VRMarket — a Glimpse into an Ideal Isolated Future
Future Utopias: BioTech Socialism
My product comes from a small group of Biotech socialists who left larger society decades after the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020. The subpopulations that were formed after the fall of the United States’ “strong” democracy are largely based around responses to food and product shortages. The will to survive transcends all political and religious affiliations. Scarcity highlights the similarities between unlike individuals. Before, sub-populations were formed based on political or religious interests (Evangelical Christian communities or Progressive strongholds). Shortages split these groups and made clear the diverse economic and educational statuses within these groups. After Covid-19, populations were formed around people of the same class or educational standings. This might not seem very different then what we see today, and the truth is it isn’t. Covid-19 has only pushed the disparities between groups further and made them more apparent.
Decades after Covid-19 five groups were formed that have strong underlying ties to class and education, as well as geography. Before I list the groups and their structures it’s important to consider the events that lead to the split of the United States. We wanted to look at a future reality that was both extremely “plausible and probable” (Dunne and Raby 2). I began thinking about the public’s perception of government during times of pandemics. Presidential popularity goes up during wartime when people panic. In theory, if people are panicking about an issue, most of the time presidential popularity goes up. It happened during wars, 9/11, and even Covid-19. President Trump’s favorability has gone up, despite extreme negligence towards the coronavirus. Something also true of presidents during times of panic is that additional powers are granted to them. These are known as wartime powers. With these two ideas in mind, my group and I began to hypothesize what might happen in the years after the Coronavirus outbreak under an increasingly popular president with wartime powers. We decided a very likely scenario if combined with the “right” wrong type of president, would be extreme levels of corruption that might even give way to a form of democratic totalitarianism (if this paradox is even possible). In this hypothetical, a combination of ignorance, presidential favorability, corruption, and fear gives way to a change to our 22nd Amendment, allowing the president to “run” for several more terms with ease. This type of corruption has already begun elsewhere in the world. In Russia, the Kremlin just passed legislation to allow Putin to run for several more terms, giving way for him to rule until 2036. When this legislation is passed here, it pushes some populations to their breaking point. This scenario is visualized in the graphic I created below. The point where the line breaks into 5 represents the point in time when the legislation was passed.
The five groups are the ultra-rich, the large middle class (made up of essential workers, complacent individuals, or don’t have the financial, educational, and/or geographic means), anarchists, nomadic farmers, and bio-techies. Each of these groups has different political affiliations and backstories covered by each of my group members.
I was intrigued by the groups who left society so I decided to look further into the biotech community. I chose this group, because they seem the most unscathed by previous government oversight, giving me a wide range of creative options to work with. I started imagining their community by thinking about the type of people who would move away and start a biotech community. The type of citizen to do this has to be college-educated (specific knowledge of tech or biology), and has the financial or geographic means to move far away from the old society. This is an individual who also was very critical of the government to the point where they would abandon everything to leave. I began to think about people I know who already fit a role like this, and from there decided that this new society would most likely operate under a socialist democracy. That’s how the “Bio-Tech Socialist” archetype was born.
In this imaginary Biotech-socialist world, there exist two different worlds, the physical world, and the digital world. People never leave their homes so most of the community interaction takes place immersively through virtual reality headsets in everyone’s house. This world is built on the assumption that humans will never be able to leave the shelter in place. For the sake of keeping everyone safe, the biotech socialists truly believe “it’s better to be safe than sorry”. This community is organized based on a Biotechnologists response to food scarcity. Products are shopped for and “bought” in VR stores. These products are then 3D printed in each person’s home. There are many different material spindles outside of each person’s house that print different products. These spindles can be made of anything you can think of, from paper, to metal, to cheese. This system is built on the assumption that 3D printing capabilities will increase tenfold over the next hundred years to print anything one needs to survive. Currently, it is possible to print things like plastic parts for face masks or even pizzas. Given this society is run by educated scientists and technologists, I assume the VR to 3D printing capabilities will reach new heights to allow for people to have plentiful lives while isolating themselves in their homes. To get a better idea of how one’s house, and thus life, looks like I have created this illustration below of the standard model of the housing everyone gets.
