Welcome to the website currently hosted at
(52° 22.36674', 4° 54.0209') on server built buy Lukas Engelhardt for Waag Futurelab.
The server runs on 12 V and hangs at the entrance of our Fablab.
Below you will find the opening of the Position Paper and useful links to further explore regenerativity and permacomputing. This piece explains the reasoning behind
the Designing Regenerative Technologies Project.
As a society we find ourselves in an uncomfortable spot. We are realizing the impact of our contribution to the environmental crisis, and yet we are also entrenched in systems that make us complicit in its further degradation. It is also becoming clear there are no quick fixes to this problem. That also means that since this issue is so expansive and we cannot name a single solution, discussions around this subject oſten feel exhausted or devoid of tangible action.
Thankfully, there is a growing pool of inspiration from which we can draw.
Waag Futurelab started the project Designing Regenerative Technologies to spotlight
practices that actively and creatively counteract harmful attitudes ushered by big tech
companies.To do so, Waag will source knowledge and expertise from our partners at critical
infrastructure lab (UvA), Willem de Kooning Academy (Rotterdam University of Applied
Sciences), Greenhost, Zoönomic Institute and work with creatives who, through their
practice, emphasize our place in the ecosystem.
Though we collectively grew accustomed to tools, modes of working, and imaginaries that keep us in perpetual circles of dependency on technological expansion, there is also a shared recognition that this status quo is unsustainable. Current tech expansion will lead to depletion of life-sustaining resources, like potable water used to cool down data centers or toxic waste from deteriorating electronics polluting our soil.
Embracing this knowledge allows Waag and our partners to make one more important statement, that all computational technologies are, by default, extractivist, and there simply is no 100% green tech. That means that all devices and their use is coupled and dependant on the natural resources. This can only lead to a conclusion that quality of life for humans and non-humans on this planet is directly connected to how technology will continue to be designed, made and used.
Addressing this issue is not an individual responsibility but one that must be placed on the true perpetrators—tech companies that, more oſten than not, resist regulation and accountability. While legal and policy initiatives strive to impose social and environmental responsibilities on these corporations, another form of resistance is also taking shape. As this field continues to grow, Designing Regenerative Technologies is dedicated to working with those who seek to challenge both the perceived and actual role of technology in the environmental crisis Moreover, the current political attitudes in the world tend to set the tone in favour of tech accelerationism, which encourages technological growth at all cost. For example, in the United States more concessions are made to disregard the impact on the environment in favour of financial profit. Something many tech companies rushed to embrace. What this exposes, is that many of the previous promises, like achieving net zero pollution stated by Apple, Amazon and Meta 7, are subject to political rather than ecological change.... Do you want to know more? 👉 Read the rest of the Position Paper