Hacking Happiness - sustainability from inside out

Hacking Happiness

Writer:Perus Saranurak

Sustainability from inside out

Volume 1 - Futures of SustainabilityMA Design Futures and Metadesign, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Volume 1 (2014) Futures of Sustainability MA Design Futures and Metadesign, Goldsmiths, university of London, UK

Cover image: Happiness is here: only you can make it happen by Perus Saranurak “Happiness happens when you stop waiting and start doing now.”

Hacking Happiness Sustainability from inside out

Designers → Happiness Hacker

Create an alternative paradigm of your own happiness

Writer: Perus Saranurak

MA Design Futures student [Product designer and Metadesigner]

Reader: Sustainable design students Anti-consumerist activists Design activists Life hackers

MA Design Futures Goldsmiths, university of London

2nd edition

MA Design Futures and Metadesign, Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-design-futures/

Perus Saranurak, 2014

First edition printed on 21st November 2013 Revised and updated edition printed on 17th July 2014

Design by Perus Saranurak Printed and bound in London by Perus Saranurak

To Hannah Jones, Mathilda Tham and John Wood, who extend my perspective of futures and design possibilities

To my family, who give me the freedom to think, and always support

To you, who think life can be re-designed.

Content

Preface ..................................................................................................................... viii

Glossary ................................................................................................................. xii

Introduction of Hacking Happiness ....................................................................... 1

Sustainability .............................................................................................................. 5

Consumerism ............................................................................................................. 8

Economy for sustainability................................................................................. 11

Tools for conviviality ........................................................................................... 12

Buddhist economics ............................................................................................ 13

Sufficiency economy .......................................................................................... 14

Design activism ..................................................................................................... 15

Happiness .................................................................................................................. 17

Happiness as a tool .............................................................................................. 17

Money and happiness ......................................................................................... 18

Assumption: Meet the needs without pay..................................................... 20

Lifestyle: actions with meanings ......................................................................... 22

Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 25

Hacking Happiness’ Guidebook ........................................................................ 26

Self-reflection .......................................................................................................... 27

Appendix ................................................................................................................... 28

Collective storytelling workshop ..................................................................... 29

Reference .................................................................................................................. 31

Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 32

Image reference ...................................................................................................... 33

viii

Preface Postgraduate project work in MA Design Futures and Metadesign

at Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK.

The key topic of this essay is Futures of Sustainability. This essay will focus on bringing design thinking and activities to be a part of daily lifestyle. And design the accessibility of happiness which can be the motivation for the sustainable lifestyle. This could be a conceptual principle of an alternative lifestyle, which can sustain itself and against the consumerist paradigm.

Keyword: Anti-consumption, Buddish, Happiness, Metadesign, Prosumer, Sustainability

Are you happy?

Happiness can reflect to a good quality of life, but it seems to be more difficult to get it in these days and in the future, because the required conditions of living are increasing also they are harder to get happiness. The restriction of resource affects individuals to be more competitive and stressful. Furthermore, this endless progress would be more tightened through time and it hardly leads us to a sustainable future.

Why we need an entertainment? Why we love shopping even we can survive with the thing we already have? Is our happiness a commodity? Is it because we over-depend our happiness on others, or we currently lose the capabilities to sustain our lives and our happiness by ourselves?

For this essay “Hacking Happiness”, I would like to ask you (especially, a sustainable designer) a question: “How we live sustainably under the paradigm that happiness is fulfilled by contributors easier than oneself?” There is no absolute solution to this question, but this essay would like to introduce some relevant ideas of sustainable living and alternative

ix

courage lifestyles. Hopefully, this essay can stretch the approach of sustainability which could emerge from a tangibly self-sustainable life.

Hello, my name is Pesus Saranurak.

Lets me briefly introduce myself before. I was born in a Buddhist family and I have learnt many Buddhist philosophies of living since I was young. Most of Buddhist philosophies tend to make folks realize everything will not stay forever for reducing a senses of an ownership which could lead to a sorrow.

