iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

And honestly, it was this moment that made me suspicious of the USA as a nation throughout my entire childhood and life, and in fact, pretty much any western nation state and the entire idea of nationalism.

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It's a bit weird to be meeting more and more young people that have zero recollection of this actually happening. As in, real memories, not just seeing it through recordings or reading about it in books or on Wikipedia, or hearing it from someone older that's been alive back then.

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Saw the towers fall through the TV as a kid. Didn't like that show much. Not exactly the best intro for entering school.

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Gotta give all the past designer's credit for effort though. Like, dang, this is peak coat of arms. I think you can't go much bigger than this.

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Stumbled upon this gem from history a while ago. Screaming NOTHING BIG WORKS in my sleep... From a today's perspective, you could think this is AI generated, or straight outta Warhammer, I swear. It be real tho. I mean, this is where the inspiration comes from. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of...

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Hoffen kannst und solltest eh trotzdem. Kostet zum Glück nix zu hoffen. Stirbt bekanntlich zuletzt, selbst wennst immer wieder enttäuscht wirst.

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Ich mein ja es müsst eigentlich nicht erst schlimmer werden bevor es besser wird. Gibt grade heutzutage genügend Möglichkeiten sich vorher schon über Auswirkungen von gewissen Handlungen zu informieren etc. (dem zu viel verfügbaren Wissen sei Dank) Regierungen bestehen meist noch aus Menschen.

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"Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change" Menschen sind leider sehr 'business as usual' bis irgendwas schlimmes passiert.

Gibts auch sonst in vielen Mythologien der Welt. Meine beste Erklärung warum das so häufig vorkommt. Dass man da heute gleich mal auf "könnte nur KI oder anders fake sein" denkt leuchtet ein. Aber die Geschichten und Mythen gibts schon viel länger, also wird irgendwas wahres wohl dran sein.

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Da kommen wahrscheinlich diese Schildkrötenmythen vieler Native Americans her.

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There's a chapter about cultural synthesis towards the end of Paolo Freire's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed' btw.

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It's a coincidence perhaps that my own lifetime so far falls into this roughly 30 year period. And from what I can remember ever since when most people were talking about media or tech, this relational aspect was usually more of what they cared about.

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Particularly when you think of any sort of discussions around cultural media (games, movies, novels, etc.), this is basically why things like representation of diverse genders, people with disabilities and so on have come more to the forefront. Making media per se isn't that hard anymore.

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"All design is goal-oriented play. Only our questions change. We no longer ask, 'How does it look?' or How does it work?' we are more interested now in the answer to, 'How does it relate?'" That was in the mid-1990s when he wrote that first. But it kinda still holds true.

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It's in Papanek's 'The Green Imperative' btw, where, after having read Homo Ludens and Flow amongst other things, that he starts the book with:

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Yet what would you do if you ended up there anyway? Likely get up and get moving again. Or you change your course before that to end up elsewhere.

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Heck, even your last sentence alludes to this. "...we just end up in brackish waters without motion" As if we move and would end up somewhere (which is of course, always true with any sort of movement and change, one constant throughout all of history and existence).

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Cultural synthesis though is one of the goals. It simply keeps starting fresh once it's been achieved. In case you haven't ever read Huizinga's Homo Ludens, that's basically the description for the origins of human culture, and all the cultural movements that follow and influence one another.

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Probably, but I'd say that depends a whole lot on the specifics of the ideas expressed by those people, and the relative media influence they have. The paradox of freedom to express oneself always comes with the responsibility not to use that for e.g. inciting real hatred or violence.

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Oh I'm fully with you and with meritt's writing when it comes to expressing the frustration. The feelings and emotions need to go somewhere in any case, even if it is just writing a post that's seen as overtly cynycal by others. That's at least honest rather than keeping those emotions pent up.

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And if you think that the world is oh so much better today in the 21st century, you need not look far from home into the psychiatric asylums, the migrant camps, the prisons, or the educational system, and you'll find plenty of violations going on. (I experienced several myself, and I know of dozens)

Particularly in times of resurgent right-wing extremism neo-Nazism, antisemitism, fascism, etc., it's perhaps a good reminder that a whole lot of past atrocities were able to get commited precisely BECAUSE of the way too large bureaucracies that hid these paper trails that led to people's doom.

And speaking of administrative power in particular, a whole lot of that to be quite frank, is potentially harmful to not just individual people (my opinion anyway), but larger parts of humanity. Historical examples of administrative abuse (knowingly or unknowingly) abound.

Double empathy problem - Wikipedia

When it comes to any of the more recent findings of social behaviour of neurodivergent people, much research suggests that a whole lot of the struggles (actual or perceived) might've just been based on wrong assumptions and decades of biased research. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_...

en.wikipedia.org

Being aware of any power imbalance (which exists even in any everyday interaction) helps to recognize existing issues, but it unfortunately doesn't necessarily lead to reconciling the imbalance of power so often inherent in any system. Those in power often simply don't like ceiding it.