The idea for this house is that it is totally self-sustaining and maintenance free. The house is made out of parts that can be easily 3D printed and installed by the homeowner. There are large solar panels on each roof so everyone’s life can operate soundly. The only time most people will ever see another human outside of their family or future spouse is when the local spindle deliverer comes. To avoid contact between the homeowner and the deliverer, the spindle is attached to the outside of the house.
There are a lot of other important components to my society to make it a realistic future reality. Below I outlined in depth how certain aspects of the biotech socialist world would operate.
Government — The government is socialist in the sense that inequalities between people are only decided on their voluntary decisions (predisposed conditions vs choice). Furthermore, there is an equal distribution of resources in the physical world with sufficient redistribution to correct for communal cultural disparities. I borrowed these ideas of socialism from GA Cohens, “Why not Socialism?” The online world is a slightly more free market. It is still open source and free to everyone. There are no restrictions on where you can go or interact on the web so the minimum virtual standards are quite high, but there are still things you can choose to dedicate more of your time/wealth to (developing virtual ice cream and selling it to people online that can be downloaded for real world pleasure).
A council of leaders (elected democratically) rule on a when-needed policy to make decisions regarding online and physical world matters. They also serve as liaisons to other micro kingdoms we might do business with. All meetings are held online and are open to the public to attend. Policies are voted on through the internet as well.
Education — Education is online and future orientated. It is geared towards tech and finding a cure to Covid-19. It’s based heavily on STEM and digital art as there is less room for vocational school nowadays. Instead of learning second languages like Spanish or Chinese, everyone will become proficient in programs for worldbuilding and coding for new programs. In a nutshell, schooling is dedicated to sustaining current society (Tech and immersion on one side, product and bio building) and looking for a cure to Covid-19 (Biological studies).
Economy — The economy is centered around lots of service industry jobs in immersive fields. For example in the immersive world, Many jobs relate to pop culture (entertainment and the arts) as well as education (teachers). The online economy is largely a closed self-sustaining system. The real world is a little harder to gage. Sustainable technology and materials are traded to other kingdoms in return for other services. Biotech socialists see no need for wealth in the real world as there are strong minimum standards owed to every citizen. These requirements ensure everyone has a rich and free life while in isolation. Additionally, there is still a safety net and digital world redistribution. This is to guarantee there is no wealth disparity between citizens. The goal of Biotech Socialists is to create one unified community; differences in wealth would allow for unproductive classist communities to form.
There are real world jobs (government officials, doctors, nurses, delivery people, maintenance people) too. The only small hole with my world is the material needed for spindles. I think factories are tied to regional hospitals so the only two physical necessities are in one place. These jobs are done largely autonomously and might be overseen and operated remotely. Other than doctors, nurses, and security, only delivery drivers are seen as essential to this complex. Drivers both pickup supplies from outside kingdoms and deliver them to their constituents. Drivers are very important in this society.
Transportation — Transit is unimportant as it is expected that people will stay in their homes and not interact. There is a mutual benefit to stay away. In case transportation is needed (only for the purpose of leaving or going to the hospital) Service drivers or pilots pick people up and take them to the central hospital center/goods plant for that community.
Safety — There is a hospital attached to a factory — the only place you can expect to see other people in the physical world.
Pop culture — culture is invented in an immersive environment. People can have space and create movies and music anything within. It’s a world within your home.
Religion — Religion continues the way it is. People pray in their homes and can congregate in VR worship spaces.
Goods (both essential and non-essential)- all goods from food, to clothes, to toys are downloaded from the digital world and created in the physical world using the 3D printer.