Before I came to Goldsmiths, I was suffering from the design role because there is the significant conflict between Buddhist philosophies and the mechanic of consumption, which have to keep allure consumers to buy more and be endlessly unsatisfied. The identification of newness, lack and status has been used to drag consumers far from sustainable happiness. Whilst working as a product designer, my role has to support this economy mechanic and it seems to be the basis of many unsustainable issues, such as over-consumption and waste problem.

I have studied Buddhism and meditation for understanding its perspective of life and happiness. In 2013-14 I was studying in MA Design Futures and Metadesign at Goldsmiths. There is a tipping point of shifting my perspective and thinking framework about design in to life designer

My working experiences, which stand between production and consumption, help me to understand the system of consumption and explore new alternative systems, which possibly lead to a sustainable future. Further, I would like to develop my designer role to not only support on consumerism. The sustainable designers can design a living guideline and facilitate people to be able to access to happiness equality, as a happiness hacker. Also, for myself this would be my future design principle.

x

Nice to meet you, the future happiness hackers.

This writing is for one who believes that we can create better futures by our actions. Congratulations If you are that person. This writing would be your guidebook which introduces the foundations of the context for reaching happiness based on individual actions. Moreover, it could helps you to gain the potential in creating your challenged lifestyle.

On the other hand, if you do not believe that possibility, this writing could extend your vision and it will reveal alternative lifestyle. Perhaps, it could change your mind.

Designers are the main target of this writing. I write it to suit with designer’s reading style which is not linear and long passage by using discussion style with many diagrams and pictures. It could help designers to see the connections between each context and keyword which could be easier in designing or getting ideas

Even though you are not a designer, this book will help you to understand the basis of being happy in life. Consequently, you could become a designer because you will have a capacity to design own happiness in lifestyle.

Hope you will enjoy this writing, while reading it, please try to reflect on your own life and start design it, a future design activist.

: )

xi

I appreciate to exchange ideas, experiences and opinions with you about this topic Hacking Happiness.

Contract: Perus Saranurak MA Design Futures + Metadesign (2013-2014) http://designfutures2013.tumblr.com Email: [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/perus https://goldsmiths.academia.edu/PerusSaranurak/ http://cargocollective.com/monkix

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Hacking Happiness: Sustainability from inside out 2

On the other hand, It could be mean to access the target through a restricted system by individual skill and knowledge. Thus, I carry this word in the context of the real world by joining the words together with ‘Happiness’. Then ‘‘Hacking Happiness’ could be understand as the action (figure 2) against the system where we are living in and also makes a shortcut way to reach a goal.

Propose

Since the concept of sustainability was created until now, this concept still has been too radical in the individual scale because the effect is shown in the global scale which is hard to recognize that it connects to individual behaviours.

Hacking happiness bring the sustainability to engage with people life and action by re-conceptualising the perception of happiness. This could be easier to gain their awareness in ecology. Moreover, this concept aims to integrate a personal benefit into sustainability and create an alternative value in society.

Writing ingredients

While researching, the concept of ‘Hacking Happiness’ has many relations with various intellects (in the figure 3).

FIGURE 3: THE ASPECTS OF ‘HACKING HAPPINESS’ IDEA

MA Design Futures, Goldsmiths, University of London 3

So in this writing, I try to combine varied aspects which Haidt (2006 cites by Greve 2012: 17) states happiness involve in Psychology, Philosophy, Economy and Sociology. Including sustainability concern, Ecology is also the one of the key aspects for covering many perspectives in generating design concept.

Direction of research

A grand tour question

“How to make an idea of sustainability become more tangible?”

Sub-question

1. “Why people still do what they know it damages the world?” 2. “What are the common problems in people’s life?” 3. “How to encourage people to have better behaviours?”

‘Hacking Happiness’ concept development

After researching different aspects (figure 4), I can generate the key elements which relevant to this concept, such as sustainability, consumerism, happiness and activist. These elements become a core of Hacking Happiness concept.

For making the concept more tangible, I develop it into action, lifestyle and individual system which has the benefit of both individual and environment. Moreover, some relevant movement or lifestyle into reality is revealed too.

