Design is about community
As humans we live in a natural world filled with design. Thinking about the flowers we see, the insects that often annoys us, the trees etc. there is just so many mechanisms that promote the agendas of many different systems.
Now thinking of the world where people live, there is so much design in regards to where we operate, from the roads we drive to the phones we use, to the clothes we wear etc. Much of the design we experience is often lost in the endless stream of data that our eyes fail to assimilate, for reasons of efficiency and because frankly if we were conscious of how everything works and how things operate then we would go mad.
From the perspective of designers this becomes a problem, because they becomes obsessed to detail and are conscious of design and they also go a mile deeper by analyzing the why. Now in a world that seems filled with “perfect” design, designers become perfectionists and grow to emulate the “perfectionism” that is in the everyday both in the man-made and natural designs.
But is the world filled with perfect design?
Are cars perfect machines that are “perfectly efficient” in our use of transportation? Are government systems, banking system, transportation systems, energy systems, telecommunication systems perfect design? No they are not, sometimes the idea that they convey is what keeps people in line with that design system. In other words every man-made design will certainly have its flaws but people make the best of it. For even the most lunatic ideas have become reality with flawed designs. For example in a period of 75 years technology changed from horse drawn carriages to putting a man in the moon (with a computer system less advanced than a modern phone).
An idea serves to be some kind of atmosphere to every design, that engulfs it towards creating a positive effect on a specific agenda. In a world where everything barely works, design is about ultimately making existence a little less difficult.
Now I want to apply this train of thought specifically on cryptocurrencies.
What is the idea behind cryptocurrencies? Now for many people it might be becoming wealthy and just making some kind of profit. But beyond this quest for money, there is an idea about the future that is the principal reason that cryptocurrencies interest me. There is a sense of community, there is something beyond the technological aspect and it’s the idea than many economists and developers seem to overlook. Yes the technology is more than a bit raw since it’s relatively recent birth, this coupled with the utter disapproval and misunderstanding of many economists and well respected innovators regarding the purpose seems to spill mud on the entire concept. Even after major setbacks the idea that such blockchain systems have been actually created and used shows the power of the community.
In the wreckage of this emerging technology there is an idea that should be respected. The idea of freedom, the idea that the institutions that are often greedy can be ignored and though the technology is more than lacking in stability or even in infrastructure, the idea behind it is more powerful than it’s flaws. Moreover with all the flaws of the systems, the systems seems to work decently.
Cryptocurrency is about creating a new economic system for the people by the people. Innovation is not about a perfect design but is about an idea that could change something for the better and is backed by a community. Hopefully the technology will be improved in the future to better suit the power and the beauty of the idea.
