Posthuman Blues

Suburbs, where brains go to die, ultimately snuffed out like so many porchlights, carried away like bags of garbage. Boring, identical houses produce boring, identical minds. These places are a mistake, a particularly loathsome eyesore on the American cultural trajectory. Whether they consciously realize it or not, humans require spontaneity, playfulness, novelty.




Lively, organic forms typify Paolo Soleri's experimental Arcosanti.


I like to imagine what America might be like now if the dreary spectacle of suburban sprawl had been abandoned in favor of organic design concepts like Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti. I bet our society would be happier, healthier, less subject to distraction, and literally more intelligent. Perhaps fewer Columbine incidents, or maybe a startling reduction in so-called "attention deficit disorder." At the very least, something interesting to look at. The fact that we attempt to "personalize" suburban homes with yellow ribbons and sports memorabilia and plastic gnomes only accentuates the dilemma.