We humans are animals that tell stories, and culture is the result of our evolution. Novels, works of art, and music are not abstract “spiritual” elements disconnected from our physicality, but rather a feature of the material life of our species. We need an imagination that helps us break out of our species boundaries, an imagination that recognizes and gives voice to the whole world that we consider “other” but which is instea

Design is optimistic by nature: it seeks to solve problems and, in doing so, create preferable conditions. Yet, the thinking behind it abounds with expressions of skepticism, dissatisfaction, and even resentment. Rather than being dismissed as anomalies, can these “sad passions” shed light on the blind spots of the discipline? Can disillusionment represent something more than mere disappointment? Can it, for example, translate into an emotional method for bringing dysfunctions and contradictions to light? Th