Response to Speculative Everything

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby’s discussion of individualism, cease of dreaming, and the possibilities that speculation allows for made me reflect immensely on my choices and actions. Initially when I read it, I felt very desolated and upset as I came to realize how much of it is actually true. Dreams have in reality become hopes and slowly those hopes are becoming less and less too. There are countless problems within our society, so much to fix, and with that comes less time to dream. When an economic crisis, forrest fires, climate change, water crises, and a global pandemic is just a few of our problems in the world, the idea of achieving a dream becomes so distant.

In times like this, the only thing we can attempt to control and hold power over is our own ability to speculate, design, and hope. If we focus on design, particularly speculative design, perhaps we can curate a version of the world that is more desirable to us. Visions can only come true if we work towards them and design is our tool to get there. Our imagination has much more power than we think. If we use it to broaden our designing horizons, we open up doors for further ideas to generate. I think it is important to note the part where the authors discuss society’s move towards individualism. Imagination of an individual has power to change and transform, but if we as a society choose to collaborate more, then the chances of our hopes to become approachable dreams is much greater.