological data acquisition resources to guide collective actions in different areas, from the management of natural resources to the study of the basic elements that determine certain human behaviors." (https://medium.com/@joe_brewer/cultural-design-the-scientific-field-needed-for-the-21st-century-b1e2ff546245)