Design to connect heritages and communities. Urgent projects (ai driven) for new “conversations”

Abstract

Contemporary digital societies are going through a phase of chaotic growth that imposes the search for a new balance between nature, humanity and technology. Technical dystopias - datacracy [De Kerckhove, 2019), surveillance capitalism [Zuboff, 2019], prepotence of algorithms, deep fake, etc. - impose a rethinking of societies in the direction of a “digital humanism” [Nida-Rümelin & Weidenfeld 2019] based on the challenge related to the major transversal issues of the present-future such as sustainability, equity and inclusivity. Through the articulated point of view of design (Speculative design, design for future, etc.), today it is possible to explore and decode our hyperconnected world (Infosphere) to discover “relevant, original and more meaningful connections between people and communi¬ties, people and things, people and places, etc.. In an educational, cultural and sustainable development perspective mediated by open and low-cost technologies, at the intersection of design, science, technology and humanities, the paper aims to focus on some research trajectories that see in the use of generative AI, “ethical” [Floridi, 2022], “queer” and “community” [Iaconesi & Persico, 2022] new and original possibilities for experimentation and innovation. Mixing new theoretical approaches and new design practices it is possible to connect [Germak, 2022; Trapani, 2022; Monterosso, 2022] - in an original and innovative way mediated by emerging technologies related to LLM (Language Large Scale Models) - assets (material and intangible), places (real and virtual), people and communities to re-launch new, “polyphonic” conversations between humans and non-humans, past, present and future.