By Bruce M. Tharp, IDSA and Stephanie M. Tharp bruce.tharp@gmail.com n stephanie.tharp@gmail.com Bruce and Stephanie Tharp are professors of industrial design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. They also run a design studio, materious, that licenses product ideas, creates commissioned work for corporations and institutions, and self-produces commercial design work as well as non-commercial discursive projects. They are currently writing a book on discursive design.
Discursive Design
TOOLS FOR THINKING
I
magine that anyone in the world who wanted a gun—for whatever reason—could just download a file and print one out. No criminal background checks, no mandatory training, no mental health scrutiny, no delays, no oversight, no records, no government—just the desire and access
to a rapid prototyping machine. Oh, and the guns are plastic, so they evade metal detection, and they are small enough to be concealed in a jacket pocket or purse. Imagine the truly unencumbered right to bear arms for you and for your friends—as well as your enemies.
Carin Krasner
Epidermits by Karten Design. Genetically engineered toys. Just because we can, should we?
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