VR Market
I don’t have a name for my product yet, but maybe for right now I will just refer to it as “VR Market”… a very creative title I know. My goal was to help the audience understand my world through a broad spectrum of design ideas in multiple mediums. Since my world took place in both a physical and digital world, it was important to showcase possibly the hardest thing to grasp and believe, the interconnectedness of these worlds. I saw the house itself as the perfect starting point for understanding this world as it visually captures the interaction between these two realms. In order for an investor, client, or future biotech socialist citizen to be convinced that this is the ideal living situation in the time of Covid-19, we must replicate an action essential to everyone’s lives… grocery shopping. When thinking of a possible reality, entertainment and communication seem like a luxury compared to essential services and goods. After all, no one is going to be concerned about how they are going to play video games before being concerned about how they are going to eat. If I could create a product (VR Market) that would help answer people's top concerns about my world, then they might seriously consider it as a viable and even favorable option. Another point in creating a supermarket of all the possible products I could create was because of the familiarity most people have with grocery shopping. Not everyone is into video games, or online dating, or even running. Many people might ask how that will work in my world, but I believe an even larger group of people will be curious as to how grocery shopping would work. With these ideas in mind, I decided to create a VR supermarket that 3D prints the food products you “put” in your grocery “cart”. I’d like to think of the concept of VR shopping combined with 3D printing as the product itself. It was imperative to show this process from start to end. Given obvious time constraints, I was not able to devote any large amount of time to one part of the product. Instead, I thought it was important to at least touch on every part of the system (product). I did this for the following reason:
Being able to visualize a whole system helps fill in the negative “what-ifs” and shortcomings viewers might have about this project. In my opinion, creating one part of this larger system, might discredit the idea and give it less ground to stand on. Furthermore, to the average consumer, especially in the time of the pandemic, who might not humor the idea of using their imagination to create a future reality, this idea becomes easily dismissible. If they could understand the system from the time an item is needed in the physical world, immersing themself in the digital world to retrieve the item, and reentering the world with that now physical item, they might see this product as not only plausible but maybe essential. Obviously there are still holes in the symbiotic nature between physical and the digital world that require more time and resources then I have access to. Nonetheless, I believe this is a good start.
My product idea and world were largely inspired by “Speculative Everything”, written by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. In Chapter 7, the authors go on a short 2 sentence side-thought that inspired me more than I think intended. Dunne and Raby “suggest that distributing conceptual objects might be a more plausible use for 3D printing than the replacement of product components so often cited as an ideal use for this technology” (Dunne and Raby 120). This quote suggests that 3D printing hasn’t reached its maximum potential yet because it hasn’t been used as a medium for speculative object design. Not only did this inspire me in using a 3D printer to create my object, but it also made me realize that maybe 3D Printers haven't been used to their full advantage in other aspects. Perhaps we’re missing out on an important tool of mass production… In the biotech socialist society, our citizens take advantage of technological advancements like 3D printing specifically for mass production. Hopefully, in the following decades, 3D printing will reach its maximum potential and more essential products can be bought and printed from home. Not only would this save time, money, energy, and so much more, it would help curb waste. I wanted to highlight this important benefit of 3D printing in my own project by having my character request “3/4ths of an apple”. No longer will people need to buy a bag of sugar or a dozen apples when their recipes only call for say, half of that. Units can be printed according to how much an individual needs for their tasks. Furthermore, this will be true of other products that otherwise go wasted (for example, buying more gift wrap then needed). This makes my world look more appealing, especially to the people who fit the biotech socialist archetype. Not only that, but it might help current investors and audiences better realize the sustainable benefits of 3D printing! A common theme touched upon by Dunne and Raby is the inspiring idea that the creation of future realities (worldbuilding and speculative design) can make us improve our present world (Dunne and Raby). Creating a world that highlights the importance of the 3D printer might actually lead to it becoming more popular present day.