FIGURE 4: PROCESS OF TANGIBLE SUSTAINABILITY


Design role

On a large scale like changing notion, it is hard to imagine how designers can play in this game. Metadesign is the great tool for dealing with complex problems because it delivers the wider perspective for designers to think beyond the old paradigm to create the new opportunity, likewise Wood (2007, cited by Jones, 2013) state “… think beyond the possible”. Moreover, Fisher (cited by Fischer 2013) suggests that the complex problem required more knowledge from collaboration (2000), and the users should be owners of problems, not only passive consumers restricted to consumption of the existing knowledge (2006).


Sustainability Design for the next seven generations

Sustainability has been addressed in many aspects. In this essay will scope to the dehierachical aspect, to create equality, in term of anti-consumerism; to approach the method to straight access to happiness. Hacking Happiness aims to create a good quality of life which is broadly affordable, reducing consumption.

What is sustainability?

Sustainability is consideration of actions and system for futures of humanity, our future generations. In the Design Futures class, the idea of sustainability was defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) states in 1987:

“Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

However, it is not an easy way to become sustainable. On one hand, Alastair Fuad-Luke (2009: 23) states “Sustainability is grounded in ecological praxis and systems thinking. It challenges the capitalist system of production and consumption that assumes unlimited growth.”

Because the capitalist system seems to be a grand-narrative and other systems are developed in the same direction to support it. This makes the system become dominant and hardly changeable. However, a development of the production and the consumption creates a mechanic for accelerating the economic progress with carelessness about ecology. This draws us to an unsustainable problem.


FIGURE 5: AN ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

From an ecological footprint (figure 5), It is abundantly clear that current rates of consumption of many resources are unsustainable. (Fuad-Luke, 2009: 67)

Question of sustainability

“People know to harm the world is not good, but they still do it. Why?”

As a reason, we live in this system which is highly competitive and stressful, but we cannot avoid it because all infrastructure also relies on it (figure 6). Consequently, economic system influence people to be less awareness in sustainability than making money.

FIGURE 6: OUR LIFE WAS DRAWN


This is a wicked problem which seems impossible to solve, but metadesign can be used for solving this problem by rethinking holistically.

“We can’t solve problems with the type of thinking we used to create them.” states Albert Einstein (cited by John Wood’s lecture, 2013).

Designer in sustainability

According to a designer’s role, designers should be the easiest person to understand and consider in sustainability. Also, the designer has the capacities to design a creative solution for raising people’s awareness. For example, reframing the scale of time into the longer view could help to visualize a concept of sustainability (Thorpe 2007: 162)

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consumption is to foster a belief that anything "new" will be proven "better" to devalue "old" models. It tends to generate demand by hypnotizing consumers to feel a lack between what they had and what they ought to get. As a result, the consumer would be happy in achieving more than in the function of things. This process could be called consumption mechanism.

Economic tools

Economic tools, such as advertising, have been developed for rising demand in a market by creating consumer’s needs.

Regarding John Wood lectures in Design Future class, “There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few of them. And possibly only one profession is phonier. Advertising design, in persuading people to buy things they do not need, with money they do not have, in order to impress others who do not care, is probably the phoniest field in existence today.” Viktor Papanek in Design for the Real World (1971)

The mechanisms behind consumption (Shove and Warde, 1999)

Social comparison Creation of self-identity Mental stimulation – novelty The Diderot effect/matching Specialisation Socio-technical systems

This process seems to draw market to consume beyond function and material. It could be called Conspicuous consumption (Veblen, 1999 The Theory of the Leisure Class):

Consumption beyond satisfaction of ‘needs’ Immediate gratification Narcissistic behaviour Displaying wealth


How it works?

This system educates us to meet our needs by consuming and for some people they have no other way to fulfil their needs, as a metaphor of a fish cannot realize it is living in the water because it never without water while they alive.

FIGURE 8: MONEY MEETS HUMAN NEEDS

This figure 8 illustrates how the money system transfers into human needs in different hierarchies.

Design in consumerism

For driving the capitalist system, designers are the important role standing between production and consumption. Essentially, this role has a potential to draw the consuming system to be more sustainable. However, they do not have an authority to change it because almost clients and investors usually hire them to gain their profit and they are expert at using consumption mechanics for increasing demand.

