ISBN : 9782296117075
THE SECRET LIVES OF ANTS
Johann van der Merwe1
Design is a process that starts with people thinking or imagining objects and systems
into being. Our self-generated design as a human society has always included
the affordances of objects which design us as much as we design them, as these
objects'speak' to us. However, most people would deny or seem unaware of these
relationships between humans and objects. Knowledge of Actor-Network Theory (ANT)
can reconcile opposing views, since ANT is concerned with the relationships that are
formed between ourselves as human actors and the non-human actors (artefacts) we
design. The focus here is on how this relationship can become asymmetrical, allowing
designers to produce'black boxes' (opaque systems) that cannot be questioned in the
process of making meaning. The concept of arguing to first principles is put forward
to counter this tendency, since the affordances of everyday existence should not be
constructed by anyone but ourselves.