Bruce Sterling proposes a design movement to stop us from stewing in our own fumes. Read on, and when you're ready, join the discussion . The rapidly approaching millennium offers a unique cultural opportunity. Immediately after the end of the fin de siecle, there will be a sudden and intense demand for genuine novelty.
Any new year offers a chance for sweeping resolutions and brave efforts at self-reform.
But the end of a millennium offers a rare and vital opportunity to bury all that is dead within us and issue proclamations of particular scope and ambition. In this preliminary document, I would like to offer a few thoughts on the possible contents of such a manifesto. The central issue as the new millennium dawns is technocultural. There are of course other, more traditional, better-developed issues for humankind. However, the human race has repeatedly proven that we can prosper cheerfully with ludicrous, corrupt and demeaning forms of religion, politics and commerce.