Luckily, Victor Papanek also suggests a design responsibility that (cite by Fuad-Luke, 2009 : 44)


“Designers needed to take responsible decisions, spend less time designing ephemeral goods in the consumer economy, and spend more creative time on generating solutions to the real needs of the disadvantaged 80 per cent population of the planet.”

What is mean designers should concerning in sustainability and design a solution for creating better futures. In terms of designer who want to create sustainable futures, this writing tries to explore the ideas of sustainable economy, which could be used for developing the ‘Hacking Happiness’ concept. (These ideas would be explained in the next chapter)

FIGURE 9: CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

Economy for sustainability

The concept of sustainability has been developed for many decades ago. In this writing, I will introduce 4 concepts which have divers directions and areas (figure 9).

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Alastair Fuad-Luke (2009)

Concept: everyone can use design to have sustainable futures

Fuad-Luke (2009: xx) introduces that design has a great potential to make a positive change in society and the environment. Therefore, he joins the word ‘design’ with ‘activism’ to become ‘design activism’ which is a creative way to create the policy or social movement for better futures (figure 13).

Design activism is ‘design thinking, imagination and practice applied knowingly or unknowingly create a counter-narrative aimed at generating and balancing positive social, institutional, environmental and/or economic change’. (Fuad-Luke, 2009 : 27).

In terms of concept, ‘Hacking Happiness’ could be the one of design activism too, because it wishes to criticize on consumerism and facilitate the new system more sustainable.

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In this writing, Diener’s concept of happiness has been used as the goal of ‘Hacking Happiness’ which tends to encourage people to create and design their better life.

Social happiness

Even these days technology enables us to live more isolated. However, the research by using the experience sampling method (Diener 2008, p.52) with introverts and extroverts has an unsuspected result that both two groups are happier with a social situation than being alone.

“[W]hat really makes us happy is not technology but people. It is not more productivity we need, but social enfranchisement. Ultimately, if ‘giving’ makes us feel good, maybe ‘sharing’ can make us feel better” states John wood (2003, p.3) in Attainable Utopia.

Humans are developed to be social species. For a clearer idea, Try to Imagine the world without others, how many years you want to live? It can be seen that a relationship with others in social has a very strong connection with happiness and they support each other.

Diener shows three different types of relationship (2008, p.58-59)

1. Infatuation is a feeling good and overlooking a partner’s flaws. 2. Companionate love is a readiness to acknowledge and accept some

flaws. It makes one feel happy while helping others, not because of one’s need.

3. Deficiency-love is based on to satisfy our need. That is why the easily bored person is attracted to an entertaining or exciting person, sadly, until the needs fulfilled or changed.

Assumption: Meet the needs without pay

By understanding the ideas of happiness, It could help designer to review design principle about human needs for sustainability. As in the previous


chapter, the economy provides many tools for serving different needs for driving itself.

FIGURE 17: ACTIONS MEET NEEDS

This figure (18) shows the exploration how to meet human needs in different hierarchies by action.

In this exploration, I question how to complete the Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs without using money. So, I match these different needs with actions, according to the Diener’s happiness which come from doing rather than having. Surprisingly, these actions have interesting relations with the other (figure 18).

FIGURE 18: FULFILLING ACTIONS FLOW

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‘Hacking happiness’ go lifestyle

Lifestyle is a group of actions and has a specific interest and meaning. If the concept becomes a lifestyle, it would be easy to communicate ideas. Simultaneously, lifestyle can communicate more value to consumers because activity is only one part in lifestyle (figure 19):

Meaning Activities Members

The idea of communicating meaning or story to consumers is used for creating product’s value. According to Mark Poster (cited by Toffoletti, 2011: 78) “in modern society, consumer objects represented social status; in postmodernity, they express one’s identity”. It thus can be used by consumers in self-identification and communicate with others. This tool could be called lifestyle. Likewise, Mathilda gave a lecture about the lifestyle in Design Futures class on 16th November 2013:

“Lifestyles refer to the way we live our lives that allows us to fulfil our needs and aspirations. They serve as “social conversations”, in which people signal their social position and psychological aspirations to others. Since many of the signals are mediated by goods, lifestyles are closely linked to material and resource flows in the society.” (Backhaus, Breukers et al. 2011)

In Status Anxiety, Botton (2004) explains that this social mechanic affect us to be unstable and unsatisfied. He calls it the hunger of status.

