THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC
BERLIN
EMBODIMENT
1 LIVING LIBRARY
You receive a flyer through the door.
THE LIVING LIBRARY IS COMING TO YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD!
Come and check it out 🙂
You turn the flyer over and there’s a bit more information:
“THE LIVING LIBRARY works just like a normal library: visitors can browse the catalogue for the available “books”, choose the “book” they want to “read”, and take it out for a while. After “reading”, they return the “book” to the library and, if they want, borrow another. The only difference is that in the Living Library, “books” are people, and reading consists of a conversation.”
At the bottom of the flyer, several people are depicted in illustrations.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
Which person would you most want to talk to? Why?
How did you choose them?
How does their appearance affect your choice?
What can we tell about a person by their appearance?
Would it be better to give short written bios about the people instead of illustrations? Why/why not?
If you were a ‘book’ in the living library, and your picture was depicted in the catalogue, what do you think people would assume about you?
By Bonny Astor, founder of TEiP (THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC). Read more of her writing here.
Additional Sources:
Youth. (2024). Living Library. [online] Available at: https://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/living-library.
The New Yorker front covers (images)
2 TO BE EMBODIED OR NOT TO BE EMBODIED
Scientists have finally done it. They’ve created a bio-robotic system that enables a human brain to be sustained without its body. Unsurprisingly, fierce debate has broken out.
You hear two people talking about it on the radio:
ELLEN:
“The body slows us down. We have to sleep, we have to eat, we have to attend to bodily functions. We get achey. We age. We itch. We get sick. We get cold. We get hot. Life is the constant, exhausting task of ministering to our bodies with very little pure thinking time in between. It would be better to be a brain in a robotic vehicle, free of these base concerns.”
JERI:
“Our bodies are fundamental to what living is. They are what make living living. Sure, they feel pain and discomfort, but they also enable us to experience pleasure: a delicious meal, a gentle touch, the warmth of a cosy bed, the cool of a fresh breeze, the freedom of movement, the restoration of sleep. Paying attention to our breath brings us into the present moment. Everything that makes life worth living is embodied.”
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
Which argument do you gravitate towards?
Is embodiment freedom? Does having a body make us free?
Is embodiment constraint? Does having a body trap us?
What is freedom?
Would we be human without our bodies?
Would you go for the new technology?
What might change your answer?
By Bonny Astor, founder of TEiP (THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC). Read more of her writing here.
3 LIZ’S VALUES
Liz cares about the environment. She tries to embody this values in the choices she makes. For example:
She has a tote bag that says “SAVE THE PLANET”.
She posts on social media about reducing fast fashion.
She has limited her shopping to one new item per month.
When Liz’s friends invite her to go on holiday to South America, she declines because she is trying to reduce her carbon footprint.
She buys an expensive gym membership instead.
At the gym, Liz is in a rush to get to class. She washes her hands, but there are no paper towels to dry them on. She grabs a fluffy white towel, dries her hands, and throws it in the towel box.
A woman in the changing room calls out:
“Hey, do you know how wasteful it is to use one of those towels to just dry your hands once?! Don’t you care about the environment at all?”
Liz is taken aback. She doesn’t know what to say.
She agrees with the woman and feels bad about her action. But she also wants the woman to know that she does care about the environment.
She thought her environmental footprint was quite small, but now she’s doubtful.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
What should Liz do?
Was the woman right to call out?
How much do we have to embody our values to call them our values?
Does Liz embody her value of “caring about the environment” enough?
Can it still be one of her values even if she doesn’t embody it?
What do you care about?
How do you embody it?
Have you ever been in a position like Liz? What did it feel like?
Have you ever been in a position like the woman who called out? Why did you call out?
By Bonny Astor, founder of TEiP (THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC). Read more of her writing here.
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