The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin

 

I think what’s challenging about imagining an interactive artifact for the city within this story, is considering that interactivity should be planned and geared towards a general goal. What is my intent here after reading this? I think this story aligns with civilization and resembles many societies today. There is truth in saying that, it is through discovery, knowledge, and convincing oneself of something, that atrocities are justified. Is the goal to bring the citizens out of their apathy? And for what reason–to incite them to rebel, or at least, be aware and uncomfortable as they live?

My initial idea was a type of display in an area of the city with lots of traffic, such as a glass tube where orbs or balls would be added for each person that leaves the Omelas.  While possibly impactful and revelatory to look at, I struggled to think how it would be interactive. Maybe,  citizens could select an orb, and the display could project a quote or the voice of who left and why they left. 

Another idea is an immersive device, like a viewfinder toy, or a display case in the town center, to those who don’t want to actually visit the child. The conditions of the child could be replicated, like what the child sees, smells, feels, and thinks. To help Omelas citizens feel more directly attached, there could be visualizations of their own children or family members in the situation of the child (this would be psychologically abusive though). The display case could also be an escape room type of activity, which changes in layout for each person who tries, so it remains unpredictable. I imagine there could also be an issue with these ideas being used for voyeuristic purposes.

 

 

The Plague by Yan Leisheng

 

I think one point of exigence here, is how to let the general population know that these individuals are alive. I would utilize the null gravity channels, where someone from the inside, maybe a worker who stayed on but who shares the same morality as the narrator, can send coded messages out through food packages. Security personnel that then go out into the regions can see messages in the same alphabet on the signs in the places they drop by, denoting whether or not the people there have received the communication, and if there is a plan. The language here would be interactive.–couldn’t really think of anything for this story…

 

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

 

This story raises concerns on the overreliance of technology and how relationships can fall into disrepair because of it. I think it’s altogether possible that the parents in this story have forgotten how to do some basic things, due to the house that “clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them” (Bradbury, 1). I would design a studio of sorts, one that could flip between rooms like a kitchen, laundry room, and bedroom. Each room would be furnished with the requisite utilities. There could be tutorials or a robot “helping hand” that can help the parents relearn a more normal way of living, and provide inference on how it could be more beneficial than the technologically advanced way of doing things they are used to. This setting should be dynamic and learn from the areas the parents struggle in, or excel in, to change difficulty settings and have them “level up.” It’s also possible the children were raised with an atypical setting of nurture. I would see the benefit in this setting being, the parents being able to introduce to their children a natural way of conveying care and love, and not the artificial way of something like the house tucking the children into bed.