Sustainability movements in lifestyles

Around the world also has many activities and lifestyle which probably match with ‘Hacking Happiness’ concept. This part will reveal some less-consuming alternative lifestyles in different contexts for visualized examples.


FIGURE 20 SUSTAINABILITY LIFESTYLES

Freegans (2003) New York:

A group of people who live in minimizing consumption

http://freegan.info/

Time bank (1998) UK:

Using time of helping others as a currency with a bank system.

http://www.timebanking.org/

Live without money (1996) Germany:

Life without money for 14 years http://livingwithoutmoney.org/

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Life in the middle path to self-producing and rational consuming

http://www.sufficiencyeconomy.org/

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Hacking Happiness’ Guidebook

If you feel suffering from your life, now you should not blame others. You just ask yourself “what do I need?” and ”what I will do?” because now you know the shortcut to fulfil your needs without pay.

So, If you see happiness is easy to access, congratulation now you are the hacker- a design activist in terms of ‘Hacking Happiness’

Let's start creating your life as you want it

This writing is the only guidebook which describes the area and reveal same interests to you, the reader, for getting ideas to create own happiness, similarly with a concept of sufficiency economy but the product is happiness.

As you have read the happiness chapter, these actions (in figure 21) that can complete human needs are rather easy and simple, but the key is you realize the action what you are doing and understand how it benefit you happiness; rethink about what make you happy; analyse them. Moreover, these activities possibly push you out of the loop of consumerism.

Let start with any action you like.

To become a hacker you don’t have to change your whole lifestyles, your behaviours or your beliefs. You might try to take the action sometime, in leisure time or when you feel free- don’t be too serious - following an idea of Buddhist economics.

Last but not least, Do just because you enjoy doing, don’t expect the outcome – “Happiness is a Process. Not a Place.” (Diener 2008: 13)

“What will you do today, Hacker?”


Self-reflection

Sustainability is a very big issue which has many aspect to talk. Many people know what is sustainable, but few people do it in practice. In my opinion, it could be because the sense of sustainability does not motivate individual enough to do it. In this essay I try to bring the sense of sustainability to be closer to the individual scale, which I focus on human need. It is a big issue to re-define the meaning of sustainability. I start studying in many aspects and I found the happiness issue is related to individual and sustainability. So I explore the concept of happiness and re-interpreted in term of sustainability. Finally, I got the concept of Hacking Happiness.

This project extends my vision in a design role from thinking that the result of the design process should only be products or services. Now I saw a new opportunity to design which is to facilitate people by designing tools for designing and solving a problem by themselves.

Personally, I really like this idea. And I would like to develop this concept further which this definition could be my future role in my sustainable designer as Happiness designer.

Also, this essay still needs to be re-organize; cut some redundant parts; and I should explain more about my key idea "to achieve needs by Action" (figure 17).


Appendix Working processes

FIGURE 22: VALUE MAPPING

Generating concept

The concept of sustainability has very broadened it could be called as a ‘wicked problem’ which hard to solve. However, for generating a concept, I have to use metadesign tools. For instance, brainstorming in the class can broaden an idea boundary then I collect the ideas from the class and mapping with my value and capacity (figure 22). The concept seems to be clearer through the process.

I found the metadesign tools do not only support working with many people. It also can be useful for individual thinking.


Collective storytelling workshop

On 18th November 2013, I had a collective storytelling workshop in MA Design Futures class. This workshop tent to represent the dynamic in collaborative working by letting us to share stories, experiences and ideas to re-conceptualize a library.

