Human Centric Design

Think of the system as a garden rather than as a machine.

Health is the ability of an organism to respond appropriately to a wide variety of challenges in a way that ensures maintaining equilibrium and integrity.

When defenses are weakened and resources exhausted are full of bad feelings it leads to a manifestation of an unstable process and a pattern of disharmonious relationships.

Lack of sunlight, depletion of the soil, overgrowth of weeds all restrict the bounty of the garden. Similarly deficiency or excess of energy, inadequate nutrition or poor circulation weaken health, too much sun burns them, too much wind dries them out, too much water rots their roots. Yet in its full absence a garden cannot prosper.

The climate, emotions and activities of life are not intrinsically good or bad. It is their excess or deficiency that distorts the pattern or flow.

How are we approaching engineering systems? As a gardener or as a mechanic? How do we show up day to day to be fully present for the work ahead? Is our health and immunity prioritized? Can the output of our work reflect the health of the mind and heart?

The gardener may occasionally need to apply strong measures like fire to control insects or weeds, and has to be careful not to damage the garden irreparably, then be like the doctor who nourishes using proper soil and minerals to promote growth, building ponds and channels for irrigation and adjusting the flow of water and wind.

What if in our upcoming technology interventions nature continues to be the example for design in mind?


Ideas after reading, Between Heaven and Earth from Harriet Beinfield and Efrem KornGold