Dalia Hatalova Blog Post #17/15

Today's conversation in class about the possibilities for creating more ethical technologies made me think of the work that Neri Oxman does in architecture, which I became interested in through a curatorial course that I took a couple of years ago. Oxman weaves together (quite literally) natural and technological approaches, building on principles of biomimicry to create bio-informed designs. While her work anticipates the possibility of replacing structures with more nature-attuned ones, these principles may also be applicable to other technology in the future. The images above are of Oxman's silk structures which are domes "made out of silk fibers, woven by a robotic arm, which was then finished by 6,500 live worms" (Surface). This combination of modern technology and natural processes reminds me of historical structures, such as the windmill and watermills, as ways that nature can be harnessed to human ends without significantly damaging the systems upon which that technology depends. While silkworms in data centers may seem a far stretch, thinking of ways that nature is fostered to become a part of technology may be a fruitful way to imagine the future.