Material Instinct

Toward new ways of consuming.

Though our productive patterns have become essentially consumer-driven, the possession of objects has not managed to satisfy our quest for fulfillment. While it’s not a question of advocating frugality nor evading the natural human need to embark on new ventures, we are indeed in favor of looking ahead to a new rapport with objects and their consumption. This positive reinvention will take shape through a redefinition of our needs and how we produce them, with a respectful attitude toward the environment. Could we envision, faced with obsolescence, productive processes that are sustainable, replaceable, and scalable? What if waste were the future of resources? Would the comprehension and respect of material and product life cycles be sufficiently compelling to bring down the level of pollution?

From eco-design to open-source design, and entrepreneurship to consumer habits, let us explore new ways of making and consuming products.

Foreword

An alternative future trail based on an original idea by RF Studio, narrated by Catherine Dufour, author an d produced by Adorable Studio.

With the participation of Ramy Fischler, designer and RF Studio founder ; Samuel Bernier, industrial designer, Antoine Asfar, engineer-entrepreneur, Dominique Bourg,… and the kind contribution of Leroy Merlin and his collaborators: Christophe Sapena, designer, Carole Boudeau, sociologist, Hélène Destombes, responsible for consumer studies , Olivier Lamblin, designer.

The Audio Fiction

In 2078, Yegor Pradhan takes us back to the ideological and ecological mutation operated by the Covid generation. She reviews the key stages of her commitment and her inventions which today make it possible to transform any waste into a resource.

Read the article (pdf)

The author

Catherine Dufour

Catherine Dufour is a computer engineer, columnist at Le Monde Diplomatique, and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris. A published writer since 2001, she came out with Ada ou la beauté des nombres in 2019, with Fayard, a biography of Ada Lovelace, the first woman programmer. Since 2016, she has taken part in a multidisciplinary consideration of our future society, Désincarcérer le futur, as part of science-fiction writers’ collective Zanzibar. Her book Danse avec les lutins (published by L’Atalante) just received the “Grand Prix des Imaginales”.

References
Recents Articles
Selected Fictions
  • UBIK (1969), Philip K Dick

  • R. U. R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots, sous-titre en anglais du livre tchèque Rossumovi univerzální robotia) – Pièce de théâtre de science-fiction (1920) par Karel Čapek

  • L’homme des jeux (2005) Ian Banks

  • Solar punk
  • Mad Max, Fury Road (2015) De George Miller
  • Autofac, Adaptation Philip K.dick 1955
  • Ian McQue
  • Teacher of algorithms Simone Rebaudengo https://vimeo.com/125768041
  • VilleVermine – L’homme aux babioles (2 tomes)
Listen to the audio fiction