There was another main point of inspiration I drew from “Speculative Everything” that helped inspire this world and project. Towards the end of Chapter 7, Dunne and Raby were talking about the best way to view speculative products. They drew on the importance of the “Nonplace” and “Constructed Realities” as a space that “gently forces viewers to make sense of what they are looking at rather than simply recognizing or reading the cues.” Furthermore, “They shift emphasis from representation to presentation and away from pure entertainment” (132). This suggests that spaces like these allow us to look at the object for what it is, and not what it means in the context of other objects. A non-place would entail a space with nothing except for the product and white walls. Non-places allows the viewer to only look at the product and get lost in their own imagination about what it is. They suggest a gallery might be an ideal place to view speculative objects, as it can be easily turned into a “Nonplace”. I quite liked this idea and wanted to use it and expand on it within my own idea. Firstly, it made me think about how speculative products must be viewed in a time of Covid-19. If people can’t gather in gallery spaces to look at speculative products, how will this industry exist? It then made me realize that speculative object viewing and world-building would take place in VR galleries or “V(R)oids” as I like to call them. This would allow the viewer to continue to think about physical products in a completely blank space on an immersive platform. I took this hypothesis about how speculative objects would be best viewed in the future and I implemented it in the viewing of my own product. I created the supermarket within a “VRoid”, so you only can focus on the product itself. Since my product is a hard to grasp concept to most, If I could situate it in a blank space, it forces the viewer to focus solely on the experience of shopping. In that way, I think it’s a good introduction to understanding the possibilities of my biotech immersive world.
With ideas drawn from Speculative Everything, combined with my rationale that VR Market would be the perfect representation of my world, I outlined and began my project. Below is a screenshot from a document I created a couple of weeks ago that shows the essential components of the project that needed to be completed for this course and then some more optional parts. I plan on being able to complete all parts of this list over the next ten days or so.
As my project stands now, I used Maya, Unity, VS Code, Illustrator, and Cura. Over the next week, I’m hoping to add to this project and incorporate some more code. I also want to create a video to give an overarching narrative structure to when and how this product might be used. The Unity Scene itself is made of many 3D objects that I created in Maya. All the shelves, about half of the food objects, and the structure itself were all built by me. They were then placed and texturized in Unity. The other food objects were downloaded in the Unity asset store and placed. This scene is the first component of my project. The second and equally as important part is the launch of 3D software and the printing of these objects. Currently, when you click on the object nothing happens. This is one of the holes I plan to fill in moving forward. I wanted to help show the audience the end product though. The Unity scene walkthrough starts at the beginning of an aisle. You slowly walk along the aisle until you come to the end where you make a right. You walk towards a shelf of golden apples. I thought targeting one object at the end of my scene would give more narrative to my project. To go along with this walkthrough to retrieve the apple, I 3D printed the exact apple I designed in Maya. Below is a rough 3D print of the apple.
Over the next several days, I want to create a short film that helps illustrate the product as a whole, and when it might be needed. This film will start with a duo baking an apple pie. They realize the recipe calls for 2 and 3/4th apples. They only have 2. The film follows one of them submerging into VR Market to retrieve 3/4ths of an apple. After they buy the apple in the VR space, as shown in my Unity walkthrough, the film shows the process of the apple being downloaded, printed, and then brought to the kitchen for baking. I think this will give the viewer an even better idea of the importance of my product.
This project was by no means easy. I ran into a ton of problems along the way, especially in Unity. I ended up spending an entire day trying to figure out why my first-person scene would not run. After a ton of troubleshooting and online research, I figured out that I just needed to add a couple of lines of code into one C# page. It turns out Unity had abandoned a standards assets package in the version of Unity I was running. There were a couple of other problems I encountered along the way but none took longer than the issue with Unity. I’m glad I ran into so many problems though; It was one of the first times I really tried to troubleshoot using online resources. It was encouraging to see how much I could figure out if I put my mind to it.
There are still some more things I would like to add. Most importantly I want to make my project completely streamlined. That means filling in the holes that I have right now. I have to implement buttons in my Unity scene and then insert files that can be downloaded from within that scene. That will take some coding within VS Code. The next step I am hoping to fill in is auto-printing in cura. When the zip file with the STL or OBJ file opens, I want to run some type of code that automatically opens that file and prints it in my 3D printing software, Cura. I have not found any leads so far, but I assume it involves using some type of API for 3D printing software.
Overall I’m really happy with this project. I was able to create a world and product while thinking critically about Dunne and Raby’s speculative everything. I learned multiple programs and practiced detailed troubleshooting.