That has been my go to strategy for life since forever (with pretty much the same reasoning behind it). Human social behaviour though, particular inside larger dynamic social groupings and institutions is immensely complex and quite frankly, always up to interpretation.

NOTHING. BIG. WORKS. (without causing ever more problems)

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Alfred Reinold Baudisch @alfredbaudisch.com · 28/08/2026

Neurodivergent dilemma. You tell people you're different, they might treat you shittier for it. You don't tell people you're different, they might also treat you shittier, and then go "but why didn't you tell us sooner?" Funniest part, you gotta do this with every new person you meet in your life.

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Reposted by Erin List

Imagine Aseprite or another #pixelart program inside Blender? Pixel Perfect Pixel Art drawing and texture painting on top of the model in the 3D viewport and in 2D. Drawing, painting, selection tools, layers, texel density (pixel size) setup and density zones (multiple pixel sizes). #blender3d

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Steht auch was zu Gewalt in Videospielen drin, und ein paar lustige Verweise auf Simone Weil's Philosophie aus Krieg und Gewalt sowie Otl Aicher's analog und digital.

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Plus, I'm myself in an odd spot of having been born in the 1990s, raised by a mixture of people from generations prior, having gone to several schools, a weird assortment of on the job skill acquisitions and practice, yet living in a country with a culture where much of that seems irrelevant.

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So yeah, I get the increasing frustration expressed by many young people who have a hard time finding their place when the world they've been sold by their elders turned out to have been a lie once they got there. I sympathize (even though I don't agree with everything).

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Yet many companies and universities are not keeping up pace fast enough with these ever faster changing realities due to their often obnoxiously huge sizes and old structures, and quite frankly seniors that don't wanna change existing systems they benefit from, even if they should.

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You can really teach just about most people just about any practical skill these days rather easily given the right tools and a bit of time. Everyone's creative and has plenty of ideas to contribute to any project.

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With my personal experience too. I gave a talk a short while ago in Graz at the HYPERNOMA festival and was part of a panel with a bunch of Austrian artists and devs. Apart from "state of the industry reports" a common point we all agreed upon was that yes, humans are generalists.

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I read Ruben Paters book "CAPS LOCK" a while back, and while it's about graphic design in particular, many of its arguments can be applied to most "creative industries". He wrote about how there's actually a glut of talent, and this seems to fit with many other reports currently making the rounds.

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They were of course likely fed stories and pictures of previous victorious wars to make them even wanna go into that one. Propaganda of course, but all art is (also) propaganda.

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But then the reality looks way different and you might just be disappointed. Heck, lets do some quick comparative history. Those pre-WW1 recruits that went into the war expecting honor and glory, but then found horror and weapons never seen before? Similar thing really.

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It seems easier these days to fall into that mindset though, especially if you grew up in a highly techno-cratic society. You see all these amazing things that others have created and likely somehow expect to be given similar tools as them once you get your first job or so.

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I remember listening to an interview of George Carlin once (the American comedian and satirist) about how cynics are failed idealists. Whether one agrees or not with this simple statement, I think there is something to it, no matter the generation.

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There are now browser histories and most of my digital files has its own history (of changes applied to it), and so likely does any sort of machine, person, animal, object, building, Wikipedia article or what have you. I could write you a small case history of the chair I'm sitting on right now...

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And in Don Norman's recent "Design for a Better World" (2023), he also starts out with calling the oh so famous George Santayana Quote "Those who can't remember history are condemned to repeat it" wrong (yet goes on to explain why history still matters).

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For a Quantum Theory of History

There's an essay from Slavoj Žižek from 2025 I read recently. "For a Quantum Theory of History" where he starts with calling linear history a myth. Things ain't that simple, obviously. But for most everyday events, it seems we still go with basic logic anyway. berggruen.org/library/for-...

berggruen.org

Ideas for a Changing World.

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Maybe the useage of the word "history" as some sort of active force coming from the past and hitting us in the present (as I interpret it here anyway) is out of date.

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But for some, they have in fact been fucked over by someone else, whether they can prove it or not. Humans still got minds and memories and a sense of right and wrong. Power dynamics still exist at just about every level of human-to-human and human-to-whatever interaction.

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"We are not victims of history" Debatable depending on how much someone got fucked over by previous actions of others. Historical justice is a thing after all. If someone doesn't wanna see themselves as a victim, sure. Go ahead. Emancipate yourself from whatever system holds you captive.

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Design justice rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.

Do we need to get out of consumerism? Yes. I think so. But for digital and immaterial goods and experiences especially, things work differently than with material ones. Cause it's not like we can make a 'circular economy' there or really 'use up' things. designjustice.org

designjustice.org

Design Justice Network

Erin List @scarfront.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Still resonates with lots of people (unless you have absolutely no emotions at all). But if you now make something very similar to it, anyone who knew the other game would go "eh, that's just kinda like X". Not that there can't be several similar experiences out there. Diversity is a boon.