believes that good ideascan come from anyone, not just designers, clinicians, and therapists

The material is sketchlike, under construction, with enough malleability tobe edited, reshaped, or even discarded without too much preciousness.Cardboard has the virtue of being provisional, and it retains its experimentalspirit even while it offers its sturdy strength. That unlikely-seemingcombination of virtues—contingency and strength—is just right forfostering the design of adaptive furniture. It’s also a great match for thenear-magical plasticity that marks the development of young children,including Niko.

You can find adaptive and assistive chairs incatalogs, of course, but this chair was made for Niko and no one else.

Dangerous? Certainly, some people may opt to work less, butthen that’s precisely the point. A handful of artists and writers (“allthose whom society despises while they are alive and honorswhen they are dead” – Bertrand Russell) might actually stop doingpaid work altogether. There is overwhelming evidence to suggestthat the vast majority of people actually want to work, whetherthey need to or not.54 In fact, not having a job makes us deeplyunhappy.55One of the perks of a basic income is that it would free the poorfrom the welfare trap and spur them to seek a paid job with trueopportunities for growth and advancement. Since basic income isunconditional, and will not be taken away or reduced in the eventof gainful employment, their circumstances can only improve.

poor people are poor is because they don’t have enough money,”notes economist Charles Kenny, “and it shouldn’t come as a hugesurprise that giving them money is a great way to reduce thatproblem.”14

“most efficientway to spend money on the homeless might be to give it to them.”

Humanagency gets priority. The mistakes are mine. Only the amateurblames the material for the errors of the hand. So even if this isa book about design and matter, the human actor is privileged.

the initial idealism is almost always betrayedby reality.

“pensiero debole” (weak thought) as pointing towhat might be rather than what is fully realized, a concept thatwhispers of potential more than staking out a claim.

, I often find that abstract concepts are not so easilytranslated into a simple material form that a student can buildwith the tools available in the model shop.

anti-war protest and critique has become an integral part of war.

Criticism threatens to undermine the very foundation of existence for those who build their lives on the edifice of belief.

But criticism has run its political course. What was once a potent weapon against totalitarianism has become an empty ritual, ineffectual at best and self-delusional at worst. What happened? History.

Utopias, however, are usually the products of singular imaginations or, at best, the plans of a small group: a political vanguard or artistic avant-garde.

Utopia offers this “other,” an interlocutor with which to argue, thereby clarifying and strengthening your own ideas and ideals (even if they lead to the conclusion that Utopia is undesirable). Without a vision of an alternative future, we can only look backwards nostalgically to the past, or unthinkingly maintain what we have, mired in the unholy apocalypse that is now. Politically, we need Utopia.