Thesis Stone

Thesis: Aaron Stone

PLANETARY PARABLES: Tales from the Anthrakacene

It is widely understood that we are at a global inflection point where our social, economic, political, and many other human-constructed systems must drastically change to ensure the continued survival of humans and non-humans alike. Changing these systems requires a collective ideological shift in the way we see ourselves and our relationships to other humans, non-humans, and Earth systems. This thesis argues that speculation and world-building is desperately needed to facilitate these ideological shifts, as they free our minds from the constraints of today and allow us to imagine alternative yet potential realities, which can be debated and acted upon.

Aaron Stone
Aaron Stone
Aaron Stone
This thesis defines the planetary parable as a new type of speculative design and world-building project, one that is effective at communicating the potential realities of emergent world-shaping technologies and the nature of their implementation. By combining fictionalized alternative presents with design speculations and parabolic narrative arcs, this thesis lays out a speculative design methodology that brings the questions, problems, and consequences of these technologies out of esoteric discourse and into a more inclusive dialogue. This thesis explores this methodology by imagining an alternative world where we store carbon as obsessively as we now burn fossil fuels.

Link to Project Video: https://vimeo.com/547319924
Aaron Stone
Aaron Stone

Aaron Stone

Thesis: Aaron Stone

Students