It’s becoming difficult to avoid the metaverse. It’s become an inevitability in both the workplace and our social lives, but how can we approach it responsibly? Mariana Cabugueira is an architect in the three dimensional virtual universe. But what does this entail? And what are the ramifications of moving our social and professional lives into a digital world? In the episode of For Love & Design, Mariana breaks down the intricacies of Web 3, the Metaverse and our digital future.

Mariana, founder of real world and digital architecture studio, MC Studios - speaks to Ross and Ila to discuss the environmental impact of Web 3, its potential to end global loneliness and the desperate need for regulation in order to avoid a similar ‘profit over safety’ situation that we’ve seen with social media.

Mentioned in this Episode

Meta

Midjourney

Simon Barazin

Jodie Spencer

Lee Cronin on Lex Fridman

Show Notes:

Education simply cannot keep up with the future of design and architecture. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine learning are moving at such a rapid pace that colleges and universities are struggling to keep up. How can we look at the past to prevent a future devoid of creativity and originality?

In this episode, Ross and Ila speak to Author and Artificial Intelligence expert Neil Leach to decipher the future of design, discuss creative education and look at what we can learn from Greek and Roman history in modern times.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Lev Manovich, new media
• Wolf dPrix - In Two Days Time, Tomorrow Will Be Yesterday
• Yuval Noah Harari - 21 lessons for the 21st century
• Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R Buckminster Fuller
• Anil Seth: Reality is a controlled hallucination
• The Second Copurnicus Revolution

Every era has had a signature material - stone, iron and wood spring to mind. Today, it’s plastic. And our oceans are full of it. The result of this new environment is a demand for design innovation like we’ve never seen before. But as we look forward to this future, it is equally important for designers to look back — reflecting on where we’ve come from, and what we can learn from our mistakes.

Ross and Ila are joined by leading design historian Peter Fiell to discuss the broader history of design, and how its future must leave a positive impact on our planet. From the efficient use of materials, to harnessing the power of AI, they explore the different ways in which designers need to adapt to our rapidly changing social, political, and climatic environments.

Mentioned in this episode

• Philippe Starck - Influential furniture designer
• Max Tegmark - ‘The 'Don't Look Up' Thinking That Could Doom Us With AI’
• Nick Knight - ‘Roses from my Garden’
• Buckminster Fuller - 20th century inventor
• Susan Kare - American graphic designer

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Ross Lovegrove

Ila Colombo

For Love & Design podcast

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