Bruce Sterling

A guide to the next great wave of technology—an era of objects so programmable that they can be regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system.

Shaping Things

Christian Beck

Bruce Sterling is a science-fiction writer and he should stay that way. I still cannot understand why he was commisioned to write this book. He doesn't really seem to grasp what design really entails. Rather, he speaks about it like an outsider would speak. His comments are often unsubstantial--lacking much relevance. However, he does make some interesting insights into a future world of spimes and bots. And, on some level, I did appreciate his matter-of-fact way of discussing the field.[return][return]In general I was confused what his point is. He makes some vague statement that the book is about 'everything' but to me it just amounted to nothing. My views are subjective as I've heard him in interviews talking on these subjects previously. Nonetheless he himself seems too technologically-centered and misses many philosophical points of design (or, over-simplifies them). Specifically, I do not understand his fascination with RFID (or arphid as he calls it). In the book he basically constructs a world centered around these types of things and proposes hypothetical questions about how this will affect design. [return][return]I have problems with people who forecast in almost any field--especially technology. Predictions and models for the future can be useful in terms of creating scenarios for use (as he mentions well) but this book goes beyond into the realm of science-fiction. He creates a world that is based on too many assumptions (such as the pervasiveness and ubiquity of arphids). I suppose if I am to read futurist perspectives I like to buy what I'm being sold and Sterling did not sell me on his construction.

Shaping Things

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