FIGURE 23: COLLECTIVE STORYTELLING WORKSHOP

In my group, we tough each individual life experience has a value in itself. And this value is different from reading a book. In this workshop (figure 23), reframing the idea of libraries from the place of a stable information to the place of many alive stories. My group co-design a new system named ‘Story club’


Story club

The club provides a storytelling area which allows anyone to share the individual life story and get a free access to the club’s facilities, such as food, drink, or shower. Also, this activity could be interesting for consumers. Moreover, the club can use the good story in sharing for a podcast which seem to be a free advertising for the club (figure 24).

FIGURE 24: STORY CLUB


Referennce

Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally durable design: Objects, experiences and empathy. London: Earthscan.

De, B. A. (2004). Status anxiety. New York: Pantheon Books.

Diener, E and R. Biswas-Diener (2008) Happiness: unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth. Oxford: Blackwell.

Fischer, G. (2013). “Learning, Social Creativity, and Cultures of Participation” in A. Sannino, & V. Ellis (Eds.),Learning and Collective Creativity: Activity-Theoretical and Sociocultural Studies, Taylor & Francis/Routledge, New York, NY, p. (in press).

Fuad-Luke, A. (2009) Design activism: beautiful strangeness or a sustainable world. London: Earthscan.

Greve, B. (2012) Happiness. New York: Routledge.

Illich, I. (1990) Tools for conviviality. London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.

National Economic and Social Development Board (2007) Sufficiency Economy Implications and Applications. Bangkok

Pahl, R. (1995) After Success: Fin-de-siècle Anxiety and Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Sanders, E. and P. J. Stoppers (2012) Convivial toolbox: Generative research for the front end of design. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.

Schumacher, E.F. (2011) Small is Beautiful: A study of Economics as if People Mattered. London: Vintage.

Shove, E. and A. Warde (1999) Noticing inconspicuous consumption. Consumption, Everyday Life and Sustainability. - http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ fass/projects/esf/inconspicuous.htm [accessed 15/07/2014]


Tham, M. (2013) ‘Design, Lifestyles and Sustainability’. Metadesign and Futures of Sustainability. Goldsmiths, London, 11 Nov 2013.

The happiness formula (2006) Presented by Mark Easton [Channel] London: BBC-2.

Thorpe, A. (2007) The designer’s atlas of sustainability. Washington: Island Press.

Bibliography

Ariely, D. (2012) What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?. TEDx, Rio de la Plata. http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_what_makes_us_feel_good_about_our_work.html [accessed 05/01/14].

Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms of Capital. http://www.marxists.org/reference/ subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm [accessed 05/01/14].

Fischer, G. (2003) Meta-Design: A Framework for the Future of End User Development (EUD). http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/presentations/eud-meta-d-slides-final.pdf [accessed 05/01/14].

Fry, T. (2011) Design as Politics. Oxford: Berg.

Meadows, D. H., & Club of Rome. (1972). The Limits to growth: A report for the Club of Rome's project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books.


Image reference

Figure 1: tetrahedron mapping of this essay. by author Figure 2: the concept of Hacking Happiness. by author Figure 3: the aspects of ‘hacking happiness’ idea. by authorFigure 4: process of tangible sustainability. by authorFigure 5: an ecological footprint. by authorFigure 6: our life was drawn. by authorFigure 7: hacking economic system. by authorFigure 8: money meets human needs. by authorFigure 9: concepts of sustainable economy. by authorFigure 10: Tools for conviviality. by authorFigure 11: Buddhist economics. by authorFigure 12: Sufficiency economy. by authorFigure 13: Design activism. by authorFigure 14: encourage to do something. by authorFigure 15: what does happiness look like? . by authorFigure 16: Happiness is a Process. Not a Place. by authorFigure 17: actions meet needs. by authorFigure 18: fulfilling actions flow. by authorFigure 19: Lifestyle. by authorFigure 20 sustainability lifestyles. by authorFigure 21: Addressing own happiness. by authorFigure 22: value mapping. by authorFigure 23: Collective storytelling workshop. by authorFigure 24: Story club. by author

Don’t forget to smile

Hacking Happiness - sustainability from inside out

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Transcript of Hacking Happiness - sustainability from inside out